Winning Ways for Your Mathematical Plays: Volume 1 Book

This classic on games and how to play them intelligently is being re-issued in a new, four volume edition. This book has laid the foundation to a mathematical approach to playing games. The wise authors wield witty words, which wangle wonderfully winning ways. In Volume 1, the authors do the Spade Work, presenting theories and techniques to "dissect" games of varied structures and formats in order to develop winning strategies.

Booknews

In this updated contribution to recreational math<-->the first of four planned volumes, Berlekamp (mathematics, electrical engineering/computer science, U. of California, Berkeley) and his merry math pranksters share combinatorics theory-based games and strategies to make such brainy games easier. Some color graphics enliven the many examples of such pastimes as Hackenbush, Toad vs. Frog, and Eatcake. Co-author Conway (mathematics, Princeton U.) invented the Game of Life computer simulation. Originally published 25 years ago. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)