Game Studies Books

It's an excellent educational resource for teaching ESL. I recommend it. My students have enjoy the games I have done with them the first few days of class.

This is a very good resource book for your ESL classes. The games were easily adapted to our specific needs and I'm glad that I purchased it.

What a great resource this book is. I will definitely consult it often. Games for anything and everything.

This is an invaluable resource for language teachers. As any classroom teacher knows, games often add life to a class that is about to fall asleep. They add energy to a class and give the students a little burst of motivation. This book covers a wide variety of games for teaching English as a second language. The games are divided into discrete categories. For example some of the categories are psychological games, magic tricks, story games, and memory games. Since the games are divided in this way, it becomes easy to find the game that will suit your classroom goals. I've used the ideas in this book many times in my classes and they work well.

Social scientist have tried investigating correctional institutions to better understand both the causes of crime and the criminal actor, but a series of obstacles like secrecy, hostility, cultural distance, psychological endurance, and physical danger have separated the social scientist from this insight. Kaminski's Games Prisoners Play, the Tragicomic Worlds of Polish Prisons, invites social scientists to take greater efforts in being constantly aware of the opportunity to exploit their own comparative advantages in accessing data sources, because data surrounds us everywhere. Arrested for anti-communist publishing in early 1980's Poland, Kaminski conveniently transcends the traditional obstacles, defining himself as an "observing participant...who enters a community through a similar social process as its other members and is subject to similar rules...and undertakes field research as if he or she was a researcher (p. 7)."

Kaminski combines the insights of game theory with real accounts of inmate life, to describe prison life as a realm of strategic risk, uncertainty, cost, choice, status and reward. The characters take shape both personally and as entire classes. The reader can't help but feel empathy coupled with a sense of humor, as dark as it may be, that makes life "more bearable (p. 15)."

Becker's 1968 paper "Crime and Punishment an Economic Approach" is perhaps the first to bridge the fields of criminology and economics. In Becker's model the criminal continuously makes cost benefit calculations, weighs risk and uncertainty, maximize his benefits, and chooses between crime and production. Becker's theory was bold; it stood in contrast to common opinions of criminal behavior being explained by either nature or nurture hypotheses. Under nature or nurture theories, criminals are either deprived or depraved, and policy implications are limited as such. By characterizing the criminal as a rational actor, Becker's model has policy implications which go beyond the limited notions of "lock `em up" on the one hand or "subsidize education," on the other. It forces planners to recognize that the institutions, to which their policies give shape, have direct effects on the incentives of individuals that operate within them.

This interpretation can be taken in two ways. One could say that Becker's model gives greater legitimacy to the efforts of prohibitive policy in that they are trying to effectively provide negative incentives to crime. By imposing higher costs to criminal activity, policy makers expect to see fewer crimes take place. On the other hand, Becker's insight could be interpreted to show that prohibitive efforts are extremely costly and at times futile if they do not recognize all other counter-acting incentives, or more simply put; the elasticity of the demand curve for crime. Individually honed policies do not have direct control over all of the various institutional forces that promote a given behavior. Social behavior is more often than not, the result of a complicated network of interactive forces.

Kaminski's text supports the latter interpretation of Becker over the former, and furthermore the complicated network does not start nor stop at the prison gates. His main thesis is a straightforward one; game theory is a useful theoretic device at explaining the behavior of inmates (p. 4). He uses his memoirs as representative testimony to model prison phenomena into simplified games. These games help the reader trace the incentives of actors and preferable outcomes are sought and exploited by the inmate players. Kaminski notes that his analysis is confined to the Polish system in the 1980s. Consequently some of the conclusions one draws from his analysis must be limited and treated with caution.

The games Kaminski describes demonstrate the complexity and ingenuity of strategy used by inmates to cope with their uniquely resource-limited scenarios. The inmate's capacity to strategically interpret, foresee, and communicate amidst the harsh conditions of prison life is obvious. The reader is left to wonder why, if the prisoners are so strategic inside the gates, they were not sufficiently strategic in free society to avoid incarceration? The reader is told a classically liberal message (pp. 11, 22, 26, 27, 32, 63, 85, 119, 129) through the stories of political activists incarcerated by the hands of a communist regime, fitting the text within the thesis of Public Choice political economy. The reader sees imprisonment in society as less about promoting social order, but more about promoting particular political interests. Even strategic responses to social interaction can fall short against hierarchical positions of authority. This holds true both inside and outside the gates.

Despite the straightforwardness of the book's main thesis, the implications are bold and combative of existing criminal justice policy. Prisons are meant to be an instrument of protection and a promotion of peace, yet inside their walls violence runs rampant. Prison management techniques take the shape of prohibiting inmates' access to physical materials, drugs, goods, and services. Authority, control, and imposed structure are the only tools used by prison managers to diminish violence and maintain order within the institution's walls. But are these tools the only ones available, and are they being wielded correctly to their stated aims of promoting peace and social order?

Kaminski's game theory scenarios tell a story with a novel interpretation of how prisons are used by states. Kaminski demonstrates that it is the harsher conditions of scarcity which raise the stakes of enforcement in a prison, not the mentality or cruelty of prisoners. In prison a person may be beaten or degraded in social status for shaking hands with the wrong person or passing gas at the wrong time; obviously these are harsher conditions of enforcing social norms than in a free society, but harsh enforcement techniques are tools for preserving peace. The alternative of non-violently enforced social norms in prison would result in a constant war of every prisoner against every other prisoner. Comparing rates of violence between free and incarcerated people is no comparison at all because conditions of scarcity are completely different between the two samples. Institutions develop differently in different scenarios of scarcity. Through Kaminski's work we can see that harsh enforcement techniques are ingenious solutions to maintaining peace and order in the otherwise chaotic prison cell, and furthermore that they are emergent and diverse. Successful games and players remain while failures drop out or adjust their behavior. The allotment of games played were not singularly constructed and imposed by any single authority.

The "grypsmen," prisoner upper classes, take the role of game designers and have access to information unknown to other players. In a world with next to no physical resources to convert into productive capital, these inmates capitalize on the one asset they seem to hold in abundance; knowledge. Veteran inmates know the repetitive nature of prison society and have exploited profitable avenues in it. There is a single unstable condition: the constant risk and uncertainty associated with new inmates. A new inmate might either accept the social ranks of his cell mates and abide by the rules upon hearing them, or he could rebel against it and threaten to disrupt all of the peace and order which the veteran inmates have worked hard to instill. The harshness of enforcement is a direct result of the combined limitations of physical resource scarcity with the extreme risk imposed by uncertainty of new inmate violence.

Kaminski's text simultaneously draws into question the entire apparatus of prison management and constructed social enforcement. If management's true intention by prohibition, discipline, and control is to diminish violence and maintain order within cell walls (or within society for that matter), than it must look more closely at the spontaneity of enforcement mechanisms implemented by inmates themselves to cope with their conditions of extreme resource scarcity and uncertainty. Since knowledge is the commodity most valuable to the upper classes of inmates, prohibition is an ineffective tool at managing the interactions of inmates, perhaps equally true in free society.

I took several classes in game theory with the author. We used a number of other books on the topic, only later to abandon them to use his own book. To say the least, Games Prisoners Play did a much better job of arousing the interest of the reader and keeping game theory on an understandable level. This book is good for someone who is new to game theory; it's also great if you want a deeper practical understanding of the subject.

I know very little about game theory but this hasn't prevented me from swallowing ?Games Prisoners Play? in one gulp. Having been taken by the attractive title and the author?s biography I didn?t experience a single moment of disappointment at any stage of the reading. Accustomed to story-telling and fiction I was astonished how interesting a structured, well-organized scientific analysis of prison life can be versus subjective visions depicted in all kinds of personal accounts (either in books or movies) I?ve read or seen so far.
Following the author's (former prisoner himself) path through fascinating subculture of Polish prison you don't see freaks and outlaws but reasonable people. Even if inmates' behaviors may often seem freaky and completely incomprehensible the author introduces you to the rationale behind their (his) actions in a perfectly convincing mode, to the extent that you start imagining yourself making a seemingly freakish decision in similar circumstances (what comes to one's mind is that all of us are potential prisoners).
What adds the flavor to the reading is an account of, among others, the prison argot (words and expressions explained in the book are later combined in an attached glossary) or everyday life including such ?trivial? areas as handling physiology in a small cell shared by a few people or sexual life.
Having read the book I also feel greatly encouraged to learn more about game theory. Thus, I may assume that not only is the book a perfect introduction to prison life but also to game theory.

Without being aware, everyone plays GAMES everyday. This is strictly from the definition of GAMES (players, strategy, payoff). I attended Lectures where this book was used and have loved it. I recommended it to many of my collegues, friends, co-workers, and bosses at work. Learn about what Game Theory is all about.

Even if you have the trilogy there are a few jewels within this collection that make it worthy of adding to your collection. If you don't yet have the trilogy this is a good introduction to Mac's wonderful stories. Enjoy this and you'll be ordering the trilogy before you turn the last pages of this collection. This will make a great gift for your hunitng or fishing buddies.

I also would like to know if these are different stories from the Old Duck Hunter trilogy. The trilogy is the best 3 books on the outdoors written by anyone, ever! I will buy this book if it contains stories not in the trilogy (already own them).

Gordon McQuarrie is the most endearing author I have read. His Old Duck Hunters series is a treasure I have read and re-read. Can someone tell me if this Treasure of 38 classics are new and different from the original Old Duck Hunters series? If so, I would buy immediately.

I already owned the trilogy and MacQuarrie Miscellany. I've read them so much the covers are worn. This book contains mostly stories from the original 4 books but the 8 or 9 new stories are worth the money. Yes, there are some new stories that include Mr. President, but there are also some that go outside of MacQuarrie's normal boundaries. A great book to buy a sports person as a gift.

I really enjoyed reading this book. I love the mystery and suspence. This book helped me to improve my awarness skills. This book also made me think of clues that I never would have thought of before. I also love reading the answers to the mysterys because they were very surprising.

One of my faviort mysterys was called "Country Killing". The story told a suspects story of a murder. Dr.Quicksolve showed how the story was unreliable and why he belived that they suspect was guilty of murder. The worst part of the book was the mysterys that Junior solved. I did not like them because they were not as interesting. He solved more childish mysterys.

Jim Sukach made the charters come alive. There were pitcures of the charters, but the writing really made them come alive. I felt like I was in the story while I was reading. The conflicts and resolutions in the story wre amazing! I loved the interesting conflicts. Each story was surprising and well thought out. I loved reading the resolutions. They were very clever. Reading them made
me look at the other stories in a new light. By reading the resolutins I gained new skills and a new way to look at things.

If you like mysteries and sly murderers, this is the book you want to read. This book was so tempting when I read it, that I couldn't put the book down. You just want to know what's going to happen next. The details for the clues are very, very small. Sometimes all the clues are in the pictures! This book makes me want to read. If you really like detectives, murderers, and surprise twists, this is the right book for you!

-- Chenda Anne Bunkasem

This is a good book. The mysteries are not too hard, but you have to think. I babysit a 3rd grader and she loves trying to solve the mysteries. It provides a lot of entertainment for young adults and gives them a feeling of accomplishment when they can solve the mystery on their own. Only complaint is I wish it was a longer book. You become addicted to trying to solve these mysteries.

This book is part of a large collection of books. These books make you look for clues some which are very small but make you say "duh." These books can be very addictive and make you want more and more.

A quick view of this book says much about the deep thought wich Karpov and his co-Author usually apply in their works.

If you are interested in this book at all it is because you want to learn more about the English Chess Opening. From a white or black side.

This book is good for that purporse. It will give you good positional ideas about the English. The book contains 30 well anotated games. Karpov is sharing his knowledge about this opening to you.

Here are the drawbacks to this book.
1. It says nothing about what you should do if black plays a 1. c4 c6 (slav) or 1. c4 e6 (queens gambit). If you play the English you need to know what to do here. (probably even need to study the Dutch opening also) You will get these replies from black alot, trust me.

2. Alot of the games are 10 years old or older. Now true it seems like all the Super GMs play nothing more than Petrof, Slav, and Ruy Lopez these days. But I would of wish for some more modern games.

But if you want a good positional understanding of 1.c4 c5 or 1.c4 e5, this is a good book.

Firstly, this book is very good for both white and black. Also, this book doesn't contain any complex 20 move analysis that is hard to understand. In fact, the annotations are very good for any player, and, because of the positional nature of the English Opening, neither side really ever needs to know any lines at all. The book is more geared towards gaining an understanding of the positions, not memorizing lines. That way, when you sit down to play this opening, you don't have to be thinking 'What does the book tell me to do in this position?'. Instead, you can be able to figure it out yourself, choosing a variaty of plans shown in the book. Finally, it should be noted that this contains far more than the thirty games advertised. For every game there is usually at least one 'side game' that presents an alternative to what was played in the game. Highly recommended!

I enjoyed this book a lot, and will be reading it a second time. It gives you an insight into an opening that the author, one of the greatest chess players of all time, clearly loves deeply. I particularly enjoyed reading how this opening developed over the years that Karpov was engaged in epic battles with Kasparov. The book also provides you with a bit of a behind the scenes of how the great players prepare for combat, with dedicated researchers and similar.

Before purchasing this book though, it is important to understand what it is, and what it is not. This book is not:

1. an English opening system (like Kolsten's "Dynamic English"),
2. an upto date theoretical tomb on the English
3. a guide as to what variations to play.

This book will be of interest to players, black or white, who want to:

1. gain better understanding of the types of positions and games that specific c4 lines lead too - e.g. 1. c4 e5, 2. Nc3...
2. gain insight into the hedgehog and other symmetrical lines (that can also arise from 1. Nf3)
3. are building a classical English defence against c4 (i.e. e5 or c5)
4. would like some understanding on how great players learn by imprinting critical games in their minds
5. enjoy reading a true great of the game describe classic battles

The chess lines in this book can transpose into d4 openings. I have come to the conclusion, that the reality is, that to play chess for "an advantage" in the opening, a price to be paid is that transpositions can occur. No 1 book can cover off the English and all these transpositions, unless one is willing to compromise with a set system (e.g. Kolsten's 2. g3). Set systems can work, but are not for everyone (they can ultimately get a bit dull, at least for me).

If you want to play English lines like the four knights, or too augment a d4 repertoire with some anti-nimzo lines or similar, this book is useful, but will need to be supplemented with a more theoretical book (I have Vladimir Bagirov's books - although I guess they are probably out of date).

So with that said - I really do love this book. If you like chess, for the sake of chess, and are not looking for someone to tell you what to play, but rather to read a Grandmaster describing what he played, and the struggle over English variations during his time at the top, all you will enjoy this book a lot.

This is not an in-depth, philosophical treatment of writing (though some may say the author accomplishes it indirectly), but an example after example fun activity tool for teachers--sprinkled with nuggets of wisdom throughout. For those who find such things useful (I don't necessarily) this latest edition includes rubrics, portfolio assessment, and writing across the curriculum. Even if you find only a small portion helpful, the purchase is worth the price. Suitable for primary through middle school.

A Non-Workbook, Non-Textbook Approach to Teaching Language Arts: Grades 4 Through 8 and Up

I found this to be one of the most useful books for teaching writing skills. It is loaded with ideas that can be used in the classroom and can be used with teaching teachers how to teach writing skills. This book has some of the most creative and effective ideas I have seen in a long time. In fact I loaned it to someone about a year ago and have not seen it since. This demonstrates its quality. It is an easy read with samples that one can use in class forever. I recommend it highly.

This book provides numerous ideas and suggestions for creative and purposeful writing activities for upper elementary level students. The activities are easy to intergrate in a busy classroom, can be adapted for different grade and ability levels, and the kids love them!

This book helps teachers explore the art of teaching with children. It has many teacher friendly lesson plans that coordinate well with 6 Traits teaching.

I referred to this book often in a Migrant Head Start Program. The kids love the activities, and so do the adults!

The creativity of each activity is amazing. They are organized on a day-by-day basis, corresponding to the different seasons. For example, in fall kids are painting with leaves, watching birds fly south, and creating projects with apples; in spring, they observe green life under the snow and plant seeds which they can tend into fall. It is the perfect book with which to cultivate a life-long love for nature in children living in a world of rapid environmental change.

Start learning today!

I bought this book when my daughter was in first grade and find myself using it on a regular basis. There are activity suggestions for every day of the year to help you and your kids learn more about nature, together! There are also games to play and suggestions for stories and poems to read. I find that the ideas are easily adaptable to each child and a great reference for the times when your child says "mom, I'm bored". An all-around great book for parents who want to teach their children a greater appreciation for nature and the world around them. I learned a lot, too!

This is a great outdoor book for kids of all ages. It literally has an activity for every day of the year and they are do-able activities to teach kids about nature!

This book is written in a calendar format, encouraging readers to engage in nature activities appropriate for that time of year (in a seasonal climate). My children and I found ourselves occupied with listening for spring peepers in March, sowing sunflower seeds in June, making leaf tracings in October and pinecone birdfeeders in January. Far from the usual stuff however, this book is also packed with great nature facts, activities and games that I've never seen anywhere else.
Excellent resource for families interested in going a few steps beyond to really learn about the natural world; also excellent for classrooms, scout troops and the like for kid-friendly ideas and activities which appeal to a wide span of ages.

This is one of my favorite tapes for learning Spanish. Fun, and easy to understand songs for the entire family.

The audio is of high quality, the speakers have clear voices and the cards are very helpful. My only problem with it is that they go too fast for a beginner, but they all do. It seems obvious to me...slow down! When a baby is learning to speak, you don't say "apple" all of the time, sometimes you have to say "aaa pull" I have to stop the tape player over and over and over........However, I do recomend this. I would buy it again.

My daughter (age 10) and I have been playing Linguafun card games for a few days and really enjoying it. The cards guarantee success in speaking in sentences right away, rather than learning numbers and colors and just a few phrases at first, the way I learned in school. It's spurred us both on to learn more--I only wish there were more sets of cards from Linguafun.

I am a Spanish teacher, and have used the Linguafun cards in the classroom. I was amazed at how easily my students learned Spanish using these cards and cassette! The set comes with instructions for many different games, but our favorite in the classroom is "War". I have reviewed and tried many products for teaching Spanish, and Linguafun is by far THE BEST! It's the easiest way I have ever seen of learning a foreign language. I can't wait for all the other languages to be available

Great source for an Early Childhood Curriculum. This book gave me wonderful ideas on teaching little ones to counting and math. This book helped me plan lessons for my home toddler/preschool daycare. This book is a MUST HAVE for home daycare providers and home schooling parents.

We loved this book! This is for people who want to incorporateeducation into fun times with the kids but are sometimes short onideas. I would recommend this book for working parents because it is easy to be organized or introduce projects at a moment's notice when bits of time are found. All of the ideas and instructions are right there in front of you. It would also be easy to leave for a caregiver as a lesson plan. Stay at home moms can certainly use this book to help fill the many hours constructively.

I purchased this book four years ago for our child when she was a preschooler. This book is ideal for those children who like hands on learning activities and games. The book utilizes activities and games to teach mathematical concepts in a fun and engaging format. I would follow this book up with the Singapore Earlybird Math books 1A-2B, then proceed to MCP Kindergarten Math.

We love this book. The activities are simple to prepare and easy for my 5-year old to understand. This is a great help in practicing beginners' math concepts with her.

I like the puzzles very much. They were the challenging kind that I have been looking for. My minor complaints are that the print was too small and that there was not enough room to write in the margins. Of couse, it might help if my eyesight was better.

Mensa Absolutely Nasty Sudoku Level 3 (Mensa)

I like to think of myself as a sudoku whiz and this book has me humbled. It's difficult but not impossible. It's a matter of patience and logic that will win the day against these absolutely nasty puzzles.

I finally found some really difficult sudoku - they take time! But from the write-up I was expecting to get some explanations on how to solve using the more complicated techniques. It would also be nice if the answers included reference to which of the more difficult techniques were used to solve them.

I finally found a sudoku puzzle that can't be done in an hour. An awesome book.