The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

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sequoia

Sun, May 16 2010, 12:47 pm

The most interesting non-fiction book I've read in years.

WriterMom

Sun, May 16 2010, 12:50 pm

I read it last year. I found it very thought-provoking, but while I think his observations about how things work are very apt, I'm not sure how it should translate into reality and action.

Someone told me that, while this is Taleb's book that became a blockbuster, he wrote one earlier that was widely considered better. I'll update if I track it down and read it.

Mrs Bissli

Sun, May 16 2010, 4:35 pm

I had to read (or more acurately skim through) the book a few years ago, it was quite interesting, but my thought was "well, if he's so smart, why didn't he PREDICT that extreme one-off event?" I had a chance to listen to him speak also last year, he was very serene, academic, but didn't really answer questions when audience wanted to know how to construct risk control system that's robust enough to withstand black swan event. Still, it's amazing how the terminology black swan caught on.

WriterMom

Sun, May 16 2010, 5:23 pm

Mrs Bissli wrote:

Yeah, that's very much what I took from it, too. His point - that radical things we can't even imagine happen all the time - is a good one. But I'm not sure what practical applications there are for this, beyond "built systems that are as robust and redundant as possible." But even that is of limited value because that shifts resources that could be used for other things.

sequoia

Mon, May 17 2010, 5:30 pm

We exchanged a couple of emails a while back. He's got this incredible kind of old-world courtesy.

Rollerblades

Mon, May 17 2010, 10:03 pm

Thats the one book I own that I haven't read yet. It's my husband's bathroom book. :-)

Taleb also wrote Fooled by Randomness and ever since I saw the words stock market on the cover I just figured I'll never be interested in anything he wrote.

Ah, if you ladies liked it, I guess I need to add it to my reading list then...

sequoia

Mon, May 17 2010, 10:05 pm

I assure you, it's not about finance Smile

It's a book about philosophy and world-view more than anything.

Rollerblades

Mon, May 17 2010, 10:10 pm

sequoia wrote:

I assure you, it's not about finance Smile

It's a book about philosophy and world-view more than anything.

oooh! *rubs hands together* thats what I get for not even bothering to read the back... It's literally been sitting on top of my toilet tissue box for three years. (Either my husband reads slow or is reading it more than once, or forgot to put it away when he was done.... I didn't ask.)

WriterMom

Mon, May 17 2010, 10:23 pm

Rollerblades wrote:

That's it! That's the one that friends said they thought was even better than The Black Swan. I have too many books to read as it is, but would love to hear what you think if you get around to reading the bathroom version Smile

Rollerblades

Tue, May 18 2010, 1:14 pm

WriterMom wrote:

Rollerblades wrote:

Blegh! Are you serious??? You want me to read a book on the stock market?! I'm just going to ask the hubby if it was good.

I'm still working my way through the young adult section of the library. I figure I have the rest of my life to grow up...

But I"ll crack the cover for you- if you dont hear from me in a while you'll know im taking extended bathroom breaks...

sequoia

Tue, May 18 2010, 3:15 pm

I flipped through it at Borders yesterday -- it didn't seem very interesting. NNT said in an interview that when he wrote The Black Swan, he just rewrote his first book more elegantly Smile

(and nobody except his editor noticed).

Rollerblades, I suggest you start with TBS, and tell us what you think!

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