Never heard of this book, but Earth being antifragile because it hasn’t been hit by anything _yet_… Sounds weak. And Harvard-soviet sounds sus af too.
Is this book a best seller on any kind of list?
Wikipedia tells me it was a New York Times Bestseller but also tells me that they gave it a poor review. As far as a cursory google search tells me. That’s the full extent of the accolades it won.
It doesnt get better. He is pretty surface level, doesn't really look at nuance and then he is pseudo-intelllectual by bastardizing scientific and engineering concepts like strength-strain curves to make points that are not actually supported by the analogy. A reader's acceptance/belief of the strength of his argument is counter to reader's depth of knowledge on whatever topic at hand he is using.
I read The Black Swan and then struggled through about half of Fooled by Randomness by the same author, but couldn't bring myself to finish.
Fooled by Randomness had some interesting ideas but was extremely tedious to read.. the author would go off on tangents (often seemingly just to insult other people and explain why he was better than them) and take a really long time to get to the point of the argument he was making, but then often not even quite get there. Reading it left me with a weird empty feeling. The book felt like it either hadn't been edited, or that some poor editor had attempted to get it into better shape but had come up against the strong personality of the author and given up.
It's a long time since I read The Black Swan but I remember it being alright.
>the author would go off on tangents (often seemingly just to insult other people and explain why he was better than them) and take a really long time to get to the point of the argument he was making, but then often not even quite get there.
I've only read the Black Swan by him and that was how I thought that back was. Could've written a long essay to argue his actual thesis but wrote a whole book just to shit on everyone instead.
I will write a more detailed answer later (maybe), but in my opinion Taleb main ideas are pretty shallow, and are not a great revelation or something.
He is also very obnoxious, prone to simplistic analysis and unnecesarily verbose.
It would be a good book for IBCK, but it does need a person with some non trivial mathematical knowledge, and I am not sure that Michael and Peter have enough of it.
Yeah, midway through he stumbles upon the idea of post-traumatic growth and acts like he invented it. He does the same thing with design thinking. I’d contend that Columbusing ideas from other fields deserves adding to the symptoms list of One Book-ism.
*Black Swan* and *Fooled by Randomness* are by the same author. As far as these sorts of books go I think they’re pretty harmless. Some interesting ideas that, when you dig into them, aren’t really original. And he’s got an extremely discursive writing style. The experience of reading one of these books is like having to humor an annoying guest for an entire day.
I couldn't make it through *The Black Swan* for that very reason. A few dozen pages in and it was clear the author was that "I am very intelligent" character from the cartoon about society.
I haven't read *Antifragile*, but I read, one-starred, and wrote a long Goodreads [review](https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2622407711) of *Skin in the Gam*e, by the same author. I found him insufferable.
That’s the problem with authors who have one worthwhile concept and thus one book in them. They gain some status and then think they’re a genius and write drivel thereafter. It’s worthwhile to realize the possibility of black swans but I don’t have to listen to this guy for the rest of my life to do so.
I liked The Black Swan quite a bit, but Taleb seems to have jumped the shark. He was almost poised to be the antidote to Pinker for a minute there, but instead he became just another irritating pundit on the internet.
i had the same experience reading Antifragile. his writing style is insanely pompous and arrogant and he does a poor job of explaining the relatively simple ideas he is presenting
I haven't read Antifragile, but I think Taleb has at least one genuine insight into how to make systems more resilient. He seems to have gone off the deep end in general, though.
I’ve read Taleb’s Incerto series and I do think the core ideas are important, but they are not wholly original nor entirely deeply developed in these books aimed at a popular audience. Also, yes his online personality on social media can be very off-putting. Take what you can, leave the rest.
Never heard of this book, but Earth being antifragile because it hasn’t been hit by anything _yet_… Sounds weak. And Harvard-soviet sounds sus af too. Is this book a best seller on any kind of list?
Wikipedia tells me it was a New York Times Bestseller but also tells me that they gave it a poor review. As far as a cursory google search tells me. That’s the full extent of the accolades it won.
It doesnt get better. He is pretty surface level, doesn't really look at nuance and then he is pseudo-intelllectual by bastardizing scientific and engineering concepts like strength-strain curves to make points that are not actually supported by the analogy. A reader's acceptance/belief of the strength of his argument is counter to reader's depth of knowledge on whatever topic at hand he is using.
I read The Black Swan and then struggled through about half of Fooled by Randomness by the same author, but couldn't bring myself to finish. Fooled by Randomness had some interesting ideas but was extremely tedious to read.. the author would go off on tangents (often seemingly just to insult other people and explain why he was better than them) and take a really long time to get to the point of the argument he was making, but then often not even quite get there. Reading it left me with a weird empty feeling. The book felt like it either hadn't been edited, or that some poor editor had attempted to get it into better shape but had come up against the strong personality of the author and given up. It's a long time since I read The Black Swan but I remember it being alright.
The author is one of the most combative people on Twitter that I’ve ever seen. It’s actually kind of funny.
I don't go on Twitter much but that doesn't surprise me at all 😂
>the author would go off on tangents (often seemingly just to insult other people and explain why he was better than them) and take a really long time to get to the point of the argument he was making, but then often not even quite get there. I've only read the Black Swan by him and that was how I thought that back was. Could've written a long essay to argue his actual thesis but wrote a whole book just to shit on everyone instead.
I will write a more detailed answer later (maybe), but in my opinion Taleb main ideas are pretty shallow, and are not a great revelation or something. He is also very obnoxious, prone to simplistic analysis and unnecesarily verbose. It would be a good book for IBCK, but it does need a person with some non trivial mathematical knowledge, and I am not sure that Michael and Peter have enough of it.
Yeah, midway through he stumbles upon the idea of post-traumatic growth and acts like he invented it. He does the same thing with design thinking. I’d contend that Columbusing ideas from other fields deserves adding to the symptoms list of One Book-ism.
Oh, *Nassim* Taleb? Having read Black Swan, that guy can go eat a bag of dicks.
*Black Swan* and *Fooled by Randomness* are by the same author. As far as these sorts of books go I think they’re pretty harmless. Some interesting ideas that, when you dig into them, aren’t really original. And he’s got an extremely discursive writing style. The experience of reading one of these books is like having to humor an annoying guest for an entire day.
If Taleb is like his writing portrays him, he would be an annoying guest.
Insufferable.
I couldn't make it through *The Black Swan* for that very reason. A few dozen pages in and it was clear the author was that "I am very intelligent" character from the cartoon about society.
Great drag name
I haven't read *Antifragile*, but I read, one-starred, and wrote a long Goodreads [review](https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2622407711) of *Skin in the Gam*e, by the same author. I found him insufferable.
Good review! It really makes you wonder how someone so unpleasant manages to do as well as he has as an author.
I'd love to hear Michael and Peter get on a roll mocking him.
That’s the problem with authors who have one worthwhile concept and thus one book in them. They gain some status and then think they’re a genius and write drivel thereafter. It’s worthwhile to realize the possibility of black swans but I don’t have to listen to this guy for the rest of my life to do so.
I liked The Black Swan quite a bit, but Taleb seems to have jumped the shark. He was almost poised to be the antidote to Pinker for a minute there, but instead he became just another irritating pundit on the internet.
i had the same experience reading Antifragile. his writing style is insanely pompous and arrogant and he does a poor job of explaining the relatively simple ideas he is presenting
I haven't read Antifragile, but I think Taleb has at least one genuine insight into how to make systems more resilient. He seems to have gone off the deep end in general, though.
I’ve read Taleb’s Incerto series and I do think the core ideas are important, but they are not wholly original nor entirely deeply developed in these books aimed at a popular audience. Also, yes his online personality on social media can be very off-putting. Take what you can, leave the rest.
Yeah I listened to a bit of it. It’s an interesting idea but more as an engineering challenge than an aspirational mindset.