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A review by emberthestylesage
The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
slow-paced
1.75
First, a major red flag for this book, and the author, is that Nassim says autistic people have no capacity for empathy. This is an objectively false stereotype, yet he states it as fact and inserts it when it isn't even necessary to make his point. This was the instance that really stood out to me, but there were a few sweeping statements made in this book that were not backed up and are unlikely to be true, as well as some that contradicted earlier ideas, which is something he attacks other people for, so worth mentioning.
While there are some interesting points touched on in this book, they could pretty much all be boiled down to common sense (Nassim also acknowledges this, so it isn't news). That's not to say it's completely unhelpful to point out, reiterate and reframe common sense, but there are probably much better means of delivery for that than this book.
Nassim jumps around a lot in a way that makes it frustrating to read. He also just has a bad attitude; He is extremely arrogant and petty throughout the whole thing. It didn't need to be a full length book by any means, and it was mostly unpleasant to read. I honestly think this is the worst book I've ever finished.
While there are some interesting points touched on in this book, they could pretty much all be boiled down to common sense (Nassim also acknowledges this, so it isn't news). That's not to say it's completely unhelpful to point out, reiterate and reframe common sense, but there are probably much better means of delivery for that than this book.
Nassim jumps around a lot in a way that makes it frustrating to read. He also just has a bad attitude; He is extremely arrogant and petty throughout the whole thing. It didn't need to be a full length book by any means, and it was mostly unpleasant to read. I honestly think this is the worst book I've ever finished.
Content Warnings
Moderate: War and Bullying