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Models of a Man: Essays in Memory of Herbert A. Simon
Essays that pay tribute to the wide-ranging influence of the late Herbert Simon, by friends and colleagues. Herbert Simon (1916-2001), in the course of a long and distinguished career in the social and behavioral sciences, made lasting contributions to many disciplines, including economics, psychology, computer science, and artificial intelligence. In 1978 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in economics for his research into the decision-making process within economic organizations. His well-known book The Sciences of the Artificial addresses the implications of the decision-making and problem-solving processes for the social sciences. This book (the title is a variation on the title of Simon's autobiography, Models of My Life ) is a collection of short essays, all original, by colleagues from many fields who felt Simon's influence and mourn his loss. Mixing reminiscence and analysis, the book represents "a small acknowledgment of a large debt." Each of the more than forty contributors was asked to write about the one work by Simon that he or she had found most influential. The editors then grouped the essays into four "Modeling Man," "Organizations and Administration," "Modeling Systems," and "Minds and Machines." The contributors include such prominent figures as Kenneth Arrow, William Baumol, William Cooper, Gerd Gigerenzer, Daniel Kahneman, David Klahr, Franco Modigliani, Paul Samuelson, and Vernon Smith. Although they consider topics as disparate as "Is Bounded Rationality Unboundedly Rational?" and "Personal Recollections from 15 Years of Monthly Meetings," each essay is a testament to the legacy of Herbert Simon—to see the unity rather than the divergences among disciplines.
592 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 2004
About the author
James G. March
37 books26 followersJames Gardner March was an American sociologist who was professor at Stanford University and the Stanford Graduate School of Education, best known for his research on organizations, his A behavioral theory of the firm and organizational decision making.
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December 13, 2013
Neat collection of essays about or inspired by the life and pioneering work of Herbert Simon. I skimmed over most of the biographical material because I was less interested in that but he did seem to be a pretty nice guy. Has gotten me thinking harder about the role of satisficing in both descriptive and normative / prescriptive views on judgment and decision making and I am now pretty far into the volume edited by Gerd Gigerenzer, Bounded Rationality: The Adaptive Toolbox.
Displaying 1 of 1 review