Fooled By Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and the Markets - Softcover

Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1587991845 ISBN 13: 9781587991844

Publisher: Texere Publishing, 2004

Synopsis

This revised paperback edition of "Fooled by Randomness" includes a new introduction, the expansion of some of the author's key concepts and an extensive bibliography pointing the reader towards further reading. Taleb takes the reader on a fascinating journey through our perceptions of success, failure and luck; bridging the gap between mathematics, philosophy, the financial markets and life in general. Concepts such as survivorship bias, induction and our genetic lack of fitness for the modern world are laid before the reader in an accessible narrative that sweeps across the trading rooms of New York and Chicago, passing along the way Solon (the Ancient World's wisest man), the philosophy of Karl Popper and the pronouncements of Yogi Berra ("it ain't over 'till the fat lady sings") amongst others. At the end of the journey, the reader is left with a deep understanding of the role randomness plays in all our lives. Taleb delves into the reality of the lucky fool being "in the right place at the right time" who claims some brilliantly conceived plan was behind the success. He explains his ideas against a backdrop of the greatest and most visible forum possible for investigating these misconceptions - the world of trading and derivatives in which Taleb is regarded as a leading international figure. How often has the brilliant trader, who seems to the outside world to have been granted the gift of second-sight, been suddenly wiped out by a supposedly rare - or random - event? And we can all recognize the business leader or politician who claims a remarkable upturn in results is solely down to the cleverly thought-out strategies - when the reality is a series of independent factors coming together by chance to produce the success. Are we capable of recognizing the fortunate charlatan from the genuine visionary?

About this title

Review

One of the smartest books of all time (Fortune )

Wall Street's principal dissident (Malcolm Gladwell )

Brilliant (John Kay )

An iconoclastic tour de force (Evening Standard )

About the Author

Nassim Nicholas Taleb has devoted his life to problems of uncertainty, probability, and knowledge and has led three careers around this focus, as a businessman-trader, a philosophical essayist, and an academic researcher. Although he now spends most of his time working in intense seclusion in his study, in the manner of independent scholars, he is currently Distinguished Professor of Risk Engineering at New York University's Polytechnic Institute. His main subject matter is "decision making under opacity," that is, a map and a protocol on how we should live in a world we don't understand.

His books Fooled by Randomness and The Black Swan have been published in thirty-three languages.

Taleb believes that prizes, honorary degrees, awards, and ceremonialism debase knowledge by turning it into a spectator sport.

Edition details

• Publisher: Texere Publishing
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 1587991845
• ISBN 13: 9781587991844
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 312