• Antifragile

  • Things That Gain from Disorder
  • By: Nassim Nicholas Taleb
  • Narrated by: Joe Ochman
  • Length: 16 hrs and 14 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (7,888 ratings)

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Antifragile  By  cover art

Antifragile

By: Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Narrated by: Joe Ochman
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Publisher's summary

From the best-selling author of The Black Swan and one of the foremost thinkers of our time, Nassim Nicholas Taleb, a book on how some things actually benefit from disorder.

In The Black Swan Taleb outlined a problem, and in Antifragile he offers a definitive solution: how to gain from disorder and chaos while being protected from fragilities and adverse events. For what Taleb calls the "antifragile" is actually beyond the robust, because it benefits from shocks, uncertainty, and stressors, just as human bones get stronger when subjected to stress and tension. The antifragile needs disorder in order to survive and flourish.

Taleb stands uncertainty on its head, making it desirable, even necessary, and proposes that things be built in an antifragile manner. The antifragile is immune to prediction errors. Why is the city-state better than the nation-state, why is debt bad for you, and why is everything that is both modern and complicated bound to fail? The audiobook spans innovation by trial and error, health, biology, medicine, life decisions, politics, foreign policy, urban planning, war, personal finance, and economic systems. And throughout, in addition to the street wisdom of Fat Tony of Brooklyn, the voices and recipes of ancient wisdom, from Roman, Greek, Semitic, and medieval sources, are heard loud and clear.

Extremely ambitious and multidisciplinary, Antifragile provides a blueprint for how to behave - and thrive - in a world we don't understand, and which is too uncertain for us to even try to understand and predict. Erudite and witty, Taleb’s message is revolutionary: What is not antifragile will surely perish.

Please note: The bleeps in the audio are intentional and are as written by the author. No material is censored, and no audio content is missing.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2012 Nassim Nicholas Taleb (P)2012 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"[This] is the lesson of Taleb...and also the lesson of our volatile times. There is more courage and heroism in defying the human impulse, in taking the purposeful and painful steps to prepare for the unimaginable." (Malcolm Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point)

"[Taleb writes] in a style that owes as much to Stephen Colbert as it does to Michel de Montaigne." (The Wall Street Journal)

"The most prophetic voice of all.... [Taleb is] a genuinely significant philosopher...someone who is able to change the way we view the structure of the world through the strength, originality and veracity of his ideas alone." (GQ)

What listeners say about Antifragile

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Arrogantly offputting.... if he wasn't so smart.

Where does Antifragile rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Unique perspective with real utility. Top quartile.

What was the most compelling aspect of this narrative?

Applying a scientific and intelligent rationale for traditionalism.

What about Joe Ochman’s performance did you like?

Read with believably conceited indignation which would have been off-putting were it not earned and justified.

If you could give Antifragile a new subtitle, what would it be?

"I spit in your general direction"

Any additional comments?

As a physician and leader, I'm drawn to innovative ideas that can guide our work and lives in a healthier and more fulfilling manner. Taleb's principles provide a compelling counter to our tendency to over-engineer and "fragilize" our lives and businesses. Resonant.

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4 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • DS
  • 01-14-13

vintage Taleb

I've read all his books and, like all the others, I feel lost for the first chapter and then... it starts to click and I understand what he's talking about. Really interesting smack down of economic icons and I couldn't agree more. "Skin in the game" doesn't guarantee good results but it does keep one honest. I highly recommend this book but, unfortunately the politicians who need to read this probably won't.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Does he even know the definition of anti-fragile?

What would have made Antifragile better?

This is an arrogant and incoherent book and there were many misrepresentations of historical trends. He makes analogies that don't stand. A waste of money and time. My intellect was crying.

What do you think your next listen will be?

Ulysses.

How could the performance have been better?

Very snide.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Antifragile?

All of it.

Any additional comments?

There were some interesting facts about history.

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3 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Good concept that falls way short

This could have been a very good book from a conceptual standpoint, but what seems to be the author's own arrogance gets in the way and makes it hard to trust the key principles being advocated. The idea that this needed to be a collection of multiple "books" instead of simply chapters addressing different themes was the most striking evidence of the author's penchant for self-aggrandizement. The author also likes to invent terms repeatedly described as "...what I like to call..." which get's annoying. I'd recommend this book for highly intellectual readers who aren't distracted by the kinds of frustrations I've expressed here. This is a difficult book to follow, and I found myself annoyed within the first hour of listening. Still, it may be worth taking a shot at reading this because the concept is really good and holds some promise.

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2 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

This is a really great book

This book guides very through many things that benifit through chaos. i still havent figured out how to download the pdf with the charts yet. if anyone knows id greatly appreciate it.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Dense Books, Not People

This book is dense. I cannot wait to listen to it a second and third time because I know the revelations will keep coming. I am a newbie when it comes to Taleb's writing. I have not read or listened to his other writings. I found this book not only satisfying, but provocative. And it lives up to Talib's description as a book that is not an addendum to previous writing. I highly recommend a listen!

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2 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Must

It is very hard to accept all the ideas presented in this book (or any of Taleb's books) but that is an author that makes you think about and challenge everything he comes across. An instant classic.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

All of Taleb's main ideas pieced toghter

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Ever since i read fooled by randomness, I've read and recommended all of Taleb's books. He is the master of anti bulls*h*i*t.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Antifragile?

The most memorable moment of Taleb's books are as usual his conclusions and afterwords. It is like listening to the wise Grandfather I never had.

When he explains his ideas on antifragility is also very interresting because the concept has been around all his previous books, but it is the first time he explains in a way I feel like I really get his point.

Any additional comments?

Taleb writes about what he wants to write about, he does not just say it as you listen his book you can feel he is not constrain about anything because he really say what is on his mind and curses very often

A few times it's gets boring when he rumbles on and on about the same subject, but his message is so universal that this could even be a philosophy book though I'm sure the author woudn't agree to that.

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Excellent example of the Dunning Kruger Effect

Mr Taleb is a bright fellow who has made a lot of money in Finance. I know very little about Finance or Business. But I do know a lot about Science, Medicine , and especially Bone Density mechanisms. Taleb speaks with dismissive pseudo authority on several subjects- which demonstrates with clarity his lack of grasp of the depth of those issues outside his domain. He reverse cherry picks (find the worst) episodes of medicine and other areas to make his claim of injury- which is dwarfed in the light of the greater picture. He thinks science is a large book of facts used to drive ideas- it is just the opposite. Science is a method of evaluation of an idea. A type of epistemology.
His claim that it is industry that comes up with new cures, not academia, shows his shallow understanding of the system. Academics spend decades turning over a thousand thought Rocks to find the few that work or advance understanding. It is then that Industry grabs an idea & makes money.
That said, his repackaging of Nietzsche's What Doesn't Kill You- into "Antifragility" may be useful in discussion in response to the current celebration of Fragility. it's done better elsewhere

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

So sad!

I am very sad. I did not love this book. I wanted to love it so much because the main idea is very interesting and impressive to me. The author used an example after example of things that did not really make sense and things that did not really flow well and connected to each other’well. Most examples did not even make any sense and most of the times I really had no clue where he was coming from and where he was going. I was patiently listening and waiting for him to get to the point in which I would understand, how to apply some of his theories, but I had to give up.

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