Oliver Roeder

A group biography of seven enduring and beloved games, and the story of why—and how—we play them. Checkers, backgammon, chess, and Go. Poker, Scrabble, and bridge. These seven games, ancient and modern, fascinate millions of people worldwide. In Seven Games, Oliver Roeder charts their origins and historical importance, the delightful arcana of their rules, and the ways their design makes them pleasurable. Roeder introduces thrilling competitors, such as evangelical minister Marion Tinsley, who across forty years lost only three games of checkers; Shusai, the Master, the last Go champion of imperial Japan, defending tradition against “modern rationalism”; and an IBM engineer who created a backgammon program so capable at self-learning that NASA used it on the space shuttle. He delves into the history and lore of each game: backgammon boards in ancient Egypt, the Indian origins of chess, how certain shells from a particular beach in Japan make the finest white Go stones. Beyond the cultural and personal stories, Roeder explores why games, seemingly trivial pastimes, speak so deeply to the human soul. He introduces an early philosopher of games, the aptly named Bernard Suits, and visits an Oxford cosmologist who has perfected a computer that can effectively play bridge, a game as complicated as human language itself. Throughout, Roeder tells the compelling story of how humans, pursuing scientific glory and competitive advantage, have invented AI programs better than any human player, and what that means for the games—and for us. Funny, fascinating, and profound, Seven Games is a story of obsession, psychology, history, and how play makes us human.

Seven Games: A Human History

A Human History

Seven Games

"A modern, smart puzzle book, unlike anything I've seen before, whose math and logic challenges will stretch your brain in new ways."--Will Shortz, New York Times crossword editor and NPR puzzlemaster The most mind-bending puzzles on the internet appear weekly in Oliver Roeder's "The Riddler" column. Presented by Nate Silver's FiveThirtyEight, this first-ever collection features the column's most popular problems, along with six never-before-published puzzles, all exploring the math implicit in everyday occurences. The simplest require a mere flash of insight, while the toughest involve deep applications of analysis and probability theory. Designed to appeal to a range of skill levels, The Riddler is a must-have for any math or puzzle enthusiast.

Fantastic Puzzles from FiveThirtyEight

The Riddler

“A modern, smart puzzle book, unlike anything I’ve seen before, whose math and logic challenges will stretch your brain in new ways.”—Will Shortz, New York Times crossword editor and NPR puzzlemaster The most mind-bending puzzles on the internet appear weekly in Oliver Roeder’s “The Riddler” column. Presented by Nate Silver’s FiveThirtyEight, this first-ever collection features the column’s most popular problems, along with six never-before-published puzzles, all exploring the math implicit in everyday occurences. The simplest require a mere flash of insight, while the toughest involve deep applications of analysis and probability theory. Designed to appeal to a range of skill levels, The Riddler is a must-have for any math or puzzle enthusiast.

The Riddler: Fantastic Puzzles from FiveThirtyEight

Die 49 verblüffendsten, beliebtesten und interessantesten Mathematikrätsel der Kolumne „The Riddler“ auf der Nachrichtenseite „FiveThirtyEight“ sind in diesem Buch für das kleine (oder größere) Rätselabenteuer zwischendurch gesammelt. Erforschen Sie dabei alltägliche Vorkommnisse mit Mathematik und Verstand: Wie Sie am besten Ihr Smartphone fallen lassen Können Sie den unsteten Prinzen finden? Die Quadratur des Quadrats Vorsicht mit dem Martini-Glas! Können Sie die Alien-Invasion stoppen? Besetzt oder nicht besetzt – das ist hier die Frage Und wenn Roboter Ihre Pizza schneiden? Werden Sie (ja Sie!) die Wahl entscheiden? Und vieles mehr! Die einfachsten Rätsel erfordern bloß einen Geistesblitz, während Sie für die schwierigsten schon ein gewisses Geschick in Analysis und Wahrscheinlichkeitstheorie benötigen. Die „Fantastischen Rätsel“ sind ein Muss für jeden Mathematik- oder Rätselliebhaber! "Ein modernes, intelligentes Rätselbuch, wie ich es noch nie zuvor gesehen habe, dessen mathematische und logische Herausforderungen Ihr Gehirn auf neue Art und Weise fordern werden" - Will Shortz, New York Times, NPR-Puzzlemaster Der Herausgeber Oliver Roeder war Redakteur bei FiveThirtyEight und Herausgeber der mathematischen Kolumne „The Riddler“. Er hat in Wirtschaftswissenschaften mit Schwerpunkt Spieltheorie promoviert und war Nieman fellow an der Harvard University 2020. Er lebt in Brooklyn, New York.

Oliver Roeder

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