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So I'm sitting here drinking during my lunch break that I started about a half-hour ago and will go on for another 2 hours because I measured my time and energy to money ratio, wrote it down into a set of parameters to follow, all things I learned from 2 authors. First, Nassim Taleb, who I'm in the habit of rereading ever year now, and secondly MJ who I first read this year. I'm going to finish unscripted today, and I'm really looking forward to honestly marking it as done here on the forums later tonight or tommorrow. In fact, I'll probably finish it during the first hour of my PM Uber Eats shift, and then I'll go on a read the next chapter of Black Swan. I just reread Fooled by Randomness last month... or this month, I can't remember really, as I read about 5-10 chapters (or 1-2 hours max) of 10-20 books simultaneously to replace my thoughts with the thoughts of... more experienced people.
To avoid going on a rant or turning this into a braggy self-centered blog post, I'll just right into the incerto collection, which is the title of the collection of 5 books written by Nassim Taleb based only on his personal experiences through the lense of his education in randomness, complexity, and probability. He is the popularizer of terms such as Black Swan, and Antifragile, as well as the leading authority of the definition of Skin in the Game actually used by really, really big businesses that make money, and lots of it.
If you find it helpful to know why things like time travel into the past or perpetual motion machines are impossible, or just find it interesting to learn how to define a perpetual motion machine is to avoid it. If you find short selling interesting, or read the books the warren buffet founds helpful only to think, "I don't love investing or working enough to do this for 30+ years", or if you watch shows like Billions and think, damn HOW do I do things like that?! Then you will find Nassim Taleb interesting.
Most of his books trigger me. Not because he's an arrogant, self-absorbed a**hole know-it-all, because I am too. I get triggered mostly because he dismisses most of my habits that seem right or even just benign as potential Black Swans... and yet doesn't dismiss religion in an anti-religious way. Yet I've learned to accept that his admission to liking religion for the stories and community but not as business or life advice as surprisingly wise the more years I think about it, and many other things he calls me out on... well, I just can't disprove them, because they work to the extent of getting better results as well as they trigger me. What I'm most fascinated by in this current re-read, is the idea of Negative Black Swans, which due to the fact that Black Swans are a bad thing, Negative Swans are a GOOD THING. This the same concept as Asemetrical Results, so if you want the mathematical and scientific proof behind MJ's Logic, check out Black Swan. If you want to know why people fall for slow lane shit like compounding interest and MLMs, read Fooled By Randomness. If you want to know why people waste time on school degrees to plug into the slow lane, read Antifragile, and if you want to know why most diet, exercise, and pill (pharmaceutical and supplement alike) plans are bullshit. If you want to know where the limits of things like Uber, AirBnB, Turo, and DoorDash are, read Skin in the Game, and also if you want to know why you would want to pay a contractor hourly and why you wouldn't, or if you want to know when to fire your therapist or coach or mentor or family member (like when to get a divorce, cut out your parent, or cut off your kid), it's also a good book for that.
That being said, I'm not a libertarian or into stoicism, I used to be, but I've learned it's more challenging and scary for me to accept that I'm an epicurean and... well, probably an apolitical psychopath. I couldn't be more different than Nassim Taleb philosophically, I don't even reread the Bed of Procrustes, his philosophy book that is part of the collection. But his shit works. And why wouldn't it? It's just another testament of MJ's discoveries he's shared with us through the lens of entrepreneurship, tech, and authorship. Nassim Taleb's Incerto Collection is also worth checking out if you are familiar with psychology, behavioral psych, or trader jargon more than business and tech jargon.
What are your thoughts?
Have you read Nassim Taleb?
Did you enjoy his books, or hate them?
Do you have any other authors that remind you of Nassim Taleb or complement his writing that you recommend?
To avoid going on a rant or turning this into a braggy self-centered blog post, I'll just right into the incerto collection, which is the title of the collection of 5 books written by Nassim Taleb based only on his personal experiences through the lense of his education in randomness, complexity, and probability. He is the popularizer of terms such as Black Swan, and Antifragile, as well as the leading authority of the definition of Skin in the Game actually used by really, really big businesses that make money, and lots of it.
If you find it helpful to know why things like time travel into the past or perpetual motion machines are impossible, or just find it interesting to learn how to define a perpetual motion machine is to avoid it. If you find short selling interesting, or read the books the warren buffet founds helpful only to think, "I don't love investing or working enough to do this for 30+ years", or if you watch shows like Billions and think, damn HOW do I do things like that?! Then you will find Nassim Taleb interesting.
Most of his books trigger me. Not because he's an arrogant, self-absorbed a**hole know-it-all, because I am too. I get triggered mostly because he dismisses most of my habits that seem right or even just benign as potential Black Swans... and yet doesn't dismiss religion in an anti-religious way. Yet I've learned to accept that his admission to liking religion for the stories and community but not as business or life advice as surprisingly wise the more years I think about it, and many other things he calls me out on... well, I just can't disprove them, because they work to the extent of getting better results as well as they trigger me. What I'm most fascinated by in this current re-read, is the idea of Negative Black Swans, which due to the fact that Black Swans are a bad thing, Negative Swans are a GOOD THING. This the same concept as Asemetrical Results, so if you want the mathematical and scientific proof behind MJ's Logic, check out Black Swan. If you want to know why people fall for slow lane shit like compounding interest and MLMs, read Fooled By Randomness. If you want to know why people waste time on school degrees to plug into the slow lane, read Antifragile, and if you want to know why most diet, exercise, and pill (pharmaceutical and supplement alike) plans are bullshit. If you want to know where the limits of things like Uber, AirBnB, Turo, and DoorDash are, read Skin in the Game, and also if you want to know why you would want to pay a contractor hourly and why you wouldn't, or if you want to know when to fire your therapist or coach or mentor or family member (like when to get a divorce, cut out your parent, or cut off your kid), it's also a good book for that.
That being said, I'm not a libertarian or into stoicism, I used to be, but I've learned it's more challenging and scary for me to accept that I'm an epicurean and... well, probably an apolitical psychopath. I couldn't be more different than Nassim Taleb philosophically, I don't even reread the Bed of Procrustes, his philosophy book that is part of the collection. But his shit works. And why wouldn't it? It's just another testament of MJ's discoveries he's shared with us through the lens of entrepreneurship, tech, and authorship. Nassim Taleb's Incerto Collection is also worth checking out if you are familiar with psychology, behavioral psych, or trader jargon more than business and tech jargon.
What are your thoughts?
Have you read Nassim Taleb?
Did you enjoy his books, or hate them?
Do you have any other authors that remind you of Nassim Taleb or complement his writing that you recommend?
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