What if, instead of adding things to compensate for the woes of the world, we subtract.

Taleb makes a strong argument for... Well, makes several strong arguments. From via negativa to a bit of dietary advice that's more eloquently put here than in any fad diet book, there's all sorts of observations and arguments that can change your life once you embrace what they mean. Do you understand optionality, and the importance of shocks to systems? Do you benefit more from walking a mile or running a mile? What defining characteristic is missing from "paleo diet"? Why do bones strengthen from use but porcelain doesn't?

And you might even get a feel for why humans will always pilot passenger airplanes from the flight deck, no matter how much the MBA's in the office want to do away with them.

Innovative, fascinating, life-changing

Freakonomics - because they both challenge our view of the world and show how what we think might be true, frequently isn't.

His style is unusual although well matched to the book. I enjoyed it and as with the best Audible books, the experience of listening to the book has far more impact than reading the book.

That chaos breeds flexibility.

I listened to this book 4-5 months ago and I find myself still thinking about it. There is a lot of very profound insight here and it is a book that I will re-listen to.

Black Swan is the Masterpiece by Taleb.
This book is a massive "Reversion toward the Mean".
A Total And Utter Tour de Force of Horseshit, on a massive list of subject's Taleb is utterly incompetent, holding neophyte status in.

Too many times, the vast majority of times Taleb enters subject areas assuming incompetence in the field based in his limited knowledge of the field, from diet to diabetes. Nassim assumes incompetence he may have read from the editorial pages of the WSJ, but not the actual journals of the subjects he discusses.

Just one example, on the one hand he ridicules the NY 20 oz soda ban, no the other he assumes dietitians and pediatricians don't know the dangers of juices and sodas.

He attacks "liberal" economists who generally agree with his proposals, as if Stiglitz doesn't know "Agency" problems, and hasn't railed against them, as Taleb himself has.

This book is a massive attack on "Straw Men", things that aren't true and no one believes.
At Total Waste of your Time and Money.

if you wish to read Taleb, competent in his subject matter, buy Black Swan.

Yes, of course - Taleb is writing some of the most applicable and important information available.

Fooled By Randomness and The Black Swan are the first two parts of what might as well be a trilogy.

N/A

N/A

I'm curious if I was to purchase the book in book form - would Random House have felt the need to protect me from the occasional expletives that are scattered throughout the text to emphasize a point? Because they did with the audio book. Not only did they bleep out anything likely to be considered offensive to a child or maiden aunt of the nineteenth century, they bleeped it out with a BLEEP that is 3-4 times as loud as the rest of the audio - just so you'll be really aware that they protected your delicate ears from the bad words. This has the effect of taking one completely out of the book. The first time it happened was with the word 'bullsh*t' - a pretty innocuous word in this day and age - and I had to rewind half a dozen times to prove to my disbelieving mind that that had really happened. the answer was yes: someone - some pathetic, pewling, pustule at Random House felt that I couldn't be trusted to hear the word 'bullsh*t' without driving off the road in a fit of adolescent angst. I spent the next several minutes in a near-paroxysm of rage that I had been misled into believing I was purchasing the unedited, un-bowdlerized words of an author who - among other things - is one of the leading proponents of what are commonly termed libertarian values. You know, freedom and sh*t. If RH wanted to censor the f*cking book, they should fucking come right out and say so instead of pretending they didn't. I'm deeply offended by this behavior and sincerely hope that Taleb or his agent hears of it and is able to rectify it. Shame on Random House.

That would not be possible.

There are no other books in this genre.

Nothing

Hope.

There is more original thinking on each page of this book than can be found in most libraries.

We predict trivia (implying we shouldn't be, but instead put some effort into coping with the antifragile events in life).

It provides answers to the issues brought up by The Black Swan, but you need not read TBS to gain from this book.

n/a

Haven't finished yet, but the basic premise of the book is what has "grabbed" me thus far (I plod slowly through books like this, but it makes it more helpful that way).

Thank you for bleeping the profanity. (I would've preferred silence to a beep, though.)

Taleb has been my favorite author the past 3 years running. I found this latest piece to be another well thought through, consequential, mind bender in the tradition of his previous Black Swan and Fooled by Randomness instalments. My only misgivings with this present work is his medical assertions e.g. describing ADHD kids as needing to be let out of their cage, or his experience of overcoming a back injury without needing surgery. For anyone in my field these arguments erode his credibility as much as Jenny McCarthy claiming immunizations cause autism. He would have been well served to discuss his medical ideas with my peers prior to putting pen to paper or stick to examples from his field of expertise in finance. Otherwise, another bloody good book!

Randomness.

N/A

N/A

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes.
This is one of the best books I have read in a long time. It deals with a difficult subject honestly and prompted me to think about the issues surrounding quality of life. Be warned, not a book to read on public transport unless you don't mind having an emotional melt down in public!!

The fictional Characters in the book might throw you off at first, but as the book moves along it really helps you follow his talking points and makes the book very enjoyable given it relatively dry subject matter

Very well read!

The majority of the book goes over blind spots or subjective fallacies that the majority of the population holds. He makes you aware of these blinds spots in a very methodical way using great examples that will definitively stick with you.

Three general thoughts about this book:

1. It was generally interesting (although not concise), and made me think about investments in new ways.

2. He claims that his "antifragile" idea is so original, there is no word for it in any of the major languages. The problem with this claim is that any serious student of the Bible will recognize his "new" idea as the old "refiner's fire." Difficulties and hardships help us to grow and improve.

3. It would be better to read this book. LIstening when driving in traffic makes it difficult to give it the level of concentration it deserves.

Finally, he must have been dropped on his head by an academic when he was a baby. He has a level of animosity towards them that makes me grin, but seems unjustified.