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A review by rossbm
Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
4.0
(Read as ebook)
What's it about?
I would say that it is a book of philosophy about the concept of antifragility and why it is important. Taleb says that something is antifragile if it benefits from disorder/volatility. This is opposed to something that is robust that merely weathers volatility, or things that are fragile that break from fragility.
The book is kind of a collection of essays. Some essays are autobiograpical, some are historical andedoctes, some are somewhat technical explanations, and some are weird parables. There are a lot of personal attacks, and invented names for things, such as "lecturing birds to fly" and "the green wood fallacy".
What did I think?
I liked the book. I though that there were some really good points in it. For example, the idea that the best way to predict the future is subtract things. We can expect that new, fragile, things (bitcoin?) will be gone in the future, while things that have been around for a while (gold?) will still be here. The point about it being unethical to transfer fragility to others while reaping the upsides was compelling.
This would be a 5 star review, but the style and the format of the book really drags it down. I don't mind the weird style with the stories and made up names for things. It is an interesting way of structuring things, and probably helps make the ideas stick. However, it is too long, and so some of the weirdness could be chopped out and the points still made. I disliked how condescending and arrogant Taleb is throughout the book. Probably some of it is warranted. For example, I recently read [b:When Genius Failed: The Rise and Fall of Long-Term Capital Management|10669|When Genius Failed The Rise and Fall of Long-Term Capital Management|Roger Lowenstein|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1435292091l/10669._SY75_.jpg|13308] which described how LTCM lost $4.6 billion in a few months despite the involvement of two economics Nobel Laureates. Hard to believe the arrogance and short sightedness that led to that, and hard to believe that these people continued to be privileged and part of the "elite". These kind of people deserve some attacks.
However, I don't think that it is fair to tar entire professions. Especially when combined with the high degree of arrogance that Taleb displays in this book.
What's it about?
I would say that it is a book of philosophy about the concept of antifragility and why it is important. Taleb says that something is antifragile if it benefits from disorder/volatility. This is opposed to something that is robust that merely weathers volatility, or things that are fragile that break from fragility.
The book is kind of a collection of essays. Some essays are autobiograpical, some are historical andedoctes, some are somewhat technical explanations, and some are weird parables. There are a lot of personal attacks, and invented names for things, such as "lecturing birds to fly" and "the green wood fallacy".
What did I think?
I liked the book. I though that there were some really good points in it. For example, the idea that the best way to predict the future is subtract things. We can expect that new, fragile, things (bitcoin?) will be gone in the future, while things that have been around for a while (gold?) will still be here. The point about it being unethical to transfer fragility to others while reaping the upsides was compelling.
This would be a 5 star review, but the style and the format of the book really drags it down. I don't mind the weird style with the stories and made up names for things. It is an interesting way of structuring things, and probably helps make the ideas stick. However, it is too long, and so some of the weirdness could be chopped out and the points still made. I disliked how condescending and arrogant Taleb is throughout the book. Probably some of it is warranted. For example, I recently read [b:When Genius Failed: The Rise and Fall of Long-Term Capital Management|10669|When Genius Failed The Rise and Fall of Long-Term Capital Management|Roger Lowenstein|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1435292091l/10669._SY75_.jpg|13308] which described how LTCM lost $4.6 billion in a few months despite the involvement of two economics Nobel Laureates. Hard to believe the arrogance and short sightedness that led to that, and hard to believe that these people continued to be privileged and part of the "elite". These kind of people deserve some attacks.
However, I don't think that it is fair to tar entire professions. Especially when combined with the high degree of arrogance that Taleb displays in this book.