The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable
Apr 2008 · Penguin UK
4.4star
78 reviewsreport
Ebook
400
Pages
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About this ebook
The phenomenal international bestseller that shows us how to stop trying to predict everything - and take advantage of uncertainty
What have the invention of the wheel, Pompeii, the Wall Street Crash, Harry Potter and the internet got in common? Why are all forecasters con-artists? Why should you never run for a train or read a newspaper?
This book is all about Black Swans: the random events that underlie our lives, from bestsellers to world disasters. Their impact is huge; they're impossible to predict; yet after they happen we always try to rationalize them.
'Taleb is a bouncy and even exhilarating guide ... I came to relish what he said, and even develop a sneaking affection for him as a person' Will Self, Independent on Sunday
'He leaps like some superhero of the mind' Boyd Tonkin, Independent
What have the invention of the wheel, Pompeii, the Wall Street Crash, Harry Potter and the internet got in common? Why are all forecasters con-artists? Why should you never run for a train or read a newspaper?
This book is all about Black Swans: the random events that underlie our lives, from bestsellers to world disasters. Their impact is huge; they're impossible to predict; yet after they happen we always try to rationalize them.
'Taleb is a bouncy and even exhilarating guide ... I came to relish what he said, and even develop a sneaking affection for him as a person' Will Self, Independent on Sunday
'He leaps like some superhero of the mind' Boyd Tonkin, Independent
Ratings and reviews
4.4
78 reviews
A Google user
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The best book to write an essay on organizational performance and it's measurement... One of the best to get your mind around the topic. Although sometimes the writer beats about the bush more than ususal and ends up making you confused rather than making the point clear in your mind.
Ben van Assum
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August 23, 2013
Don't presume you're going to read a novel that entertains you cover to cover though. Lots of bad reviews, which doesn't make any sense. Has been a life saver!
15 people found this review helpful
Alex Iacconi
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January 22, 2013
I very much enjoyed this book and the premises which is based on are extremely relevant in today's world. If our governments were to take an approach to risk similar to the one suggested by Taleb I magine we would find ourselves in a lot less trouble than we do.
7 people found this review helpful
About the author
Nassim Nicholas Taleb is an uncompromizing no-nonsense thinker for our times. He has spent his life immersing himself in problems of luck, uncertainty, probability, and knowledge, and he has led three high-profile careers around his ideas, as a man of letters, as a businessman-trader, and as a university professor and researcher. He is currently Distinguished Professor of Risk Engineering at New York University's School of Engineering. He is the author of the 4-volume INCERTO (Antifragile, The Black Swan, Fooled by Randomness, and The Bed of Procrustes). Taleb refuses all awards and honours as they debase knowledge by turning it into competitive sports.
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