The Black Swan
The Impact of the Highly Improbable
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3.5 • 103 Ratings
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- £4.99
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- £4.99
Publisher Description
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
Customer Reviews
Read this
Sometimes the most obvious truths need repeating, as Taleb does, with absorbing writing.
Loved the book
Frustrating read
Whilst Taleb has plenty of interesting things to say the experience is ruined by the 'brain dump' style of the narrative. A great pity.
A horribly boring read
This must be one of the most overhyped books of the last decade. The idea is simple: unexpected happens and you cannot be possibly prepared for it. This is a very old observation and probably it the reason people everywhere have been praying to their god(s) since time immemorial. Taleb deep down wants to be taken seriously, but is simultaneously contemptuous of his readers.