Thomas Schelling is a political economist "conspicuous for wandering" an errant economist. In "Choice and Consequence," he ventures into the area where rationality is ambiguous in order to look at the tricks people use to try to quit smoking or lose weight. He explores topics as awesome as nuclear terrorism, as sordid as blackmail, as ineffable as daydreaming, as intimidating as euthanasia. He examines ethical issues wrapped up in economics, unwrapping the economics to disclose ethical issues that are misplaced or misidentified. With an ingenious, often startling approach Schelling brings new perspectives to problems ranging from drug abuse, abortion, and the value people put on their lives to organized crime, airplane hijacking, and automobile safety. One chapter is a clear and elegant exposition of game theory as a framework for analyzing social problems. Another plays with the hypothesis that our minds are not only our problem-solving equipment but also the organ in which much of our consumption takes place. What binds together the different subjects is the author's belief in the possibility of simultaneously being humane and analytical, of dealing with both the momentous and the familiar. "Choice and Consequence" was written for the curious, the puzzled, the worried, and all those who appreciate intellectual adventure.

托馬斯 C. 謝林（Thomas C. Schelling，1921-）

2005年諾貝爾經濟學奬獲得者，因其在博弈論領域做齣的貢獻而獲奬。

1921年4月14日齣生於美國加利福尼亞洲，於1948年獲哈佛大學經濟學博士學位。謝林重要的理論著作包括《衝突的戰略》《武器與影響》等，與傳統上大量運用數學的博弈論不一樣，其主要研究領域被稱為“非數理博弈”。他的理論和思想不僅運用在經濟學分析中，在外交、軍事領域也深有影響。他的很多觀點後來隨著博弈論的新發展，成為博弈理論中最基本的概念。

他的理論被大量應用在外交、威懾、武力控製和國際援助等國際領域，但是，他的研究靈感卻來自交通阻塞、跟孩子溝通、麵對處罰、提起訴訟和設計會議日程等人們的日常行為。