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3.81 AVERAGE
3.81 AVERAGE
At first I wasn't sure what to make of this book, but I suppose that's understandable, what with me not having read Taleb's previous work, that is, Fooled by Randomness and The Black Swan. Eventually, I came to be convinced that this book is, without a doubt, one of the most brilliant, most intelligent analyses of our economic society, of risk, personal as well as systemic, that I've read in a long, long time.
To be fair, I do not understand the full implication of the message, of what fragility vs antifragility entails, and I will be reading this book again soon, because --- there is so much to gain by understanding the principle.
Basically, there exists in the world today, those things that suffer from stress and damage, which Taleb calls "fragile": you drop a glass, it breaks; mechanics in general. And then there exists other things, those that suffer the damage, and not only do they recover from the damage, they grow stronger: for example, the body, muscles, organic material.
Apply this principle and analyze your surroundings, that's what Taleb does. It's brilliant!
Do read.
To be fair, I do not understand the full implication of the message, of what fragility vs antifragility entails, and I will be reading this book again soon, because --- there is so much to gain by understanding the principle.
Basically, there exists in the world today, those things that suffer from stress and damage, which Taleb calls "fragile": you drop a glass, it breaks; mechanics in general. And then there exists other things, those that suffer the damage, and not only do they recover from the damage, they grow stronger: for example, the body, muscles, organic material.
Apply this principle and analyze your surroundings, that's what Taleb does. It's brilliant!
Do read.
When I read most nonfiction, I think it's more important to talk about the ideas than the style (though the latter does matter). Taleb's ideas are interesting, but I nearly gave up several times because I found his tone nearly insufferable. He makes a lot of sweeping statements and loves to shit on other scientists and areas of study. Except for Daniel Kahneman, which I suppose I appreciated since I'm a fan of him and his work (which is super interesting, and unlike Taleb's work, TOTALLY readable). I've heard Taleb is even worse in interviews, which I can easily believe.
His MO seems to be "(insert established idea) is bullshit." And instead of cogently and clearly breaking down the argument, he just makes a flippant observation.
That said, I did learn about some interesting things about the way systems operate, but all in all, it was not a pleasant experience.
His MO seems to be "(insert established idea) is bullshit." And instead of cogently and clearly breaking down the argument, he just makes a flippant observation.
That said, I did learn about some interesting things about the way systems operate, but all in all, it was not a pleasant experience.
His ideas are mostly correct, but nothing beyond using probability and expected value. His tone is very off putting, very arrogant and dismissive of opinions he disagrees with.
It was pretty good! This title has been the topic of a lot of debate and controversy but I'm just a silly undergraduate so I won't try to contribute to that fire. I'll just point out a few things:
1. I liked that what was defined as [fragile/robust/antifragile] at the beginning was, as the book went on, revealed to be mostly [things Taleb doesn't like/things Taleb does like/things Taleb does personally]. I know it's probable that he does things he thinks are antifragile and not the other way around, but I thought it was funny how often weird specific examples (like e-readers) came up.
2. I think the book sometimes tries to do too much. Like there's a difference between erudition and saying a bunch of stuff that is kind of related. But who knows.
3. My favorite part of the book was the self-insert fanfiction near the middle. I thought that was cool and not cringe.
1. I liked that what was defined as [fragile/robust/antifragile] at the beginning was, as the book went on, revealed to be mostly [things Taleb doesn't like/things Taleb does like/things Taleb does personally]. I know it's probable that he does things he thinks are antifragile and not the other way around, but I thought it was funny how often weird specific examples (like e-readers) came up.
2. I think the book sometimes tries to do too much. Like there's a difference between erudition and saying a bunch of stuff that is kind of related. But who knows.
3. My favorite part of the book was the self-insert fanfiction near the middle. I thought that was cool and not cringe.
7.5/10
There are a lot of good ideas that have given me things to think about. I missed a lot because I listened to it too fast, maybe one day I'll listen to it again.
There are a lot of good ideas that have given me things to think about. I missed a lot because I listened to it too fast, maybe one day I'll listen to it again.
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
Taleb is a great, man. Gold everywhere.
Thia guy is a fucking genius and this book is so good im giving it 5 starts even if it has a lot of problems. His theory is great and the whole concept of the book is GREAT, amazing, i reccomend this to every enterpreneur or anyone wanting to understand probability and stats in the real world
BUT
He gets bogged down in his personal opinions, one of the parts of the book he talks about Domain Expertise blinding you to other domains, he does this ALL the time, making very big misconceptions about many fields (specially bodybuilding and the gym which is my expertise), which makes him look dumb.
Also he doesnt really explain some of the theories and just throw them at you without explaining the math theory behind it, i think if he spent less time criticizing everyone he doesnt like and throwing personal opinions this could ve been a great of literature
STILL
The guy is so smart (everything he talks about is actually theory driven) and his concepts are so good and can help everyone life to be better and to understand the world in a better way, the Anti Fragile concept is insanely good and very very cool (even if he doesnt understand stoicism and Seneca at all and again do misconceptions)
As a person this guy is angry at everyone and is always creating enemies, but i think he does that to bring more popularity to his books as he himself says in the book more criticism makes book make more money.
His stats and probabilies concepts applied on misconceptions is fucking genius tho. One of the best books i read this year
BUT
He gets bogged down in his personal opinions, one of the parts of the book he talks about Domain Expertise blinding you to other domains, he does this ALL the time, making very big misconceptions about many fields (specially bodybuilding and the gym which is my expertise), which makes him look dumb.
Also he doesnt really explain some of the theories and just throw them at you without explaining the math theory behind it, i think if he spent less time criticizing everyone he doesnt like and throwing personal opinions this could ve been a great of literature
STILL
The guy is so smart (everything he talks about is actually theory driven) and his concepts are so good and can help everyone life to be better and to understand the world in a better way, the Anti Fragile concept is insanely good and very very cool (even if he doesnt understand stoicism and Seneca at all and again do misconceptions)
As a person this guy is angry at everyone and is always creating enemies, but i think he does that to bring more popularity to his books as he himself says in the book more criticism makes book make more money.
His stats and probabilies concepts applied on misconceptions is fucking genius tho. One of the best books i read this year
challenging
informative
slow-paced
informative
inspiring
medium-paced