The Black Swan

The author of the modern classics The Black Swan, Fooled by Randomness, and Antifragile, Nassim Nicholas Taleb expresses major ideas in ways you least expect in this collection of aphorisms and meditations—now expanded with fifty percent more material than the hardcover.<BR> <BR>The Bed of Procrustes takes its title from the Greek myth of a man who made his visitors fit his bed to perfection, either by stretching them or by cutting their limbs. It represents Taleb’s view of modern civilization’s hubristic side effects—modifying humans to satisfy technology, blaming reality for not fitting economic models, inventing diseases to sell drugs, defining intelligence as what can be tested in a classroom, and convincing people that employment is not slavery. Playful and irreverent, these aphorisms will surprise you by exposing self-delusions you have been living with but never recognized.<BR> <BR>With a rare combination of pointed wit and potent wisdom, Taleb plows through human illusions, contrasting the classical values of courage, elegance, and erudition with the modern diseases of nerdiness, philistinism, and phonies.

Eine Anleitung zum Nach-, Quer- und Gegendenken'Ich weiß, dass ich nichts weiß', erkannte bereits Sokrates. Wie wir aber mit dem Unbekannten, mit dem, was wir nicht wissen, faktisch umgehen und idealerweise umgehen sollten, das beschreibt der Risikoforscher und Essayist Nassim Nicholas Taleb in seinem Handbuch. Er enthüllt die Begrenztheiten unserer Datenverliebtheit genauso wie die folgenschweren Irrtümer und Voreingenommenheiten unseres Denkens. So zeigt er, wie uns Denkfehler, falsche Kategorien und blinde Flecken immer wieder in die Irre führen - und wie wir mit Unwissen gewinnbringend umgehen können. Denn: 'Für den einen ist ein Irrtum bloß ein Irrtum, für den anderen ist er eine Information.'

Eine Anleitung zum Nach-, Quer- und Gegendenken'Ich weiß, dass ich nichts weiß', erkannte bereits Sokrates. Wie wir aber mit dem Unbekannten, mit dem, was wir nicht wissen, faktisch umgehen und idealerweise umgehen sollten, das beschreibt der Risikoforscher und Essayist Nassim Nicholas Taleb in seinem Handbuch. Er enthüllt die Begrenztheiten unserer Datenverliebtheit genauso wie die folgenschweren Irrtümer und Voreingenommenheiten unseres Denkens. So zeigt er, wie uns Denkfehler, falsche Kategorien und blinde Flecken immer wieder in die Irre führen - und wie wir mit Unwissen gewinnbringend umgehen können. Denn: 'Für den einen ist ein Irrtum bloß ein Irrtum, für den anderen ist er eine Information.'

Die Summe von Talebs Denken - originelle Thesen, eleganter Lesegenuss und scharfe PointenWir leben in einer unsicheren Welt, und das System, das sie beherrscht, hat auf dramatische Weise vorgeführt, wie zerbrechlich es ist. Und doch haben wir nichts daraus gelernt und setzen dieser Fragilität keine 'Antifragilität' entgegen. Der Bestsellerautor Nassim Nicholas Taleb zeigt uns indes, wie das gehen kann. Er überträgt seine Erkenntnisse aus der Zufallsforschung auf nahezu alle lebenspraktischen Bereiche von der Erziehung über Kultur bis zur Politik. So gelingt ihm eine große, praktisch-philosophische Antwort auf die Herausforderungen unsicherer Zeiten. Denn wir gewinnen nicht, indem wir Zufälle und Ungewissheit um jeden Preis abzuwehren versuchen, sondern indem wir sie zu Stärken ummünzen: Das Antifragile bleibt - alles andere wird verschwinden.

Warum wir nur denen vertrauen sollten, die etwas zu verlieren habenZu viele Menschen mit Macht und Einfluss, so Nassim Nicholas Taleb, müssen nicht wirklich den Kopf hinhalten für das, was sie tun und veranlassen. Intellektuelle, Journalisten, Bürokraten, Banker - sie vor allem haben kein 'Skin in the Game' und entscheiden daher schlecht. Taleb zeigt, wie 'Skin in the Game', ein fundamentales Konzept des Risikomanagements, auf alle Bereiche des Lebens übertragen werden kann. Und er fordert uns heraus, alles, was wir über Risiko und Verantwortung zu wissen glauben, neu zu denken.

From the bestselling author of The Black Swan, a bold book that challenges many of our long-held beliefs about risk and reward, politics and religion, finance and personal responsibility<BR><BR>Why should we never listen to people who explain rather than do? Why do companies go bust? How is it that we have more slaves today than in Roman times? Why does imposing democracy on other countries never work? <BR><BR>The answer: too many people running the world don't have skin in the game. In his inimitable, pugnacious style, Nassim Nicholas Taleb shows that skin in the game applies to all aspects of our lives. It's about having something to lose and taking a risk. Citizens, lab experimenters, artisans, political activists and hedge fund traders all have skin in the game. Policy wonks, corporate executives, theoreticians, bankers and most journalists don't.<BR><BR>As Taleb says, "The symmetry of skin in the game is a simple rule that's necessary for fairness and justice, and the ultimate BS-buster," and "Never trust anyone who doesn't have skin in the game. Without it, fools and crooks will benefit, and their mistakes will never come back to haunt them".

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A bold work from the author of The Black Swan that challenges many of our long-held beliefs about risk and reward, politics and religion, finance and personal responsibility<BR><BR> In his most provocative and practical book yet, one of the foremost thinkers of our time redefines what it means to understand the world, succeed in a profession, contribute to a fair and just society, detect nonsense, and influence others. Citing examples ranging from Hammurabi to Seneca, Antaeus the Giant to Donald Trump, Nassim Nicholas Taleb shows how the willingness to accept one’s own risks is an essential attribute of heroes, saints, and flourishing people in all walks of life.<BR><BR> As always both accessible and iconoclastic, Taleb challenges long-held beliefs about the values of those who spearhead military interventions, make financial investments, and propagate religious faiths. Among his insights:<BR><BR> • For social justice, focus on symmetry and risk sharing. You cannot make profits and transfer the risks to others, as bankers and large corporations do. You cannot get rich without owning your own risk and paying for your own losses. Forcing skin in the game corrects this asymmetry better than thousands of laws and regulations.<BR> • Ethical rules aren’t universal. You’re part of a group larger than you, but it’s still smaller than humanity in general.<BR> • Minorities, not majorities, run the world. The world is not run by consensus but by stubborn minorities imposing their tastes and ethics on others.<BR> • You can be an intellectual yet still be an idiot. “Educated philistines” have been wrong on everything from Stalinism to Iraq to low-carb diets.<BR> • Beware of complicated solutions (that someone was paid to find). A simple barbell can build muscle better than expensive new machines.<BR> • True religion is commitment, not just faith. How much you believe in something is manifested only by what you’re willing to risk for it.<BR><BR>The phrase “skin in the game” is one we have often heard but rarely stopped to truly dissect. It is the backbone of risk management, but it’s also an astonishingly rich worldview that, as Taleb shows in this book, applies to all aspects of our lives. As Taleb says, “The symmetry of skin in the game is a simple rule that’s necessary for fairness and justice, and the ultimate BS-buster,” and “Never trust anyone who doesn’t have skin in the game. Without it, fools and crooks will benefit, and their mistakes will never come back to haunt them.”

Everyone wants to succeed in life. But what causes some of us to be more successful than others? Is it really down to skill and strategy - or something altogether more unpredictable?<BR><BR>This book is the bestselling sensation that will change the way you think about business and the world. It is all about luck: more precisely, how we perceive luck in our personal and professional experiences. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the markets - we hear an entrepreneur has 'vision' or a trader is 'talented', but all too often their performance is down to chance rather than skill. It is only because we fail to understand probability that we continue to believe events are non-random, finding reasons where none exist.<BR><BR>'One of the smartest books of all time' Fortune<BR><BR> 'An iconoclastic tour de force ... nothing escapes his Exocets' Evening Standard<BR><BR> 'Brilliant' John Kay<BR><BR> 'Excellent and thought-provoking ... an entertaining book' Financial Times<BR><BR> 'Wall Street's principal dissident' Malcolm Gladwell

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A bold work from the author of The Black Swan that challenges many of our long-held beliefs about risk and reward, politics and religion, finance and personal responsibility<BR><BR> In his most provocative and practical book yet, one of the foremost thinkers of our time redefines what it means to understand the world, succeed in a profession, contribute to a fair and just society, detect nonsense, and influence others. Citing examples ranging from Hammurabi to Seneca, Antaeus the Giant to Donald Trump, Nassim Nicholas Taleb shows how the willingness to accept one’s own risks is an essential attribute of heroes, saints, and flourishing people in all walks of life.<BR><BR> As always both accessible and iconoclastic, Taleb challenges long-held beliefs about the values of those who spearhead military interventions, make financial investments, and propagate religious faiths. Among his insights:<BR><BR> • For social justice, focus on symmetry and risk sharing. You cannot make profits and transfer the risks to others, as bankers and large corporations do. You cannot get rich without owning your own risk and paying for your own losses. Forcing skin in the game corrects this asymmetry better than thousands of laws and regulations.<BR> • Ethical rules aren’t universal. You’re part of a group larger than you, but it’s still smaller than humanity in general.<BR> • Minorities, not majorities, run the world. The world is not run by consensus but by stubborn minorities imposing their tastes and ethics on others.<BR> • You can be an intellectual yet still be an idiot. “Educated philistines” have been wrong on everything from Stalinism to Iraq to low-carb diets.<BR> • Beware of complicated solutions (that someone was paid to find). A simple barbell can build muscle better than expensive new machines.<BR> • True religion is commitment, not just faith. How much you believe in something is manifested only by what you’re willing to risk for it.<BR><BR>The phrase “skin in the game” is one we have often heard but rarely stopped to truly dissect. It is the backbone of risk management, but it’s also an astonishingly rich worldview that, as Taleb shows in this book, applies to all aspects of our lives. As Taleb says, “The symmetry of skin in the game is a simple rule that’s necessary for fairness and justice, and the ultimate BS-buster,” and “Never trust anyone who doesn’t have skin in the game. Without it, fools and crooks will benefit, and their mistakes will never come back to haunt them.”

'Really made me think about how I think' - Mohsin Hamid, author of Exit West<BR><BR>Tough times don't last. Tough people do. <BR><BR>In The Black Swan, Taleb showed us that highly improbable and unpredictable events underlie almost everything about our world. Here Taleb stands uncer­tainty on its head, making it desirable, even necessary. The antifragile is beyond the resilient or robust. The resil­ient resists shocks and stays the same; the antifragile gets better and better.<BR><BR>Just as human bones get stronger when subjected to stress and tension, many things in life benefit from stress, disorder, volatility, and turmoil. What Taleb has identified and calls antifragile are things that not only gain from chaos but need it in order to survive and flourish.<BR><BR>Antifragile is a blueprint for living in a Black Swan world. Erudite, witty, and iconoclastic, Taleb's message is revolutionary: the antifragile, and only the antifragile, will make it.<BR><BR>'The hottest thinker in the world' Bryan Appleyard, Sunday Times