Christopher X J. Jensen
Professor, Pratt Institute

My review of Railsback and Grimm’s “Agent-based and individual-based modeling” textbook published in Ecology

Posted 22 Mar 2013 / 2

2013-03-22I am excited by the recent publication of my review of Agent-based and individual-based modeling: a practical introduction in the January issue of Ecology. The review, entitled “Individual-based modeling for the masses“, lauds this valuable textbook designed to support individual-based modeling courses. I expect the combination of this text and the very valuable NetLogo modeling environment to foster a whole new generation of modeling courses and to make this theoretical approach accessible to far more students and researchers.

This is the second feature-length book review that I have published in the past year; I expect one more to come out soon.

A Major Post, Ecological Modeling, Individual-based Models, My publications, Spatially Explicit Modeling

2 Comments to "My review of Railsback and Grimm’s “Agent-based and individual-based modeling” textbook published in Ecology"

Artem Kaznatcheev 31st March 2013 at 2:34 am

Nice review, any comment on how this book compare to more standard computer-science treatments of ABMs, like: Yoav Shoham and Kevin Leyton-Brown [2009], “Multiagent systems: algorithmic, game-theoretic, and logical foundations”, Cambridge University press.?

Chris Jensen 31st March 2013 at 8:13 am

Hey Artem, I would have had to have read that book (which I have not) to give you a proper answer!

But the Shoham and Leyton-Brown book appears to be aimed at practitioners, whereas the Railsback and Grimm book is really a textbook. It is aimed at helping faculty members develop a course in ABM/IBM; it also would be a good place for anyone trying to break into this kind of work to “learn the ropes”.

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