Taleb’s “other” books

ducatista · Apr 17, 2020

Looking for feedback on black swan and fooled by randomness. Are these books actionable? Or moreso entertaining (long winded perhaps?) reads for a more commercial audience vs DH

Craig66 · Apr 17, 2020

First book is entertaining, the rest just beat the same idea to death. Not actionable.

Sig · Apr 17, 2020

They get worse and worse as you get to the more recently written ones. The guy is smart and has some good info, but he's an insufferable narcissist and at some point it just becomes painful to read his completely unnecessary multi-page diatribes on how everyone is so stupid and he's so smart. I think his editors were able to reign it in at first but as he sold more books he became more able to dictate the content. Despite buying it I couldn't finish Skin in the Game and needless to say it's the last book of his I'll buy.
As an aside, he did write a very good textbook style book called Dynamic Hedging that has none of the baggage of his future books.

Atikon · Apr 17, 2020

Sig said:
They get worse and worse as you get to the more recently written ones. The guy is smart and has some good info, but he's an insufferable narcissist and at some point it just becomes painful to read his completely unnecessary multi-page diatribes on how everyone is so stupid and he's so smart. I think his editors were able to reign it in at first but as he sold more books he became more able to dictate the content. Despite buying it I couldn't finish Skin in the Game and needless to say it's the last book of his I'll buy.
As an aside, he did write a very good textbook style book called Dynamic Hedging that has none of the baggage of his future books.

I've started to listen to Black Swan first and I was stunned by the self promotion...the guy didn't came across that way in interviews. I switched to listen to the first book

newwurldmn · Apr 17, 2020

Sig said:
They get worse and worse as you get to the more recently written ones. The guy is smart and has some good info, but he's an insufferable narcissist and at some point it just becomes painful to read his completely unnecessary multi-page diatribes on how everyone is so stupid and he's so smart. I think his editors were able to reign it in at first but as he sold more books he became more able to dictate the content. Despite buying it I couldn't finish Skin in the Game and needless to say it's the last book of his I'll buy.
As an aside, he did write a very good textbook style book called Dynamic Hedging that has none of the baggage of his future books.

Did you read the article about CALPERS saying they pulled their money from Universa so taleb insults them saying “they don’t understand math.”

Craig66 · Apr 17, 2020

Sig said:
As an aside, he did write a very good textbook style book called Dynamic Hedging that has none of the baggage of his future books.

Have you actually read "Dynamic Hedging"?
It's bursting at the seams with his insufferable narcissism!

Sig · Apr 17, 2020

Craig66 said:
Have you actually read "Dynamic Hedging"?
It's bursting at the seams with his insufferable narcissism!

I guess it's just tame by comparison to Skin in the Game!

Sig · Apr 17, 2020

newwurldmn said:
Did you read the article about CALPERS saying they pulled their money from Universa so taleb insults them saying “they don’t understand math.”

Hadn't seen it, just looked it up. Classic Taleb!

zghorner · Apr 17, 2020

here is a free audiobook of FBR. It was "ok" I didnt care for certain parts and thought he was fooled of shit.

Much easier to enjoy than dynamic hedging which i think is impossible to follow unless you have a phd in mathematics.

ironchef · Apr 19, 2020

ducatista said:
Looking for feedback on black swan and fooled by randomness. Are these books actionable? Or moreso entertaining (long winded perhaps?) reads for a more commercial audience vs DH

I tried to look pass all the self aggrandized promotions and found some concepts of his that are generally quite helpful.