The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable
by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
(Click here)
Book Summary Information
Author: Nassim Nicholas TalebEdition: Paperback
Format: Import
Published: 2007-05-18
ISBN: 1846140455
Number of pages: 400
Publisher: Allen Lane
Book Reviews of The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable
Book Review: A fine antidote to gullibility
Summary: 5 Stars
According to critic Harold Bloom, Hamlet's predicament is not "that he thinks too much" but rather that "he thinks too well," being ultimately "unable to rest in illusions of any kind." The same could be said for philosopher, essayist and trader Nassim Nicholas Taleb, who finds something rotten in misguided yet supremely confident investment gurus, traders, hedge fund managers, Wall Street bankers, M.B.A.s, CEOs, Nobel-winning economists and others who claim that they can predict the future and explain the past. Like everyone else, says Taleb, these so-called "experts" fail to appreciate "black swans": highly consequential but unlikely events that render predictions and standard explanations worse than worthless. Taleb's style is personal and literary, but his heterodox insights are rigorous (if sometimes jolted by authorial filigree). This combination makes for a thrilling, disturbing, contentious and unforgettable book on chance and randomness. While Taleb offers strong medicine some readers may find too bitter at times, we prescribe it to anyone who wants a powerful inoculation against gullibility.
Business & Investing Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Audiobooks on Cassette
- Audiobooks on CD
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- e-Books
- Engineering
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Medicine
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Business & Investing Books
When Markets Collide: Investment Strategies for the Age of Global Economic Changeby Mohamed El-Erian
McGraw-Hill; Published: 2008-05-23; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $15.75
Price in other shops:
Women & Money: Owning the Power to Control Your Destinyby Suze Orman
Spiegel & Grau; Published: 2007-02-27; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $13.99
Price in other shops:
The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Differenceby Malcolm Gladwell
Back Bay Books; Published: 2002-01-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.48
Price in other shops:
![Freakonomics [Revised and Expanded]: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything Image](/images/Freakonomics-Revised-and-Expanded-A-Rogue-Economist-Explores-the-Hidden-Side-of-Everything-0061234001-X.jpg)
Freakonomics [Revised and Expanded]: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everythingby Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner
William Morrow; Published: 2006-10-02; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.99
Price in other shops:
The Art of Influence: Persuading Others Begins With Youby Chris Widener
Doubleday Business; Published: 2008-07-08; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $8.18
Price in other shops:
Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivityby David Allen
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 2002-12-31; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.99
Price in other shops:
StrengthsFinder 2.0: A New and Upgraded Edition of the Online Test from Gallup's Now, Discover Your Strengthsby Tom Rath
Gallup Press; Published: 2007-02-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $8.28
Price in other shops:
Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don'tby Jim Collins
Collins Business; Published: 2001-10; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $8.95
Price in other shops:
The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Richby Timothy Ferriss
Crown; Published: 2007-04-24; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $10.89
Price in other shops:
Tuned In: Uncover the Extraordinary Opportunities That Lead to Business Breakthroughsby Craig Stull, Phil Myers, David Meerman Scott
Wiley; Published: 2008-06-30; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $12.00
Price in other shops:
Similar books summaries and other product reviews
Fooling Some of the People All of the Time: A Long Short Storyby David Einhorn
Wiley; Published: 2008-05-02; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $16.58
Price in other shops:
More Than You Know: Finding Financial Wisdom in Unconventional Places (Updated and Expanded)by Michael J. Mauboussin
Columbia University Press; Published: 2007-09-26; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $15.00
Price in other shops:
Hedge Hunters: Hedge Fund Masters on the Rewards, the Risk, and the Reckoningby Katherine Burton
Bloomberg Press; Published: 2007-11-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $16.68
Price in other shops:
The Misbehavior of Marketsby Benoit Mandelbrot, Richard L. Hudson
Published: 2004-08-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $29.83
The Panic of 1907: Lessons Learned from the Market's Perfect Stormby Robert F. Bruner, Sean D. Carr
Wiley; Published: 2007-08-31; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $16.11
Price in other shops:
Super Crunchers: Why Thinking-by-Numbers Is the New Way to Be Smartby Ian Ayres
Bantam; Published: 2007-08-28; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.07
Price in other shops:
Capital Ideas Evolvingby Peter L. Bernstein
Wiley; Published: 2007-05-04; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.40
Price in other shops:
The Halo Effect: ... and the Eight Other Business Delusions That Deceive Managersby Phil Rosenzweig
Free Press; Published: 2007-02-06; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $9.96
Price in other shops:
A Demon of Our Own Design: Markets, Hedge Funds, and the Perils of Financial Innovationby Richard Bookstaber
Wiley; Published: 2007-04-06; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $12.99
Price in other shops:
Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Marketsby Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Random House Trade Paperbacks; Published: 2005-08-23; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.98
Price in other shops: