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| Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets | 
 enlarge | Author: Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Publisher: Penguin
Category: Book
Buy New: £6.38
New (6) from £6.38
Avg. Customer Rating:  25 reviews
Sales Rank: 234400
Media: Paperback
Edition: Open Market Ed
Pages: 368
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7 x 4.3 x 0.9
ISBN: 014103274X
EAN: 9780141032740
ASIN: 014103274X
Publication Date: March 29, 2007
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: PLEASE CHECK LANGUAGE OF THIS BOOK IN "PRODUCT DETAILS". BRAND NEW - ***Delivery usually * 3 - 5 * working days - From Aphrohead of SOUTHPORT, UK *** . Thanks from all at Aphrohead.
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| Customer Reviews:
| Showing reviews 21-25 of 25 | | « PREV | | |
 Don't try to teach pigs to sing July 8, 2007
13 out of 15 found this review helpful
I enjoyed this book and found myself in philosophical agreement with many of its concepts. While this is written by someone who operates in the Stock Market, it is equally applicable to other forms of corporate life.
Attributing causes to explain events (even when there are no connections) is a basic human instinct driven by the need to feel in control and not at the mercy of the gods or mere chance.
I have seen the same basic instinct demonstrated time after time in the world of management within organisations. What I like about Taleb's book is that he provides me with some good examples I can now quote the next time I see 'fantasy attribution' at play.
But the biggest take away for me is the fact that he is cool about not pushing his ideas or getting upset when people are clearly constructing a delusion. I am reminded of an old proverb attributed to the Chinese that illustrates this.... 'Don't try to teach pigs to sing, why not? Two reasons, 1) Pigs cant sing and 2) It annoys the pig.
So from now on, just like Taleb, I am not going to get upset, I have stopped teaching pigs to sing.
A brilliant and wise book July 2, 2007
8 out of 10 found this review helpful
2nd edition (2004), 316 pages (of which 262 pages for the book)
I read the first edition of Taleb's book a couple of years ago and remember thinking it was one of the best books I'd read - one that would definitely make my all time top ten. I found the concept of alternate outcomes and alternate histories (that what did happen was not necessarily what could have happened) an instantly and outstandingly useful way of making more sense of the world. I suspect most of us have some vague or even more than vague, idea of this (particularly those drawn to reading this book) - but it is different when someone shoves it in front of you in such a succinct and brilliant fashion.
I no longer have my copy of the first edition (having loaned it to someone who lost it) so I can't do direct comparisons and don't have my underlinings and scribblings from the original. However, in the preface Taleb talks about some of his changes/additions and says specifically that the second edition is more than a third longer than the original.
He also mentions that one of his friends begged him not to revise the book for the second edition. That reminds me of the situation with Dawkins' Selfish Gene. When he revised the book for the second edition he (and from memory, I think also the publishers) didn't want to damage the flow or impact from the original, so he contented himself with adding material as separate endnote chapters.
I suspect that Taleb might have been better off taking the same approach. I have to be careful, though, as a second reading of an outstandingly original book is never going to have the same impact as the first - and I don't have my original to make specific comparisons. However, I think it likely that some of the power of the original has been lost. (One can easily justify each addition, but eventually the changes may detract from the whole, or, as Garrett Hardin puts it: "one can never do merely one thing.")
That (potential) carping aside, Fooled by Randomness is still an exceptionally wise and useful book. Do yourself a big favour and read it - though it might be worth looking for a copy of the first edition.
Hello.....losers..... June 9, 2007
19 out of 39 found this review helpful
The problem I had in reading this book was that I couldn't remove two comedy characterisations from my mind. The first was that the narrative voice reading the text in my head was that of Artie Ziff, he of the "busy hands" on The Simpsons.
The second was the Harry Enfield character who is "Considerably Richer Than You". If you bumped into Mr Taleb at a dinner party, you'd be expecting him to quickly interrupt your conversation with the observation, "Excuse me, I couldn't help but noticing that I Am Considerably More Intelligent Than You". I can see Mr Taleb reading that statement and nodding sagely in agreement but, if you are reading this review Mr Taleb, that was a joke.
All the same, I can see the author discussing with the publisher if a warning should be stamped on the cover, "Not For Thick People". Clearly in this random world, some thick people are going to buy it. Like me. We will spend fruitless hours reading the text wondering exactly what the book is about but getting a buzz from the fact that we are nearly understanding every fifteenth sentence.
I will resist writing a fuller review on this basis - I understood about a fifteenth of the book. Nevertheless, it was quite entertaining in a David Lynch kind of way. You might have no idea of what is going on, but persevere in the hope that maybe you'll learn something. Only time will tell if you did - or will it? If you are interested in trying to find out the likely answer to this question, you should buy this book.
Trader's Bible June 5, 2007
11 out of 13 found this review helpful
Taleb gives in this book a correct framework for what one is facing when undertaking any kind of speculation. This book should be read before any other investigation of markets or learning from the other books on speculation is attempted. In essence it is an self-delusion avoiding manual.
I would agree with a previous review, as this book does get a bit tardy towards the end. Nevermind that, the first 80% is pure gold.
 Taleb the student May 17, 2007
8 out of 34 found this review helpful
I found this book a very enjoyable read, from a philosophical point of view and market one. I am fairly new to the Trading world and i particularly enjoyed Taleb's semi-fictional characters uch as Nero and John, and his (Taleb's) own insights/dramas/experiences (nuggets of wisdom)in the markets.
I found that the book started to 'drag' on a bit towards the end with other disciplines brought in loosely related to the subject matter.
Taleb's points in the lesson of Randomness needs to be balanced off , understood correctly, with the lesson that Randomness plays 'a Role' and much more in certain disciplines, although he makes the point of Randomness very well ... i think the book should be used as a tool which highlights the Random point to the extreme in order for the 'Point' i.e. Randomness to be made.
He also neglects, whether owing to his personal belief, the role of Divine Decree and that that maybe that Success, chains of Random events etc. are all ultimately decreed. His understanding of Arabic (i assume) gave him a unique advantage in delving further than the works of Ghazali and into Ibn Jawziyah et. al. and possibly 'formulating' some-sort of link with Divine Decree.
I only say this because i find European scholars avoid any mention of a Divine Role unless to critise it or prove their atheistic partialness.
Onto the Black swan ...
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