Evolution and the Theory of Games

It is indeed a ingenious idea applied to evolutionary Biology. John Maynard Smith in his book explained in detail how Game Theory and Evolution walk side by side

A classic!

J. Maynard Smith is the one of the most inspiring theoreticians in biology and this work of his speaks *volumes* to its support (pun intended). His writing allows you to appreciate the math behind a seemingly subjective science of ethology and it's not, in any sense, convoluted or obfuscating.He utilises basic algebra and precalculus notions which high school students would understand albeit he skips off the steps to maintain the text's relevance in the field of biology. He constantly presents phenomenological data and fits them in his theoretical framework which is an absolute delight to witness as the reader. This book is the Bible for anyone who wishes to understand the application of evolutionary game theory.

This is an extremely interesting application of game theory to the subject of evolutionary fitness. In a game, a player has a strategy to decide which possible move to play. Game theory models this by looking at the possible outcomes from a move and the gains and losses to the player from each possible move. The best strategy maximises the gains and minimises the losses over a game or a number of games.In biology, life, to coin a phrase, is the name of the game. For example, when an animal is defending a territory, or a mate, or both, it may be a hawk and act aggressively or a dove and run away, or have a mixed strategy (fight if I'm bigger, run away if I'm not). Usually, the mixed strategy is the evolutionary stable one (an individual with a different strategy can not invade).The book uses examples from the animal kingdom of how these strategies are actually observed. It will change the way you watch animal behaviour ever after.The book is technical and is to introduce the mathematics to bioligists. There are plenty of equations in there, so if that phases you, go for a more popular introduction.

Superb!