The Black Swan

bobhubbard1 recommended this 5 months, 3 weeks ago

This is a cautionary tale for everyone who thinks they can takes today's "facts" and predict what is likely to happen tomorrow.

leonsass recommended this 6 months ago

Great book

railroader recommended this 1 year, 2 months ago

The antidote to conventional statistics. Could save your company from bankruptcy. Could have prevented the financial disasters at zombie banks that were (unjustly) bailed out, if their ill-informed managers hadn't been blind worshippers at the altar of the Normal Curve. Could make you fabulously wealthy, if you heed its advice.

jacobcvarghese recommended this 1 year, 6 months ago

This is another one-of-a-kind book. Taleb is awesome. I still feel the Western media has underplayed this book by giving it complements which are not worth the book. It is not just an "interesting read" book. It gives very critical thoughts to an intelligent mind, challenges you like never before, and make you enjoy life to live it to the fullest. Extremely well written, inspiring and applicable

pfletch1023 recommended this 1 year, 6 months ago

So many insights into how the world really works

gavrilobozovic recommended this 1 year, 6 months ago

Incredibly sensible book by one of the rare economists who have their head on their shoulders.

lbiason recommended this 1 year, 6 months ago

Great for engineers and economists. Engineers will love it, economists will hate :)

beneventoboy recommended this 1 year, 8 months ago

Epic

antoniof recommended this 1 year, 8 months ago

Eye-opener

carlos-medina recommended this 1 year, 8 months ago

One of my favorite books.

jbnunn recommended this 1 year, 9 months ago

The Black Swan is a uniquely-crafted look the unexpected catastrophic events (or, “black swans”) that shape our lives and economy. The author, Nassim Taleb, writes with a pompous pen—but with a pomp that can only come with being as educated (and vindicated) as he is. If you have any interest in randomness and/or its affect on markets you’ll like what he’s done here.

Bobseamonster recommended this 1 year, 12 months ago

No, I'm not talking about the movie with Natalie Portman (which is also pretty awesome), but rather the non-fiction book by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. "Black Swans" here are completely revolutionary and unpredictable events that change everything in a given situation. They also make predicting the future based on past events completely futile. Fascinating, and packed with valuable insights.

nandreev recommended this 2 years, 1 month ago

Entertaining, informative, thought provoking. Highly relevant to today, as it seems that the fragile economic framework we have constructed can barely take one black swan at a time.

dsequera recommended this 2 years, 1 month ago

Exceptions are the rule. The rule of large numbers in statistics works well - except when it doesn't - and then it can be disastrous. Outliers can throw a system into chaos. This book got me thinking outside the box.

bretthusbands recommended this 2 years, 6 months ago

Fantastic summary of some overlooked errors in measuring risk
Cons: long for the few points it does make, worth reading a summary.

kmabarrett recommended this 2 years, 7 months ago

Harder to read than Gladwell, but funnier. Taleb explains how the one exception can disprove the rule and the extraordinary negative results this can have.
Cons: Very limited in predictive value.
He doesn't really explain how one fights the urge to keep doubling-down when things start to go bad.