The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable - Hardcover

Taleb, Nassim Nicholas

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0713999950 ISBN 13: 9780713999952

Publisher: Allen Lane, 2007

Synopsis

Elegant, startling, and universal in its applications, The Black Swan is a concept that will change the way you look at the world. Black Swans underlie almost everything, from the rise of religions, to events in our own personal lives. A Black Swan is a highly improbable event with three principle characteristics: it is unpredictable; it carries a massive impact; and, after the fact, we concoct an explanation that makes it appear less random and more predictable than it was. The astonishing success of Google was a black swan; so was 9/11. And why do we always ignore the phenomenon of Black Swans until after they occur? As Nassim Nicholas Taleb reveals, we are hard-wired not to truly estimate risk, too vulnerable to the impulse to simplify, narrate, and categorize and not open enough to rewarding those who can imagine the ‘impossible’. In this revelatory book, Taleb explains everything we know about what we don’t know, and shows us how to face the world.

About this title

Review:

'A deeply intelligent, provocative book ... Taleb succeeds in
bringing sceptical empiricism to the masses' -- The Economist

'A fascinating study of how we are regularly taken for suckers by the unexpected' -- Larry Elliot, Guardian

'A provocative macro-trend tome in the tradition of The Wisdom of
Crowds and The Tipping Point' -- Time

'A richly enjoyable read with an important message' -- BusinessWeek

'An idiosyncratically brilliant new book' -- Niall Ferguson, Sunday Telegraph

'An idiosyncratically brilliant new book'
-- Niall Ferguson, Sunday Telegraph

'Like the conversation of raconteur ... hugely enjoyable - compelling ... Beware the Black Swan' -- John Kay, Financial Times

'Mindblowing ... A masterpiece' -- Chris Anderson, Editor-in-Chief of Wired and author of The Long Tail

'Taleb's book deserves our attention, and our thanks' -- International Herald Tribune

'The Black Swan confirms his status as a guru for every would-be Damien Hirst, George Soros and aspirant despot' -- John Cornwell, Sunday Times

From the Publisher:

Shortlisted for the Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award 2007

About this edition

• Publisher: Allen Lane
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0713999950
• ISBN 13: 9780713999952
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 366