The black swan

the impact of the highly improbable

by

366 pages

English language

Published Nov. 8, 2007 by Random House.

ISBN:
978-1-4000-6351-2
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3 stars (1 review)

ABOUT THIS BOOK

A black swan is a highly improbable event with three principal characteristics: It is unpredictable; it carries a massive impact; and, after the fact, we concoct an explanation that makes it appear less random, and more predictable, than it was. The astonishing success of Google was a black swan; so was 9/11. For Nassim Nicholas Taleb, black swans underlie almost everything about our world, from the rise of religions to events in our own personal lives.

14 editions

reviewed The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Thought it might be my cup of tea, but it isn't

3 stars

I think I just don't like the narrative style. There's interesting things said, great concepts, but the tone, the stories, the framing with anecdotes just makes it a bit of a drag to read. I was on a pop-science reading trip, rattling through half a dozen books in a month until I crashed to a halt with Black Swan and now every time I look at it, I reach for some Scots poetry instead. This book hasn't turned me off pop-science, its just making it hard to go on.

Subjects

  • Uncertainty (Information theory) -- Social aspects
  • Forecasting