Fooled by Randomness

Nassim Nicholas Taleb has spent his life studying uncertainty, probability, and knowing. He worked as a businessman and quantitative trader for nearly two decades until becoming a full-time philosophical essayist and academic researcher in 2006.

Fooled by Randomness, now in a stunning new hardback edition, is the viral sensation that will revolutionize the way you think about business and the world. Nassim Nicholas Taleb, an experienced trader, recognized risk expert, polymathic scholar, erudite raconteur, and New York Times bestselling author of The Black Swan, has created a modern classic that challenges our assumptions about chance and talent.

This book is about luck, or more specifically, how we perceive and cope with luck in our daily lives and businesses. Set against the backdrop of the most visible forum where luck is mistaken for skill—the world of trading—Fooled by Randomness offers enthralling insight into one of the least understood variables in all of our lives. The author discusses major intellectual themes relating to the underestimate of the power of serendipity on our lives in an interesting storytelling approach.

Among the best books on cognitive biases, the book features a cast of individuals, some of whom have realized the significance of chance in their own way: baseball hero Yogi Berra; philosopher of knowledge Karl Popper; the ancient world's wisest man, Solon; current financier George Soros; and Greek voyager Odysseus. We also encounter the mythical Nero, who appears to understand the significance of chance in his professional life but succumbs to his own superstitious folly.

The most famous character, however, stays unnamed—the lucky fool who happens to be in the right place at the right time—he personifies the "survival of the least fit." Such people attract committed followers who trust their guru's insights and tactics. But no one can duplicate what happens by accident.

Can we tell the difference between a lucky charlatan and a true visionary? Is it necessary to always try to find nonexistent messages in random events? It may be hard to protect ourselves from the whims of the goddess Fortuna, but we can be better prepared after reading Fooled by Randomness.

Author: Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Link to buy: https://www.amazon.com/Fooled-Randomness-Hidden-Markets-Incerto/dp/1400067936?tag=tcl0a-20

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