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

1.0

"The Black Swan" was one of the most frustrating books that i have read in a long time. It has been since college that i have run into an author that uses the word "dialectic" in his prose without intending to be mocking. Taleb is clearly a very smart guy, but he is also arrogant, pompous and more than a little bitter about how he and his theories have been treated by those he considers his lessers. The book itself is rambling and often redundant. I actually like the Black Swan concept and agree with most of what Taleb has to say, i just did not enjoy reading him tell about it. I can't recommend this book at all...if you are interested in the concept, search the web for a nice magazine article on the book, and you will be able to pick up the important stuff without wading through repeated references to Lebanon, Wittgenstein, Bell Curves, etc.