New book, published 30 April 1999
SIMULATION FOR THE SOCIAL SCIENTIST
Nigel Gilbert and Klaus G. Troitzsch
Department of Sociology, University of Surrey;
Koblenz-Landau University, Germany.
* What can computer simulation contribute to the social sciences?
* Which of the many approaches to simulation would be best for my
social science project?
* How do I design, carry out and analyse the results from a
computer simulation?
Simulation for the Social Scientist is a practical textbook on the
techniques of building computer simulations to assist understanding of
social and economic issues and problems.
Interest in social simulation has been growing very rapidly world-wide
as a result of increasingly powerful hardware and software and also a
rising interest in the application of ideas of complexity, evolution,
adaptation and chaos in the social sciences. This authoritative book
outlines all the common approaches to social simulation at a level of
detail which will give social scientists an appreciation of the
literature and allow those with some programming skills to create their
own simulations.
Social scientists in a wide range of fields will find this book an
essential tool for research, particularly in sociology, economics,
anthropology, geography, organizational theory, political science,
social policy, cognitive psychology and cognitive science. It will also
appeal to computer scientists interested in distributed artificial
intelligence, multi-agent systems and agent technologies.
Contents: Preface - Simulation and social science - Simulation as a
method - System dynamics and world models - Microanalytical simulation
models - Queuing models - Multilevel simulation models - Cellular
automata - Multi-agent models - Learning and evolutionary models -
Appendix - Bibliography - Index.
April 1999 288pp
0 335 19744 2 Paperback GBP 15.99
0 335 19745 0 Hardback GBP 45.00
Simulation for the Social Scientist may be ordered from your local
bookstore or from online bookshops, for example Amazon and the Internet
Bookshop. The following URL will get you to these:
<http://www.soc.surrey.ac.uk/cgi-bin/JASSS_book_order.pl?title=Simulation+for+th
e+Social+Scientist&author=Nigel+Gilbert&hb=0-335-19745-0&pb=0-335-19744-2>
_________________________________________________________________________
Prof G. Nigel Gilbert, Dept of Sociology, University of Surrey, Guildford
GU2 5XH,
United Kingdom. Tel: +44 (0)1483 259173 Fax: +44 (0)1483 259551
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