Black Swan Book

[LH]

I have almost finished reading the book. It is interesting and informative to some extent. To what extent, I am unsure really. I will have to reread it.

I think its main flaw is the ad hominem elements that he does throughout. There seems to be a lot of name dropping, cultural references, and demeaning of others opinion that clutters up his viewpoint, and maybe some weakness in his arguments if they were more directly put. Though I will grant, that to someone familiar with the references, perhaps they add something, but I strongly suspect, that some of them add little to nothing to his arguments.

I just came out of it a bit dubious of many aspects of the work, due to the way it was presented. I was wondering if anyone else felt the same way?

Nice book though, I recommend reading it.

LH

[Murray Boyd]

Eh. You take the good with the bad.

He's trying to take down people who think they know it all. Those people need to be hit on the head or they won't get it. As for the rest of us, it's good for a laugh.

It ain't so much the things we don’t know that get us into trouble. It’s the things we know that just ain’t so

[Valuethinker]

I have almost finished reading the book. It is interesting and informative to some extent. To what extent, I am unsure really. I will have to reread it.

I think its main flaw is the ad hominem elements that he does throughout. There seems to be a lot of name dropping, cultural references, and demeaning of others opinion that clutters up his viewpoint, and maybe some weakness in his arguments if they were more directly put. Though I will grant, that to someone familiar with the references, perhaps they add something, but I strongly suspect, that some of them add little to nothing to his arguments.

I just came out of it a bit dubious of many aspects of the work, due to the way it was presented. I was wondering if anyone else felt the same way?

Nice book though, I recommend reading it.

LH

He's a cranky bastard, and chippy. Sort of 'I am a genius, and the world rejects me'.

I really recommend Benoit Mandelbrot's 'The Misbehavior of Markets' which is what Taleb's theories are based on. I found it really eye-opening: it's not the usual stuff of the CFA curriculum

[LH]

Ah,

You just answered my followup question, of what to read next if one is interested in the topic.

Thanks,

LH

[oneleaf]

How would you compare this book to Fooled by Randomness? I loved that book, and interested in reading this one.

[LH]

well, I read about half of fooled by randomness, and then the black swan came in, so I quit reading it. I like the black swan better than fooled by randomness.

The book I really like (so far)on these topics, is "the (mis)behavoir of markets" by mandelbrot. Black swan has a lot of clutter in it, Mandelbrots does not.

If you like black swans underlying topic matter, but were somewhat put off by the way it was written. Then you will like the misbehavoir of markets much better, its more straightforward and interesting to me.

[Chas]

I have almost finished reading the book. It is interesting and informative to some extent. To what extent, I am unsure really. I will have to reread it.

I think its main flaw is the ad hominem elements that he does throughout. There seems to be a lot of name dropping, cultural references, and demeaning of others opinion that clutters up his viewpoint, and maybe some weakness in his arguments if they were more directly put. Though I will grant, that to someone familiar with the references, perhaps they add something, but I strongly suspect, that some of them add little to nothing to his arguments.

I just came out of it a bit dubious of many aspects of the work, due to the way it was presented. I was wondering if anyone else felt the same way?

Nice book though, I recommend reading it.

LH

LH, I am just beginning to read the book now. Your critism seems to be somewhat vague. Examples would help you get over your point.

Chas

[Chas]

Eh. You take the good with the bad.

He's trying to take down people who think they know it all. Those people need to be hit on the head or they won't get it. As for the rest of us, it's good for a laugh.

It ain't so much the things we don’t know that get us into trouble. It’s the things we know that just ain’t so

Yes, I do see a degree of arrogance on Taleb's part in this book. It is obvious. Still, his main point may be worth that irritation. I don't know yet because I haven't finished the book. I have to wonder what good it would do humanity to know that there are tsunamis and even mega-tsunamis. The earth will warm, the earth will cool, wars will persist, perfect storms will destroy us and mega-volcanoes like that from the Yellowstone caldera 600,000 years ago did occur and will do so again someday. The ultimate question is, “What can be done about it?” Perhaps nothing it seems to me.

Chas

[Chas]

I have almost finished reading the book. It is interesting and informative to some extent. To what extent, I am unsure really. I will have to reread it.

I think its main flaw is the ad hominem elements that he does throughout. There seems to be a lot of name dropping, cultural references, and demeaning of others opinion that clutters up his viewpoint, and maybe some weakness in his arguments if they were more directly put. Though I will grant, that to someone familiar with the references, perhaps they add something, but I strongly suspect, that some of them add little to nothing to his arguments.

I just came out of it a bit dubious of many aspects of the work, due to the way it was presented. I was wondering if anyone else felt the same way?

Nice book though, I recommend reading it.

LH

He's a cranky bastard, and chippy. Sort of 'I am a genius, and the world rejects me'.

I really recommend Benoit Mandelbrot's 'The Misbehavior of Markets' which is what Taleb's theories are based on. I found it really eye-opening: it's not the usual stuff of the CFA curriculum

Yes, I ordered and received Mandelbrot's book along with Taleb's. I just randomly started Taleb’s book first. It is obvious from the posts I am reading that Taleb's arrogant style has blocked any serious consideration of his book. He says early on that he was bestowed with “f*** you” money somehow and no longer has to bow to anyone’s opinion. That is undoubtedly true from just the small part of the book I have read so far (he doesn’t care what anyone thinks).

I think his ancestry history in Lebanon is coloring his views if you consider how the sympathy the western elites extend to the Mid-East Muslims must affect him. I am just guessing and I am likely way off base there.

Chas

[LH]

I think I like "fooled by randomness" (whatever his first book is) a bit better than black swan, though to be honest, I had to quit reading it midway thru because its attitude became very tiresome. I really like the topic matter though, so I got mandlebrots book as well as black swan. I started black swan, then black swan seemed even more tiresome at points than fooled by randomness, then I switched to and finished mandlebrots book, ah, such a nice easy read, no spam. I then finished Black Swan, then went back to fooled by randomness and finished it.

So its all kinda a jumble between black swan, and fooled by randomness.

Some make like his style, but to me, its highly distracting and makes me want to do something else than listen to all the excess.

I am not out to prove a point here, I recommend all three books : )

Its just that very few books just produce such a distaste in me for what the person is saying, ad hominem attacks, and such that I have to periodically stop reading it, despite most of it being very well written, informative and interesting.

If he took all that negativity out though, maybe it would not be as good? Maybe to others it adds to it as well.....

I may go ahead and read karl poppers first book : )