http://press.princeton.edu/titles/8435.html

http://www.amazon.com/Snipers-Shills-Sharks-Human-Behavior/dp/0691127131>

Princeton University Press has released a new book by Ken Stieglitz, a professor of computer science at Princeton. His book, “Snipers, Shills, and Sharks: eBay and Human Behavior” is being marketed as an introduction to auction theory in the form of a mass market book about eBay. The book’s introduction, available on Amazon.com, outlines the differences between ascending and descending bid auctions, first-price and second price, and begins to explain some of the features unique to eBay. For example, a “Dutch auction” on eBay is different than the traditional meaning of the term in auction theory, and Stieglitz doesn’t know why eBay chose to use the term to mean something different. The introduction also talks about the history of auction theory, which is a relatively young field, less than 50 years old. The book would probably serve two interesting purposes to students in this class - one, it allows us to look at auction theory in a practical environment instead of simply through models, and two, it gives practical information about eBay behavior that many of us would not have known. The connection between why people make choices the way they do in auctions (human behavior) and the mechanics of the auctions themselves (auction theory) looks like it would be fascinating reading.