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A review by alex_ellermann
The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
3.0
'The Black Swan' is an eminently thoughtful, readable, and important book that didn't tell me anything I didn't already know.
The book's core thesis, that both our intuitive ways of processing the past and analytic ways of predicting the future are unreliable, was introduced to me by a high school English teacher in 1983 (Shout out to California Teacher of the Year, 1972: Richard Everson, Big Bear High. May he ever rejoice in the cut and thrust of vigorous debate!). Granted, guys who get rich on Wall Street and write books swing a lot more weight than guys who teach high school kids how to reason. Regardless, it's a good thesis: even if it isn't particularly novel for this reader.
Taleb makes his case through parables, anecdotes, and not a little academic swiping at various rivals and colleagues. He avoids jargon and writes such that the reasonably literate reader can follow his argument. I enjoyed his book, though it didn't do much to move the needle on my personal worldview. I was already a believer.
Recommended for:
*Economists
*Family Financial Planners
*Math Nerds
*People who didn't attend Big Bear High School between approximately 1960-1990.
The book's core thesis, that both our intuitive ways of processing the past and analytic ways of predicting the future are unreliable, was introduced to me by a high school English teacher in 1983 (Shout out to California Teacher of the Year, 1972: Richard Everson, Big Bear High. May he ever rejoice in the cut and thrust of vigorous debate!). Granted, guys who get rich on Wall Street and write books swing a lot more weight than guys who teach high school kids how to reason. Regardless, it's a good thesis: even if it isn't particularly novel for this reader.
Taleb makes his case through parables, anecdotes, and not a little academic swiping at various rivals and colleagues. He avoids jargon and writes such that the reasonably literate reader can follow his argument. I enjoyed his book, though it didn't do much to move the needle on my personal worldview. I was already a believer.
Recommended for:
*Economists
*Family Financial Planners
*Math Nerds
*People who didn't attend Big Bear High School between approximately 1960-1990.