Drawing from letters written over more than 50 years (1942–1994), this book offers a look at the thoughts and correspondence of Herbert A. Simon, one of the giants of twentieth century social science. The selections are letters from Simon’s personal correspondence, including letters to Oskar Morgenstern, Chester Barnard, Ward Edwards, and Imre Lakatos. Simon’s letters, written in a lively and scholarly style, are filled with his theoretical insights in economics, psychology, computer science, management, and philosophy. They provide a rich memoir of the styles, people, and intellectual issues of studies on game theory, artificial intelligence, human cognition, and administration during the last half of the twentieth century, touching on such domains as bounded rationality, human problem solving, and the boundaries of economics and psychology. The letters are organized by interviews with Simon that highlight his role in exploring these themes as well as his current opinions on these and other matters.
