Fooled By Randomness

s0Lo · May 7, 2004

Hi all...

I'm trying to write a paper on the book "Fooled by Randomness" by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. I'm trying to write about various things that interested me, but as much as I liked the book, I can't seem to think of any particular details.

Any suggestions? What did you like/dislike about it? Did any ideas in the book affect your trading?

Many thanks in advance

Rearden Metal · May 7, 2004

Just click 'search' on the top right here.

There are MANY extensive threads on this book and the whole Taleb/Niederhoffer rivalry.

Maverick74 · May 7, 2004

Quote from s0Lo:

Hi all...

I'm trying to write a paper on the book "Fooled by Randomness" by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. I'm trying to write about various things that interested me, but as much as I liked the book, I can't seem to think of any particular details.

Any suggestions? What did you like/dislike about it? Did any ideas in the book affect your trading?

Many thanks in advance

It's one of the best books I have ever read.

bigbear · May 7, 2004

he had good ideas and i did enjoy most of the book. But the guy thought he was god's gift to the statistical world. got so sick of hearing him drone on about himself.

Babak · May 7, 2004

Black swans.

VicTrader · May 7, 2004

The links below are two paper written by NNT, hope it would help if you want some references when preparing your paper

âBlowupâ versus âBleedâ: What Does Empirical Psychology Say About the Preference For Negative Skewness? (3rd Draft -Forthcoming Journal of Behavioral Finance, volume 5)

The Black Swan: Why Donât We Learn that We Donât Learn?

p.s. I found the book FBR is a interesting read besides the arrogant tougue of the arthor.

s0Lo · May 7, 2004

Yea, I got tired a bit as well from him going on about himself, but I guess in these types of books its a natural practice.

Vic, thanks a lot for the papers.

Any idea where to get more? I googled this inside out, didnt seem to find anything worthwhile

vikana · May 7, 2004

I found it pretty much useless. If you have a little bit of background in statistics (such as high school level) there is nothing new there.

VicTrader · May 7, 2004

sOLo,
You can browse the author's web site if you want something more about Taleb. http://www.fooledbyrandomness.com/ It seems that he includes all his stuff and everything else he involved in.

TGregg · May 7, 2004

I liked the book, although I did not care for the writing style. I'd start with some impression of the theme of the title. Like:

"Take 1000 pennies and throw them up in the air. Remove all the ones who landed tails, and throw the remainder in the air once more. Repeat until you only have two or three. Are the odds higher that these coins will throw heads again? After all, they've done that several times in a row already."

Admittedly, it's not perfectly on target with the theme of the title, but it's in the same country.