I seen nicholas nassim taleb labeled both as a epicurean and a stoic. Say what you want about him as a person or his language on social media but the man has come with some real original and profound ways to look at the world. His view is that constructing such socalled robust institutions is not sufficient as it continually fights yesterdays battle. Things that gain from disorder kindle edition by taleb, nassim nicholas. Nassim nicholas taleb divides the world and all thats in it people, things, institutions, ways of life into three categories. A matter of definition, i think, and dont let that stand in the way of gathering some. Simply, antifragility is defined as a convex response to a stressor or source of harm for some. Taleb wrote in antifragile and in scientific papers that if the statistical structure of habits in modern society differ too greatly from the ancestral environment of humanity, the analysis of consumption should focus less on composition and more on frequency. He currently teaches at columbia universitys ms program in.
I have been reading nassim talebs antifragile over the break, and am very impressed. The pursuit of meaning within big data has brought about many more spurious. Having said that, i really enjoyed reading fooled by randomness, it is a really good insight into the nature of all. Become antifragile beyond resilience and gain from. Just as being clear on what constitutes a black swan allows us to better discuss the subject, so too will defining antifragility the classic example of something antifragile is hydra, the greek mythological creature that has numerous heads. It might teach me something, but that doesnt improve my strength or address weakness in any way. Things that gain from disorder 2014 by nassim taleb since the book came out because hes into stoicism.
Antifragile, by nassim nicholas taleb the new york times. Here are the personal journal entries i used to record the best lessons from each book. How to live in a world we dont understand by nassim. Nassim talebs antifragile celebrates randomness in. Antifragile is a standalone book in nassim nicholas talebs landmark incerto series, an investigation of opacity, luck, uncertainty, probability, human error, risk, and decisionmaking in a world we dont understand. Nassim taleb, in his exasperating but compelling book antifragile, praises. The barbell strategy means covering your downsides while increasing your upsides. Things that gain from disorder is a book by nassim nicholas taleb published on. They are systems that improve or get stronger when unexpected, volatile events happen like the airline industry, see below. You play it very safe on one side so that you can take more risks on another side. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading antifragile. A reader could easily run out of adjectives to describe nassim nicholas talebs new book antifragile.
The labels dont matter that much to me, i just want to be sure i understand him. Antifragile definition antifragility is the term coined by nassim nicholaus taleb, which he uses to describe the opposite to fragility, that is beyond resilience. Nassim taleb here introduces the barbell strategy as a way of being antifragile. Antifragile is much more than a book on black swan events and their role in finance. Things that gain from disorder 2012, alongside fooled by randomness. The other books in the series are fooled by randomness, the black swan, skin in the game, and the bed of procrustes. Antifragile is a standalone book in nassim nicholas talebs landmark incerto.
Mathematical definition, mapping, and detection of antifragility n. Nassim taleb takes great issue with this approach in his new book antifragile. This is an animated book summary of antifragile by assim nicholas. Things that gain from disorder is a book by nassim nicholas taleb published on november 27, 2012, by random house in the united states and penguin in the united kingdom. Antifragile by nassim taleb march 12, 2016 march 12, 2016 kirtika 4 comments antifragile a term used to mean the opposite of fragile, and denote things that gain from disorder, chaos, stressors. Nassim taleb, in his exasperating but compelling book antifragile, praises things that gain from disorder people, policies and institutions designed to thrive on volatility, instead of shattering in the encounter with it oliver burkman, guardian more than just robust or flexible, it actively thrives on disruption julian baggini, guardian. Taleb describes the underlying mechanics of the world as nonlinear.
A brief introduction to the thinking of nassim taleb randomness and hidden risks. Instead the focus should be in building antifragile institutions. Antifragile systems are those which he advocates we move towards. In his book antifragile, nassim nicholas taleb describes how some systems, such as biological ones, gain from disorder. A must read, and if you enjoy the content on this site, youll love antifragile. But, as his latest book demonstrates, he holds a particular grievance against the mediocre, the safe middle ground, and most. Things that gain from disorder incerto antifragile is a standalone book in nassim nicholas talebs landmark incerto series, an investigation of opacity, luck, uncertainty. He is one of my favorite authors and he has also published skin in the game, the black swan, fooled by randomness.
Would a psychopath be considered antifragile by nassim. The impact of the highly improbable is a 2007 book by author and former options trader nassim nicholas taleb. I say that because rather than talk about the whole book im just going to write a bit more informally about my impressions, mainly regarding what he says about. Antifragile is a standalone book in nassim nicholas talebs landmark incerto series, an investigation of opacity, luck, uncertainty, probability, human error. Antifragile is a celebration of risk and randomness and a call to arms to recognize and embrace antifragility. Due to his former work as a trader on wall street and fame for the black swan, the popular application of talebs thought is finance. He gets in twitter fights, eats a lot of squid ink pasta, but also has many fans. The hidden role of chance in life and in the markets 2005 and the black swan. Antifragile is a standalone book in nassim nicholas talebs landmark incerto series, an investigation of opacity, luck, uncertainty, probability, human error, risk, and. Antifragile resembles a selfhelp book, though it is difficult to imagine any other selfhelp book as intemperate and cranky. Not readily reducible to a definition taleb takes the whole book to develop the.
Taleb extends the definition to include any risk so that every captain goes down with every ship. Heres the definition of antifragility from nassim taleb. This book builds upon ideas from his previous works including fooled by randomness 2001, the black swan 20072010, and the bed of procrustes 20102016 and is the fourth book in the fivevolume philosophical treatise on uncertainty titled incerto. Some of the ideas are expanded in talebs fifth book. Nassim taleb is a trader himself and many of the lessons from this book he learned by trading in highly volatile currency markets. Curiosity is antifragile, like an addiction, and is magnified by attempts to satisfy it books have a secret mission and ability to multiply, as everyone who has walltowall bookshelves knows well. Nassim nicholas taleb takes a critical look at modern society and its aim to smooth out life by interfering in systems like the economy. The central theme of the book is antifragility, which taleb defines in the prologue. Rather than reduce risk, organize your life, your business or your society in such.
Nassim nicholas taleb is a former trader, philosopher and student of probabilities. The impact of the highly improbable 2007 completes nassim nicholas talebs. Talebs bestselling 2007 book the black swan and his earlier book fooled by randomness. Things that gain from disorder is the fourth book from nassim taleb s incerto series, a followup on the black swan wherein taleb introduces and describes the concept of antifragility throughout different domains. Fooled by randomness remains my favorite book from him. It is a concept developed by professor nassim nicholas taleb in his book. Fragile things are exposed to volatility, robust things resist it, anti fragile things benefit from it. In nassim taleb book antifragile he emphasizes that if you see a fraud and do not say fraud, you are a fraud, i am thus compelled to note that antifragile is a fraud because its theme is based on intentional misdirection. Books antifragile by nassim nicholas taleb eleni panagiotarakou benefits from nassim nicholas talebs attack on the follies of overcautiousness antifragile. Antifragile by nassim taleb book notes taylor pearson.
Nassim talebs incerto contains the blueprint for an improved way of portfolio construction. The antifragile the central theme of the book is antifragility, which taleb defines in the prologue. How does well does nicholas nassim talebs antifragile. Things that gain from disorder nassim nicholas taleb publisher. Taleb calls this the black swan theory the book covers subjects relating to knowledge. Nassim nicholas taleb, the lebaneseborn financial traderturnedacademicturnedphilosopher, in 2007 foresaw something very like the global blow. From the bestselling author of the black swan and one of the foremos. I enjoy his writing and, among all his books, think antifragile is the most. I grabbed the nearest taleb, lautore, book i could find. Things that gain from disorder, is a work of nonfiction that trades in extremesa book that, in complete earnestness, offers thoughts on everything from the philosophy. Antifragility is a property of systems that increase in capability to thrive as a result of stressors, shocks, volatility, noise, mistakes, faults, attacks, or failures. Antifragile is a kind of sequel or logical followon to mr.
The most conspicuous and popular examples he presents are also explicitly mentioned as not the essence of antifragility. The book focuses on the extreme impact of rare and unpredictable outlier events and the human tendency to find simplistic explanations for these events, retrospectively. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. Mathematical definition, mapping, and detection of anti. Antifragile things that gain from disorder, by nassim nicholas taleb. Antifragile, by nassim nicholas taleb the independent.
Larry prusak is an independent consultant who has coauthored 12 books and many articles. Nassim nicholas taleb, the bestselling author of the black. How to live in a world we dont understand by nassim nicholas. Once you get over the idea that youre reading some sort of popular economics book and realise that its basically nassim talebs rules for life, its actually rather enjoyable. Taleb nyupoly r douady cnrs risk data first version, august 2012 abstract we provide a mathematical definition of fragility and antifragility as negative or positive sensitivity to. To me, antifragile is a reframing or at least rephrasing of stoic philosophies. I just merely scratched the surface with my three lessons here, but thought itd be most helpful to get the idea of what antifragile even means for a start. Nassim nicholas taleb has little tolerance for, well, a lot of things.
Antifragility is an idea by nassim nicholas taleb, describing a category. While i was reading this book during the days around christmas 20 a major. His key books from which i draw here are the black swan 2nd edition. Sovietharvard delusions in the book which do precisely this. Talebs two previous books fooled by randomness and the black. Things that gain from disorder by nassim nicholas taleb. While a lot of people casually use the word, not many people have read. Learn how to control risk and be more resilient by becoming more antifragile.
1232 740 612 373 646 1366 784 621 833 68 1670 1311 139 671 688 1027 443 548 812 482 1314 1458 33 682 1506 389 20 514 595 687 14 479 335 1400 201 182 562 539 828 993 113