Comments (23)

The Black Swan

the Impact of the Highly Improbable
Community comments are the opinions of contributing users. These comments do not represent the opinions of Whistler Public Library.
What did you think about this title?
1 to 23 of 23 items
Aug 26, 2020The_Most_Casual_Observer rated this title 2 out of 5 stars
🦢 Many thanks and a tip o' The Observer's hat to the Encyclopedia of American Loons for the following. You can find more detail at the source. "Nassim Nicholas Taleb is a Lebanese-American essayist, scholar, professor at several…
Aug 30, 2019Shan1944 rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
Nassim elucidates the concept of "outliers," events or ideas that occupy the outer limits of the probability curve (e.g., the rare black swan), and their influence on perception, attitudes, and decisionmaking. Another eye-opening read that…
Aug 26, 2019ArunothiaM rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
I really liked this book but it's tough to comprehend all that I got out of it. To begin with, the author's style of writing is not so comfortable.. I mean it does look like he's writing in a flow that's matching everything on his mind,…
Jul 24, 2019Ray_Ho rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
What a treat to read. A game changing mindset in looking outside of known risks to unknown risks, and his hate for the gaussian bell curve. Use fractals instead. Intriguing book to say the least.
Oct 14, 2016
Elegant book that underscores the hubris of "experts," the deficiency of herd thinking and the limitations of our ability to predict the future.
Mit895
Oct 05, 2016Mit895 rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
Personally found Nassim Taleb's 'Fooled by Randomness' to be more interesting and easier to read (though the concepts and material covered are quite similar).
Jun 20, 2015zipread rated this title 1 out of 5 stars
The Black Swan: the Impact of the Highly Improbable --- by --- Nassim Nicholas Taled. Somehow I was expecting something more interesting, something more accessible, something less dense, something with more substance. I can…
Mar 28, 2015rswcove rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
The hatred this book inspires bewilders me. Taleb mercilessly (and frequently viciously) attacks economists, so I understand why economists hate Taleb and his book. I don't understand why so many other people seem to hate his book. It is…
May 04, 2014wind2448 rated this title 0.5 out of 5 stars
Book could have been about 30 pages. Maybe he had a bet with someone as to how many times he could use the word "Gaussian".
Apr 22, 2014stewstealth rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
This book is worth reading notwithstanding the authors acerbic personality coming to the fore in his attempt to provide a "narrative".
curryc
Jan 30, 2014curryc rated this title 1 out of 5 stars
Be warned: This book is not really about the origin, nature, or consequences of highly improbable events, about which you will learn little to nothing by reading it. It is a meandering, self-indulgent ramble through a landscape of truly…
Nov 09, 2013tocch101 rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
An interesting read that is rather dense. The ideas are sound, but not something people can pick up on right away, you have to swish them around in your brain first.
Aug 27, 2013Essequamvideri7 rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
I only read about 1/3 of this book and then I decided to give it a break. I may give it a go later but I was getting annoyed at how the author tells fictitious stories as though they were true and uses them as proof for his theory on Black…
Aug 09, 2013
read up to page 62
Jun 26, 2013StarGladiator rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
A number of the commenters below are all over the place in their erroneous remarks: jlazcan makes the best and most succinct commentary, although he or she is mistaken in referring to Prof. Taleb as "Dr. Doom" - - that was the nickname…
Jun 24, 2013PennPal rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
well written prose style quite easy to follow strongly suggest as must read for anyone interested in our current reality, especially with all the "instant analysts, talking heads"- who really do not know more than ourselves, or our…
Dec 08, 2012delfon rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
Read this a while back, and just came upon this thoughtful review by David Aldous via researching, http://edge.org http://www.stat.berkeley.edu/~aldous/157/Books/taleb.html this reviewer suggests Talebs article as a better…
Jul 25, 2012catwcap rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
This is a good choice for those looking for a read that helps them think differently or about different things than they normally would. Not a particularly academic tome, but then again, it doesn't necessarily take academics to inspire a…
jlazcan
Oct 21, 2011jlazcan rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
Taleb is obviously a smart guy who is nicknamed "Doctor Doom". His book Black Swan is credited with foreseeing the oncoming crisis and strikes a cord with our current economic mindset post 2008. He basically tells the reader that the…
Apr 13, 2011jbeckber rated this title 1.5 out of 5 stars
Was eagerly awaiting this book but was very disappointed. I guess I was expecting something akin to Malcolm Gladwell's writing. Taleb is so wordy and tells us too many times what he's going to tell us without actually telling us... I got…
Mar 04, 2011lilwordworm rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
It literally changed the way I look at things. He is a little extreme, but I love his theory. Most of the time, when it comes to the big stuff, we don’t have control and our meticulous plans fail us. Life is random, so dance.
Oct 22, 201021288004246712 rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
Does a great job trashing those financial engineers on Wall Street and the Universities, but a bit technical especially that fractal distribution discussion (hopefully will be better than the bell curve fiasco we've experienced to date)
Jan 02, 2010quagga rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
What a wonderful, thought-provoking book this was. It was recommended as a read-alike for Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point, which I loved. I found Nassim Taleb's style more of an intellectual challenge than Gladwell's, but ultimately…