This author is just too full of himself. Some years ago I started Black Swan but gave up midway because there was just too much self-congratulation over his rather limited insight that “the future is unpredictable”.
This book is more of the same, only worse.
From one paragraph to the next, odd “Ripley’s Believe It or Not” factoids and impenetrable/simplistic metaphors are thrown at you, with little pretense at logical sequence. (Taleb tries to explain away the lack of continuity by saying that he’s really writing four different books here, and that in fact, all his past books form a grand oeuvre which you must read the entirety of to appreciate.) Taleb pontificates - hands down the truth from his pulpit - on one subject after another; to underscore his erudition, every few pages he throws in a phrase in Latin or French that he then translates - for the benefit of the less-erudite-than-him readers - into English. It’s tiresome and even a bit sad, like hearing someone at a cocktail party trying to impress you with her social credentials.
The final takeaways? Embrace randomness and unpredictability. Be wary of over-regulation (obsessive attempts to prepare against the unpredictable). The French over-regulate and are successful but can’t in the end be considered to over-regulate because many of the French are really not French anyway [absolutely sic]. It is better to be poor and indifferent (have no goals) because then you cannot be harmed by life’s vicissitudes. If you don’t understand my point [implies Taleb] it’s because you’re stupid, and if you protest my inability to express a simple, clear, and understandable thought, I will just walk out on you [as he proudly recounted doing when a radio talk host asked him to explain something better].
In sum, this book is nothing but the random musings and rants of a windbag.
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![Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder (Incerto Book 3) by [Nassim Nicholas Taleb]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/412CsqHl9eL._SY346_.jpg)
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Popular Highlights in this book
Antifragility is beyond resilience or robustness. The resilient resists shocks and stays the same; the antifragile gets better.Highlighted by 6,345 Kindle readers- The excess energy released from overreaction to setbacks is what innovates!Highlighted by 5,128 Kindle readers
- At no point in history have so many non-risk-takers, that is, those with no personal exposure, exerted so much control. The chief ethical rule is the following: Thou shalt not have antifragility at the expense of the fragility of others.Highlighted by 2,378 Kindle readers
From the Publisher
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| Skin in the Game | The Black Swan, Second Edition | Fooled by Randomness | The Bed of Procrustes | Incerto, Deluxe Box Set | |
| A bold work from the author of The Black Swan that challenges many of our long-held beliefs about risk and reward, politics and religion, finance and personal responsibility. | The most influential book of the past seventy-five years: a groundbreaking exploration of everything we know about what we don’t know, now with a new section called “On Robustness and Fragility.” | An investigation about luck–or more precisely, about how we perceive and deal with luck in life and business. | With a rare combination of pointed wit and potent wisdom, Taleb plows through human illusions, contrasting the classical values of courage, elegance, and erudition against the modern diseases of nerdiness, philistinism, and phoniness. | The Incerto Series is an investigation of opacity, luck, uncertainty, probability, human error, risk, and decision making when we don’t understand the world. Makes the perfect gift for the perpetually curious. |
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Customer reviews
Taleb’s masterpiece so far. I loved it and plan to re-read again, this time taking detailed notes.
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Top reviews from other countries
Ed209
I loved Fooled by Randomness and the Black Swan
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 18, 2018Karl Chama
Like swimming in an ocean of words and contempt
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 7, 2019Kevin Ramsey
interrupted by "wow I never thought of it like that before"
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 25, 2017AK
The author is certainly highly erudite and makes some excellent points but does so in a relatively wayward fashion
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 8, 2016Customers who viewed this item also viewed
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