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4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
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2 star
3%
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5%
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Salvador Vallejo
3.0 out of 5 stars had high expectations and I wasn't disappointed. However
Reviewed in the United States on April 18, 2018
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The idea of the book is very interesting and is filled with examples and anecdotes which help clarify the concept and its implications. It is very interesting how such an important concept with clear implications in multiple contexts has flown under the radar by academics and professionals. I have read other books by the same author, had high expectations and I wasn't disappointed. However, I cannot stop thinking that it could have been written in half the pages.His mix of informal prose, references to classic literature, self-congratulation, grandiose explanations, and real-world stories are tiring at some points. It took me much longer to read than usual because I often got saturated with his style. It sat at my table for months while I read four other books in-between.

I wish there were a way to give more nuance when assigning starts to a review. 5 starts to what the book is about, 1 star to how is written.
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StraightShooter
1.0 out of 5 stars This Author Is Just Too Full of Himself
Reviewed in the United States on August 26, 2019
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This author is just too full of himself. Some years ago I started Black Swan but gave up midway because there was just too much self-congratulation over his rather limited insight that “the future is unpredictable”.

This book is more of the same, only worse.

From one paragraph to the next, odd “Ripley’s Believe It or Not” factoids and impenetrable/simplistic metaphors are thrown at you, with little pretense at logical sequence. (Taleb tries to explain away the lack of continuity by saying that he’s really writing four different books here, and that in fact, all his past books form a grand oeuvre which you must read the entirety of to appreciate.) Taleb pontificates - hands down the truth from his pulpit - on one subject after another; to underscore his erudition, every few pages he throws in a phrase in Latin or French that he then translates - for the benefit of the less-erudite-than-him readers - into English. It’s tiresome and even a bit sad, like hearing someone at a cocktail party trying to impress you with her social credentials.

The final takeaways? Embrace randomness and unpredictability. Be wary of over-regulation (obsessive attempts to prepare against the unpredictable). The French over-regulate and are successful but can’t in the end be considered to over-regulate because many of the French are really not French anyway [absolutely sic]. It is better to be poor and indifferent (have no goals) because then you cannot be harmed by life’s vicissitudes. If you don’t understand my point [implies Taleb] it’s because you’re stupid, and if you protest my inability to express a simple, clear, and understandable thought, I will just walk out on you [as he proudly recounted doing when a radio talk host asked him to explain something better].

In sum, this book is nothing but the random musings and rants of a windbag.
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Megan H
4.0 out of 5 stars A begrudging fan.
Reviewed in the United States on May 29, 2015
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Oh, Taleb. You make it so hard to not use vulgar language in my review.

This book, which introduces and describes the concept of antifragility, is pretty revolutionary. Few books have fundamentally changed the way I think about the world, and this is one of them. My understanding of risk and how to address it has shifted dramatically, and the application of the concepts discussed has yielded surprising results.

That being said, the author is as pretentious as they come. Expect a lot of fancy-pants language for no reason other than to show off, and off-topic stories to illustrate just how much better than the rest of mankind Taleb is.

For example, “We gave the appellation ‘antifragile’ to such a package; a neologism was necessary as there is no simple, noncompound word in the Oxford English Dictionary that expresses the point of reverse fragility.”

*facepalm*

It is a frustrating read to say the least. It took me a couple months to slog through this book because of how frequently I wanted to punch Taleb in the teeth, but the content is 100% worth it.
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Amazon Customer
2.0 out of 5 stars I'm in the other group
Reviewed in the United States on January 11, 2019
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Some people rave about this author and his ability to challenge conventional thought. Others complain about his drawn out and stream of consciousness writing style. I'm in the group that found his writing style so distasteful to read that his content was lost on me. I enjoyed the ideas he shared and his point of view. Yet his verbose and negative writing style made it impossible for me to want to read beyond the first 1/3 of the book. My time was more valuable.
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OscarWildeDog
5.0 out of 5 stars You Get From This Book What You Put Into It
Reviewed in the United States on June 4, 2017
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This is the type of book which truly requires some introspection and reflection on your part. You cannot take this at face value and read it truly as a work of nonfiction. While you are reading, you must imagine how antifragility and all its domains work in your particular life and lifestyle. As Taleb relates at the end of his book, look around you – what is fragile and antifragile? What likes volatility; what dislikes uncertainty? And do you yourself like variation and disorder? That means you are truly alive.

I haven't read many reviews for this book. However, I am sure that there will be a few who will complain about the grammar and syntax Taleb uses when writing the book. While disconcerting at times, you have to look past it. I wouldn't say this about most any author. In a weird sort of way, the variation in grammar and syntax truly makes you more of an antifragile reader! You are more inclined to go back and re-read many of the passages; you are encouraged to take notes. And, like most any book which is worth it's salt, it deserves a second and a third reading to truly grasp the full meaning of what the author is trying to convey.
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Top reviews from other countries

Ed209
2.0 out of 5 stars I loved Fooled by Randomness and the Black Swan
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 18, 2018
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I loved Fooled by Randomness and the Black Swan, but this follow up is disappointing. There's two reasons for this. the first is that Taleb seems to have explained his key thoughts in those earlier books, and there's little new material here. The second is that Taleb suffers from what I would call 'Harry Potter Syndrome', in that as he's become more popular editors seem more reluctant to take a scalpel to his work (actually he repeatedly voices his disdain for editors). The result of this is 500 pages of rambling thoughts, and it's hard to get to the end of it let alone draw any conclusions. I feel bad criticising Taleb as his earlier books made a huge impression on me, but this just isn't up the same standards. Hopefully his publishers will lay down the law next time and insist on a more active editor.
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Karl Chama
2.0 out of 5 stars Like swimming in an ocean of words and contempt
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 7, 2019
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I really, really wanted to like this book.

I tried to read it and stick with it - I genuinely did. But Taleb literally was repeating the same thing over and over again to the point I thought that there had been an error in printing. The author's disdain towards other academics and scholars using terms like the "Soviet-Harvard illusion" was quite off-putting and his use of "big-words-for-big-words-sake" really started to chafe.

Honestly, I think that the ideas presented in the book are fantastic and worthy of praise but his tone, hubris and diatribes against others made the book unreadable.

I've put it down and I won't pick it up again. What a shame.
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Kevin Ramsey
5.0 out of 5 stars interrupted by "wow I never thought of it like that before"
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 25, 2017
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It's hard to know where to stop when talking about this book. Some books are described as life changing, but are not. This one really is. I will never look at any aspect of my life again in quite the same way. I wish I'd read it years ago. I'm now buying it for my (adult) children. It can become a struggle to read at times but if it does, put it down and come back to it. Having said that most of the book is compulsive and humorous reading, interrupted by "wow I never thought of it like that before". I would however recommend reading "The Black Swan" first as I think you might miss the point of this book, at least initially, if you don't.
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AK
4.0 out of 5 stars The author is certainly highly erudite and makes some excellent points but does so in a relatively wayward fashion
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 7, 2016
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If you have read any of the previous Taleb books, such as  The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable  or  Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets  you are most likely not in for a surprise. The author is certainly highly erudite and makes some excellent points but does so in a relatively blunt and confrontational manner (explaining the number of reviews giving alternatively 1 or 5 stars).

In the current book he discusses the concept of anti-fragility, i.e. a feature of systems that benefit, rather than get harmed by unpredictability. There are lots of good points made and I certainly buy into the concept. We do tend to be fooled by randomness (pun intended) and do tend to discount rare events - much to our detriment.

Where the success of the book will depend on the disposition of the reader much more, is it's typically Taleb style. He is confrontational and that to an extent where quite some readers may be put off. While this does not bother me generally, I find that he actually belabored the point somewhat too much and that the book would definitely benefit from an abridgement to something like 300 pages. While I did not find any part of the book completely replaceable, the point does get a bit too repetitive after a while.

If you want to get much of the content in a less confrontational, and slimmer volume, I recommend you try  A Perfect Mess: The Hidden Benefits Of Disorder  first. If, however you have enjoyed his previous work, do go for it by all means - he is much the same (perhaps even a tad more extreme) as always and the content is certainly worthwhile.
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Nathik
5.0 out of 5 stars Read and become Anti Fragile
Reviewed in India on April 21, 2017
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If you had read "The Black Swan" or if you follow Nicholas Nassim Taleb on twitter, you are probably aware that many people find his style to be arrogant, pompous and cantankerous. And yet you will find there is a significantly group of individuals who love and values his insights and style of writing. Anti fragile is a hard book to summarise and categorise. (It cut across different domains like anthropology, economics, medicine, history, religion). Let me try to summarise the content nonetheless.

What is Anti fragile? Many things/institutions/individuals are fragile to volatility. Like a vase which is fragile and breaks if it falls. What is the opposite of fragile? Many think that the opposite of fragile is robust. (Things which are unaffected by volatility). But Taleb says things which gains from volatility is the opposite and he calls it Anti Fragile. We may be intellectually blind to it not organically blind. Example: Hormesis, favourable response to small dose of toxins.

Below are some interesting insights from the book.
In Book one:
Domain independence is domain dependence. Meaning one may be aware X is true in a specific domain and completely blind to the same X in a different domain.
Stress is information. Information is anti fragile. Therefore stress is anti fragile. It is said that best horses lose when they compete with slower ones. If you want something to be done give to the busiest or second busiest person in work.
Touristification of life: Eliminating randomness in life by trying too much to control life makes us fragile. You may find people who do well in academica to be boring. Hence erudition is anti fragile and academia is fragile.

In Book two:
Bottom up design is anti fragile because it has a lot of median variation. Top to bottom design is fragile because it has extreme variation. Therefore some form of volatility is good.
The Great Turkey problem: fooled by the properties of the past and getting the story backward. Turkey is fed everyday by the butcher; everyday it confirms its staff analyst that the butcher loves turkey. Then comes a day when it's not a good idea to be a turkey. Therefore ABSENCE OF EVIDENCES IS NOT EVIDENCE OF ABSENCE.
Modernity is the systematic extraction of humans from the randomness of life. Like a lion in bronx zoo.
Intervention causes iatrogenics. Go for intervention only when the benefits outweighs the cost. Therefore only for extreme scenarios.

In Book three:
Having a library is anti fragile.
Introduces Stoicism, Seneca the practical stoic and the domestification of emotions.
Barbell strategy is the domestic of uncertainty. Instead of going for mid risk options, use 80% conservative risk and 20% extreme risk. In the event of black swan, you will be protected from fragility.

In Book four:
Make use of optionality. Option= asymmetric + rationality.
Negatives of Soviet-Harvard types knowledge. Debunks some common misconceptions of Academia. Example wealth creates knowledge and not the other way around.

Book five is for those who are technically inclined.

In Book Six:
Less is more. Importance of Subtractive knowledge. You get rich by not going bust.

In Book Seven:
Being ethical makes you anti fragile.
Modernity provides talkers (Journalists and Economists)free option. Example Thomas Friedman openly advocate the war on Iraq (2003) .Despite all his predictions and advocacies were spectacularly wrong, he doesn't face any consequences of his action. The ancients were aware of the talker's free option and advocated skin in the game.
Hammurabi code written in 1750BC Mesopotamia advocates skin in the game.
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