Randomness is difficult concept for the human mind to deal with. However, randomness plays an important roles in our lives. In his book Fooled By Randomness, Nassim Nicholas Taleb discusses randomness and how we are fools of randomness.
First of all, I highly recommend this book. Fooled by Randomness, is a very digestible book even (especially) for those with no finance or economics background. Taleb makes the math of probability make sense. His use of conversational tone throughout the book is excellent. I get the impression that he is one of those story tellers that could make a tale about a trip to the grocery store interesting.
I'd have a hard time covering all the concepts he covered in the book in one post. What I'll do instead is cover the book chapter by chapter. It's one of those books where every chapter is interesting and adds something to the whole.
Stephen King advises aspiring writers to read and Taleb appears to be one of the most well read authors I've had the pleasure of reading. Again his prose is easily accessible even to the layman.
I have some reservations about believing too much in this book. I'm too much of a skeptic (fueled even more after reading this book) to take everything at face value. I've already read some of his source material but it would take me years to read all of it.
If you're looking for a good book that will (almost certainly) change or challenge many of your notions of how the world works, then Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets
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Comments
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I've ordered it…and am looking forward to your series of posts.