After reading a few chapters of “Fooled by Randomness” I had had my fill of Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s unbounded admiration for Nassim Nicholas Taleb. Other than that, the book consists mostly of unsupported arguments that boil down to “s**t happens”. Taleb leads you on until, at the end, you’re still wondering when he’ll develop and support his points, which can be summed up as “I’m smarter than most people”, “most people are dumb”, “probability does not mean what you think it means”, and “s**t happens”.
Despite it’s flaws, it’s very readable, though I’m not convinced that a readable empty book is a good thing. Not only is reading it a waste of time, but it takes me longer to write here about a book I disliked than it does to review one I enjoyed. This one is a double-barreled time waster.
I was going to read his new book, “The Black Swan”, but it sounds like a rehash of “Fooled by Randomness”. As the saying goes, “fool me once about randomness, shame on Nassim, fool me twice, shame on me.”