Stout & Vetiver reviewed Mathematics and politics by Alan D. Taylor
Review of 'Mathematics and politics' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
This is an excellent text, written by Alan Taylor -- a well known in the area of fair division research -- that most other undergraduate texts on similar topics seem to base themselves on. The second edition, written in conjunction with Taylor's former student Allison Pacelli, extends the first edition by adding material on the topic of fairness and restructuring the existing material on voting as social choice, voting in yes-no situations, power indices, game theory and escalation situation like auctions. The book covers a lot of ground and tries at all times to be accessible to those not used to mathematical formalism. On the whole this book does great job of focusing on the logic behind mathematics results related to social situations.
I have two criticisms. Firstly, the structural choice of having one chapter on a particular topic - say social choice - early in the book and then …
This is an excellent text, written by Alan Taylor -- a well known in the area of fair division research -- that most other undergraduate texts on similar topics seem to base themselves on. The second edition, written in conjunction with Taylor's former student Allison Pacelli, extends the first edition by adding material on the topic of fairness and restructuring the existing material on voting as social choice, voting in yes-no situations, power indices, game theory and escalation situation like auctions. The book covers a lot of ground and tries at all times to be accessible to those not used to mathematical formalism. On the whole this book does great job of focusing on the logic behind mathematics results related to social situations.
I have two criticisms. Firstly, the structural choice of having one chapter on a particular topic - say social choice - early in the book and then having a follow-up chapter much later in the book (i.e. several chapters later) is annoying if you are wanting to follow a particular theme. I do note that Taylor & Pacelli are not alone here Smith's [b:Chance, Strategy, and Choice: An Introduction to the Mathematics of Games and Elections|21924355|Chance, Strategy, and Choice An Introduction to the Mathematics of Games and Elections|Samuel Bruce Smith|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1448124064l/21924355.SX50.jpg|41223978] does that too.
Secondly, I do wish the book was a bit more mathematical in places - the text feel a bit "loose" at times. However, this flies in the face of the authors' stated goals and target audience so I assume I'm not in that group and should just live with it.
Highly recommended.