<p>is a very interesting examination of how human beings make judgments and decisions in conditions of uncertainty. Its bibliography cites an enormous variety of interesting reading in English, French, Italian, and Latin, and the book is full of thought-provoking, and occasionally LOL-funny, anecdotes. The author takes no prisoners as he expresses opinions on economists, financiers, statisticians, politicians, and academics. </p>
<p>I kept thinking, as I read this book, that the ideas in it apply not only to business investing but also to the process of applying to high-rejection-rate colleges. It would be interesting to trade ideas with other parents about how Taleb’s strategies for dealing with improbable, high-impact risks relate to strategies for seeking a good fit in postsecondary studies. I like the book a lot. I’ll have my son read it soon, and I’ll reread it before the year is out, I think. Meanwhile, I’ll look up some of the sources Taleb referred to in his carefully written arguments for a new way of looking at risk.</p>
<p>I read of review of this book, and thought it sounded interesting. I
almost bought it on Amazon, but then I read the reviews of his first book,
and people seemed really put off by his egotistical writing style. So,
I decided to check it out at the book store, and yup,</p>
<p>“The author takes no prisoners as he expresses opinions on economists, financiers, statisticians, politicians, and academics.”</p>
<p>I didn’t buy it. Now I’m reconsidering. But, when someone can’t pull it
together to be gracious and see things from several points of view, I
start to wonder about the validity of their ideas. </p>
<p>Can you sum up what you think is important about it, tokenadult?
I like you a lot better than I like Mr Taleb. If you can explain his main
points, it will save me the irritation of dealing with his writing style!</p>
<p>Seeing things from several points of view is not a problem with that book. For one thing, the author indicates many places where his own point of view has changed over time, or where what he knows to be best supported by evidence still doesn’t come naturally to his personal thinking. </p>
<p>What I guess some people characterize as “egotistical” I might, in the context of the whole book, characterize as “definite.” You know where Nassim Nicholas Taleb stands on quite a few issues by the time you finish reading the book–you don’t have to say, “Tell me what you really feel.” The analogy I thought of after supper tonight was that Loren Pope makes clear, believe him or not, that he thinks a certain group of colleges that change lives are better than many other colleges. That gets you thinking (and gets me thinking) about his basis for having that opinion. Similarly, Taleb gets you thinking if what you read in the business section of your favorite newspaper makes more sense than his view of how the economy works, and prompts reconsidering experiences that we all have had in working and saving for our futures.</p>
<p>Funny, my oldest son brought this book (The Black Swan) home from Borders today… and my husband is the one who is spending hours reading it already… I, on the other hand had never heard of it before today…</p>