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A review by allisaurus_rex
Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
informative
slow-paced
1.75
TLDon'tR is the summary of my review for anyone sick of men talking to hear their own mental masturbation out loud. A few interesting points in too many, too pretentious words. If big words strung together in big sentences makes you feel smarter, go for it. But truly, it shows more intelligence and deeper understanding to explain a complex subject in simple terms. Hence, the following longer review.
"I prefer to remain a skeptic. People frequently misinterpret my opinion. I never say that every rich man is an idiot and every unsuccessful person unlucky, only that in absense of much additional information it is preferable to reserve ones judgement. It is safer." This quote says everything I need to know about him (and this is exactly how he writes throughout the book, btw.) I wonder why he would get misinterpreted so frequently. And does he, actually? Or does he get called out and deflect by saying he is simply too complicated for some to understand? I wonder.
I'm not surprised to find most positive reviews I've seen are by those who sound as insufferable as the author. This backs my plan to only recommend this book to middle class or lower socio-economic status cis-het men (or those who started there) who believe in trickle down economics and/or pulling yourself up by your bootstraps. I think super fans of Elon Musk and Donald Trump are especially likely to enjoy this book. I especially recommend the audiobook version to these people, as the narrator seems as condescendingly self-important as the author.
As you might expect, there are some (mostly) subtle and indirect xenophobic and sexist affectations. For example, at one point he calls it ironic that Arab thinkers exhibited more logic than christians in the dark ages (spoiler: he's a greek orthodox christian.) Several times he seems to equate not speaking English with lower intelligence. It's unclear if this was consciously included, but clearly this is part of his superiority complex. Ironically, he calls himself "your humble writer" at one point.
I did find some points of interest like this quote:
"There is a difference between a wealth level reached from above and a wealth reached from below. The road from $16m to $1m is not as pleasant as the one from $0 to $1m."
This one I edited for brevity: 'based on the Lucas critique: a pattern detectable to everyone will become self canceling.'
There were similar points I found interesting or pertinent to me around trading psychology (especially the importance of confidence AND risk awareness/mitigation *no seriously, have a stop loss planned before making the trade*) and the psychology of happiness (perspective is everything.) I also found his tedious praise of the monte carlo simulation did pique my curiosity to learn more about it. He also threw some quick shade on Dan Brown (another pretentious author) naming him only "the author of the da vinci code" comparing his writing to the ideas of conspiracy theorists - boiling it down to the probability of finding a pattern (with the bias of seeking one) in vast sets of data. However, I wouldn't read this book again even to catch points I missed from tuning out in disgust and boredom at his flatulent pontification.
"I prefer to remain a skeptic. People frequently misinterpret my opinion. I never say that every rich man is an idiot and every unsuccessful person unlucky, only that in absense of much additional information it is preferable to reserve ones judgement. It is safer." This quote says everything I need to know about him (and this is exactly how he writes throughout the book, btw.) I wonder why he would get misinterpreted so frequently. And does he, actually? Or does he get called out and deflect by saying he is simply too complicated for some to understand? I wonder.
I'm not surprised to find most positive reviews I've seen are by those who sound as insufferable as the author. This backs my plan to only recommend this book to middle class or lower socio-economic status cis-het men (or those who started there) who believe in trickle down economics and/or pulling yourself up by your bootstraps. I think super fans of Elon Musk and Donald Trump are especially likely to enjoy this book. I especially recommend the audiobook version to these people, as the narrator seems as condescendingly self-important as the author.
As you might expect, there are some (mostly) subtle and indirect xenophobic and sexist affectations. For example, at one point he calls it ironic that Arab thinkers exhibited more logic than christians in the dark ages (spoiler: he's a greek orthodox christian.) Several times he seems to equate not speaking English with lower intelligence. It's unclear if this was consciously included, but clearly this is part of his superiority complex. Ironically, he calls himself "your humble writer" at one point.
I did find some points of interest like this quote:
"There is a difference between a wealth level reached from above and a wealth reached from below. The road from $16m to $1m is not as pleasant as the one from $0 to $1m."
This one I edited for brevity: 'based on the Lucas critique: a pattern detectable to everyone will become self canceling.'
There were similar points I found interesting or pertinent to me around trading psychology (especially the importance of confidence AND risk awareness/mitigation *no seriously, have a stop loss planned before making the trade*) and the psychology of happiness (perspective is everything.) I also found his tedious praise of the monte carlo simulation did pique my curiosity to learn more about it. He also threw some quick shade on Dan Brown (another pretentious author) naming him only "the author of the da vinci code" comparing his writing to the ideas of conspiracy theorists - boiling it down to the probability of finding a pattern (with the bias of seeking one) in vast sets of data. However, I wouldn't read this book again even to catch points I missed from tuning out in disgust and boredom at his flatulent pontification.
Content Warnings
Minor: Racism and Sexism