Comments | zolphia: Book review: The Black Swan

zolphia

Book review: The Black Swan

May 10, 2009 10:57

It took me some time, but I finally finished reading "The Black Swan" by Nassim Nicholas Taleb some weeks ago ( Read more... )

Comments 7

cynni May 10 2009, 10:06:22 UTC

I dont think I will be reading this book. I did enjoy the Wee Free Men very much though ^^ It was exactly what I needed, a light funny fantasy book. And not as complicated as some of Pratchetts work.

Thanks again ^^

zolphia May 10 2009, 13:49:23 UTC

And not as complicated as some of Pratchetts work

So what other work have you tried then?

cynni May 10 2009, 18:23:28 UTC

The color of magic. Started it but I didnt get it. It was too detailed and I didnt get in the story.

(The comment has been removed)

zolphia May 10 2009, 14:00:24 UTC

I do not think Black Swan is a book on How Life Works, nor is it intended to be. It deals with the subject of uncertainty and as such, Life is inevitably a part of it. But it is not as grand as trying to encompass the whole of Life.

Haven't heard of Gödel, Escher, Bach before, but after a bit of Googling, it does sound interesting.

I also don't think the credit crunch or 9/11 were black swans.Hmm... I'm not 100% sure on that. It is true that everybody knew USA couldn't keep lending so much money at such low interest rates forever. People did expect a correction to occur at some point. However, the trigger of the crisis was unexpected as well as the extent of the crisis ( ... )

damanique May 10 2009, 11:44:11 UTC

It is an interesting topic. But like you said, if the book is written like that I'd rather read the Wiki page. ;)

zolphia May 10 2009, 13:50:29 UTC

Especially since you are extra sensitive to dick-y behaviour. If you'd read his recommendation to put rats into stuffy people's clothes, because it's so much fun to watch their reaction... well, I can imagine you throwing the book away.

damanique May 10 2009, 15:25:36 UTC

Yeah, good point. I can't really stand people who are pretentious and cocky and assume that they know so much better than everyone else, and think that is reason enough to mess with other people's thoughts and emotions.

If you'd read his recommendation to put rats into stuffy people's clothes, because it's so much fun to watch their reaction

They have a word for that on the internet, it's called 'trolling'. It's certainly not science.