The Bed of Procrustes: Philosophical and Practical Aphorisms

While this a good listen and full of little wisdoms, you'll want the hard bound book near your desk as a reference piece. I can see using many of these aphorisms as quotes in presentations. Lots of great stuff hear but better in book form.

Awesome book with thought provoking insights. Well read with clear audio. I enjoyed listening to this book but then went out and bought a hard copy. Each aphorism is captivating in its own way. Each sentence is its own story. To plow through them in a non-stop narrative means that a lot will be missed. To truly benefit from this work, you need to read it slowly. The optimal way to absorb this book would be to have a hard copy at the bedside and read just a few aphorisms each night.

This book has some words of wisdom that will make you think and perhaps make you a little bit wiser as well. We try to make complex situations fit in some of our pre concieved notions and in our arrogance and lack of humility leads use to chaotic results.

While this a good listen and full of little wisdoms, you'll want the hard bound book near your desk as a reference piece. I can see using many of these aphorisms as quotes in presentations. Lots of great stuff hear but better in book form.

This book has no story to it at ALL. It's rather a collection of different 1-2 sentence assertions (aphorisms). It was lots of fun to read, but lacks any sort of storyline.

i would listen to it again and again to gain a better insight into my own life and the lifes of the people around me

the idea that we are changing our children to fit the educational system instead of changing the educational system to fit our children!!!

Procrustes!! violent murderer!

to be a epidemiologist! a skeptic!

thanks Taleb... you have made me a better options trader, friend, and element of society!

Nassim Nicholas Taleb, I love this guys no BS outlook on life, and admire the Genius. My only complaint is that it was not narrated by Mr. Taleb. It's not the Black Swan, but almost equally entertaining, if he had read it.

Somewhere in the middle. It's a short listen, so I don't feel like I wasted my time or money, but I have to admit that it's my least favorite of his three books. *That said, I loved his other two books, and only like this one. So saying it's my least favorite isn't a harsh indictment of it.

The entire book is aphorisms. Just short, little, sentences about observations Taleb has made. Some are really insightful, some are pretty stupid.

Really insightful:
"For the robust, an error is information; for the fragile, an error is an error."

Pretty stupid:
"Never say 'no' twice."

Yes.

Check out the preview. If you like it, there's lots more just like it. If you don't, then save your credit. I think this book will divide between "like it a lot" and "wow that's dumb." I am in the first camp; my wife in the latter.

I can understand why some people just don't get what Taleb is talking about.

He is most known for preaching about the dangers if black swans. But in opposition to modern writings about risk management or economy, he doesn't offer any complex mathematical models (he doesn't offer any equations by the way), and he does not present the reader with a quick guide about how NOT the get in a big mess you will regret.

Taleb on the other hand takes a very philosophical posture, advising the reader to think about the problem how it really is, and not how we wish it to be (platonicity). And I'm sure many people find disturbing that they won't find straight answers in his books.

stick it to the Man: He is one of the few authors I've read that defies the system and authorities openly says what he thinks are wrong with the whole, in a healthy way. If that is even possible. As himself puts in The Black Swan, When someone asks him does he manage to cross a street being so much risk adverse,he replies that everyone must cross dangerous streets sometimes, but at least he won't do it BLINDFOLDED.

After re-reading my review I realize that my review is not just about this book but all his books as a whole. I recommend reading them all, the Bed of Proscrutes being a good summary of his ideas of the Black Swan and Fooled by Randomness

This is an excellent book although perhaps not suited to listening, it is short and hinges on one sentence aphorisms which would probably be better read one at a time and pondered. To hear them consecutively as in a list is intriguing, and simply gives on a desire to experience the printed book.