Scan barcode
A review by domnica
Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
5.0
This book was suggested in book club and as everyone else, I looked on Goodreads at reviews to see the public opinion and was intrigued by so many remarks on the author’s ‘inappropriate’ tone… that made me think his opinion is perhaps contradictory with what the mass population thinks. The author even states in the book that he will never read the reviews of this book and that “books need not be written to satisfy a pre-defined labelled audience, but that a book will find its own unique set of readers”.
Throughout the book, the author describes different life examples, all having in common the table of confusion explained at the beginning. He aims at clarifying that “if there is one cause for this confusion […] it is our inability to think critically - we may enjoy presenting conjectures as truth.” and how we as individuals “are not wired in a way to understand probability […]” because “most results in probability are entirely counterintuitive” to us. Therefore, he’s advice in regards of learning statistics, because too many read explanations without understanding.
I enjoyed every chapter of this book and highly recommend it to everyone. It might not seem like your ideal book, but if you receive the knowledge with an open mindset, you’ll learn a few interesting things.
“Remember that nobody accepts randomness in his own success, only his failure.”
Throughout the book, the author describes different life examples, all having in common the table of confusion explained at the beginning. He aims at clarifying that “if there is one cause for this confusion […] it is our inability to think critically - we may enjoy presenting conjectures as truth.” and how we as individuals “are not wired in a way to understand probability […]” because “most results in probability are entirely counterintuitive” to us. Therefore, he’s advice in regards of learning statistics, because too many read explanations without understanding.
I enjoyed every chapter of this book and highly recommend it to everyone. It might not seem like your ideal book, but if you receive the knowledge with an open mindset, you’ll learn a few interesting things.
“Remember that nobody accepts randomness in his own success, only his failure.”