cbostrum@watdaisy.UUCP (Calvin Bruce Ostrum) (07/30/83)
I think that Gardner's new book is more of a confessional than anything else. Rather than attempt to provide any argument for his "beliefs", he just exudes emotion about them. Most dissappointing, especially since it is not even clear that the beliefs are beliefs (ie, that they have any cognitive content). On the whole the books is a waste of time, I feel. Bram's book "Biblical games" struck me as ridiculous. He more or less invented ad hoc payoffs in order to make the games work out into the type of game he wanted to see. At best, his use of game theory is just another poetic metaphor, providing little insight that wasnt already there