dsgn301 's review for:

The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

2.0

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The few moments of enjoyment in this book were sandwiched by what felt like unbelievably pedantic writing and so much self-congratulatory reminders of how well NNT has done in his careers. The Black Swan is referenced in a number of books that are in the similar vain, dealing with behavioural economics, psychology, and business; and I just don't see why. I found the book to be a struggle from the very beginning of the preface, continuously hoping that I would find a section of the book that actually dealt with the "impact of highly improbable" events, but instead it just felt like NNT going on an on about the philosophers he disagrees with and scientific approaches that were wrong. I found there to be an irony to his assertion that these greats of history were so wrong for their inability to see the world around them, when it felt like he has fallen victim to the same issue. The best part of this reading experience for me was finding that other reviewers found Taleb to be an insufferable, self-loving, and dismissive author. He may find redemption in the nearly 200 pages of additional essays included in the copy I have, but in this lifetime I wont waste another moment to find out.