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A review by brewschmuck
Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
2.0
Well I inflicted this on myself for two reasons
1. I’ve enjoyed browsing Taleb’s Twitter tantrums and laughing at him every time he goes out of his depth (which lately is basically always).
2. Trained in Behavioural economics I was curious to read something on the topic that comes from a self proclaimed expert rather than one with credibility. It was a good exercise to remind myself to stay in line in my own affairs.
About the book - obviously it could’ve used editing. I read the second edition (skipped the post script, because I doubt I’d find anything of particular value). Too much time is spent of referring to future chapters in the beginning and to past chapters in the middle and end. So essentially the actual content is rather slim and could be fitted in 20 pages. Clearly Taleb found what sports betters knew for a while - bet small on high odds and you will always come out on top when you draw the line. Even more clearly Taleb holds contempt to traders who actually trade. He masturbates circles around their loses and prides himself on his “revolutionary” tactic, which honestly just screams inferiority complex. He really tries to position himself as a philosopher, but at the same time he’s so out of his depth that it shows him in a rather comical light.
In essence Taleb is what you’d expect from a high schooler who watched a few PragerU videos to be. There’s a certain type of person that Taleb followers are and reading this book answers the question why he gets followed exactly by such people. He speaks as vague as possible and occasionally makes an edgy claim that’s easily refutable. However his message is “fuck the haters, I put wax in my ears” and this solves the whole problem of actually defending an opinion. Naturally this appeals to hordes of people who want to be smart, but are too lazy to put in the work so instead, they just pick superficial knowledge, parrot it, and end the communication before they can be debated so that they don’t have to bear the mental cost of being humiliated. Ultimately Taleb and his followers are the same insecure person trying go block the mean world out and convince themselves that they are not mediocre, others are just favoured by randomness.
1. I’ve enjoyed browsing Taleb’s Twitter tantrums and laughing at him every time he goes out of his depth (which lately is basically always).
2. Trained in Behavioural economics I was curious to read something on the topic that comes from a self proclaimed expert rather than one with credibility. It was a good exercise to remind myself to stay in line in my own affairs.
About the book - obviously it could’ve used editing. I read the second edition (skipped the post script, because I doubt I’d find anything of particular value). Too much time is spent of referring to future chapters in the beginning and to past chapters in the middle and end. So essentially the actual content is rather slim and could be fitted in 20 pages. Clearly Taleb found what sports betters knew for a while - bet small on high odds and you will always come out on top when you draw the line. Even more clearly Taleb holds contempt to traders who actually trade. He masturbates circles around their loses and prides himself on his “revolutionary” tactic, which honestly just screams inferiority complex. He really tries to position himself as a philosopher, but at the same time he’s so out of his depth that it shows him in a rather comical light.
In essence Taleb is what you’d expect from a high schooler who watched a few PragerU videos to be. There’s a certain type of person that Taleb followers are and reading this book answers the question why he gets followed exactly by such people. He speaks as vague as possible and occasionally makes an edgy claim that’s easily refutable. However his message is “fuck the haters, I put wax in my ears” and this solves the whole problem of actually defending an opinion. Naturally this appeals to hordes of people who want to be smart, but are too lazy to put in the work so instead, they just pick superficial knowledge, parrot it, and end the communication before they can be debated so that they don’t have to bear the mental cost of being humiliated. Ultimately Taleb and his followers are the same insecure person trying go block the mean world out and convince themselves that they are not mediocre, others are just favoured by randomness.