Fooled by Randomness

By: Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Narrated by: Sean Pratt

Length: 10 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's Summary

This audiobook is about luck, or more precisely, how we perceive and deal with luck in life and business. It is already a landmark work and its title has entered our vocabulary. In its second edition, Fooled by Randomness is now a cornerstone for anyone interested in random outcomes.

Set against the backdrop of the most conspicuous forum in which luck is mistaken for skill, the world of trading, this audiobook is a captivating insight into one of the least understood factors of all our lives. In an entertaining narrative style, the author succeeds in tackling three major intellectual issues: the problem of induction, the survivorship biases, and our genetic unfitness to the modern word. Taleb uses stories and anecdotes to illustrate our overestimation of causality and the heuristics that make us view the world as far more explainable than it actually is.

The audiobook is populated with an array of characters, some of whom have grasped, in their own way, the significance of chance: Yogi Berra, the baseball legend; Karl Popper, the philosopher of knowledge; Solon, the ancient world's wisest man; the modern financier George Soros; and the Greek voyager Ulysses. We also meet the fictional Nero, who seems to understand the role of randomness in his professional life, but who also falls victim to his own superstitious foolishness.

But the most recognizable character remains unnamed, the lucky fool in the right place at the right time - the embodiment of the "Survival of the Least Fit". Such individuals attract devoted followers who believe in their guru's insights and methods. But no one can replicate what is obtained through chance.

It may be impossible to guard against the vagaries of the Goddess Fortuna, but after listening to Fooled by Randomness we can be a little better prepared.

©2004 Nassim Nicholas Taleb (P)2008 Gildan Media Corp

Critic Reviews

"[Taleb is] Wall Street's principal dissident....[ Fooled by Randomness] is to conventional Wall Street wisdom approximately what Martin Luther's ninety-nine theses were to the Catholic Church." (Malcolm Gladwell, The New Yorker)
"An articulate, wise, and humorous meditation on the nature of success and failure that anyone who wants a little more of the former would do well to consider." (Amazon.com)

Pass on this one and read The Black Swan

Taleb's master work and must read is The Black Swan (not the movie) and it's amazing. This is a sparse shadow of that book.

Fun to listen to

Many reviews of this book point out that the author is arrogant, and I agree, but
this arrogance probably comes from his insecurity of, after all, still being in the
financial industry that he seems to despise. He cannot get out of it.
The issue of "fooled by randomness" applies to so many aspects of life,
not just financial industry. There are some insightful comments in the book.
If you expect to learn many things from this book,
you may be disappointed. For the first couple of hours, his snideness and arrogance
bothered me, but then I began to enjoy listening to this frustrated flawed character
who occasionally speaks truth in a tragicomedy style.

useless rant

general observation of life on level of teenager mindset. what was the point to state trivial baseless assumptions? pointless blablabla

an author high on his own ego.

The narration is excellent but the book itself is poor. The author seems to think that his own original thoughts are superior to published research anywhere the argument is remotely possible. The only thing more annoying in reading such is the faux humility he attempts to dress it in while he argues that he should not be responsible for covering conventional literature, and simultaneously dismissing it

An Excellent and Worthwhile Book

An interesting book that is enlivened by stories of various traders and insults targeted at journalists, economists, MBAs, and philistines in general. He comes off as kind of arrogant and condesending but since I'm too thick to understand that he's talking about me, I find the irreverent tone rather enjoyable. He does a great job on a difficult topic.

Commentary too random and disjointed

What disappointed you about Fooled by Randomness?

The theme was both disorganized and too narrowly focused on financial traders? It lacked specific real world cases and examples.

very entertaining and eye opening

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

This is not only entertaining, but enlightening because it illustrates with easily understandable examples, how randomness affects all of us whether we realize it or not. By applying the principles to our own lives, we may be able to understand our behavior and behavior of others better while giving us an advantage over others who do not understand these things. The author is clever in using illustrations to depict some complex statistical ideas and he does so in a very practical and understandable way that even non-math people can understand.
This is not a dry mathematical book but a very enjoyable read/listen. I kept coming back to it again and again just like any good book that keeps you going until it is finished. I enjoyed The Black Swan and this book is no disappointment - definitely recommend.

If you could give Fooled by Randomness a new subtitle, what would it be?

Things you might not realize were randomness and how you deal with it in your life.

Great information but...

I really enjoyed the ideas put forward in this book and I think it is very important that randomness and statistics be better understood in society. That said, the author of the book is long-winded, imperious, and extremely self focused. "I" is the most common word used throughout the book while the author disdains his fellow traders on Wall Street, his fellow MBA's, and his fellow academics.

If you can get past the author, the ideas and information of the book is worth the effort.

interesting book

An interesting book from a very cocky author. Taleb hits important points. I believe if I had read this book earlier in my life, it could have saved me from some of the mistakes that I made. The book is a must for any trader given that it works like a medicin to desinflate one's ego. Still, I believe that the author overestimates the impact of randomness, but just by making the reader aware of its presence and importance, makes it worthwhile the read!!!!!

Love this author!

Taleb is the author who most stimulates my questions about randomness and probability at the moment.

Self righteous rambling

While the book may read well this unfortunately doesn't translate into a good audiobook. It comes across as very self righteous as he sneers at the mere mortals who don't appreciate randomness. Furthermore this book lacks any kind of structure and seems to be a collection of thoughts as they've come into the author's head. I was very disappointed

Excellent book, but patience is required

This book (and much of Taleb’s writing) attract an unnecessary amount of negative backlash. Yes, his books can often steer into being the ramblings of someone socially awkward, with a chip on their shoulder - but don’t let this distraction put you off reading this book. I found the narration to be okay - though somewhat dry. The editing of this book is also bizarre (it feels like there has been no editing), quite often themes are mentioned out of nowhere, not expanded upon, and then the subject will change before you understand why. To enjoy Taleb’s style of writing, you should treat it the same as having a long conversation with a friend after a few too many drinks.

The worst book I have ever had

What I have learned from this book: 1) To aviod unfair trails in courts they should be based on probability not the evidence. 2) The author hates journalists 3) All psychologists and neuroscientists are wrong 4) Research can be based on hypothesis not the evidence 5) and the best one RUSSIAN LAW IS COMPLICATED AND PROOF OF THAT ACCORDING TO THE AUTHOR? IT IS DIFFICULT TO SPEAK WITH RUSSIAN LAWYERS DUE TO THEIR FOREIGN ACCENT AND VODKA SMELLING BREATHS!!! (the author didn't clariffy if that also applies if the conversation is in their native Russian)

Pseudo intellectualism

Nassim attempts to criticise other people in his line of work for “scientism” but he himself advocates his idea through this very method. The book at its highest contains high school level knowledge and at its lowest reads like the ranting of a bitter employee jealous that his coworkers are getting ahead of him and waiting for them to fall. There is very little “rigor” that the author espoused in this book aside from an attempt to cherry pick events from unrelated topics to sell his brand of pseudoscience.

Not Much Useful for Value Investors

The only thing that could be useful in this book for value investors is its emphasis of trying to estimate the probability of future (independent of the past) expectations of the prospective security. In my opinion, it's a waste of time and money to buy this book for value investors. There are much better books, such as Invest Like a Guru, that deliver high-quality content, both theoretical and practical.

Oh come on.

Nothing new. Some interesting perspectives, but having listened to it, I feel I’ve been conned. One great truth poorly illustrated.

outstanding!

outstanding book. great narration. loved each idea. the book is an eye opener for everyone.

Mind expanding stuff well delivered.

This is what should be taught in schools, actual thinking, good observation, well presented ideas. The first in the series already I know this is important intelligence. If you enjoyed Thinking Fast and Slow you will love this.

the most happy arrogant man

a 'story', more an experienced opinion than a thorough argument. There are numerous interesting points raised throught the book. but many of them seem to serve this point; that the 'hords' get rich by chance. and 'the well bred' stay alittle rich by safe investments. With the barely unsaid being, he, the writer, is of value dispite how wealthy people in his life have made him feel. worth the read, if you after a pithy introduction to math and probability. but dispite my distaste to his perpective, I appricate some of his insight.

An Important Read

This book highlights important flaws in day to day thinking, at all echelons of business and life.