cover image Negotiation Analysis: The Science and Art of Collaborative Decision Making

Negotiation Analysis: The Science and Art of Collaborative Decision Making

Howard Raiffa, David Metcalfe. Belknap Press, $63 (576pp) ISBN 978-0-674-00890-8

Harvard professor emeritus Raiffa and his co-authors have everything covered in this exhaustive work, which examines the dynamics of win-lose, win-win and multi-party negotiations and throws novel approaches like game theory into the mix. Especially timely is the analysis of""external help,"" in which the authors evaluate the growing trend of mediation and arbitration. Though its stated goal is to""suggest how people--perhaps you--might negotiate better,"" that's a bit of wishful thinking; the book, more a mathematics text than a popular guide, isn't designed for a broad-based audience. But it's certainly thorough, with its plethora of decision-making scenarios (e.g., surgery or radiation? invest in a business, or not?) to bring advanced theories to life. And Raiffa (The Art and Science of Negotiation) is one of the deans of the field. 78 line illustrations, 84 tables.