Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets: 1 (Incerto)

The language is dense — unmistakably that of a true scientist — but it's rich with insight. Gems are scattered throughout the text, waiting to be discovered. I recommend reading it slowly, pausing often to reflect or highlight the subtle points you might otherwise miss. I’m already on a second pass, marking ideas I overlooked the first time. I’m especially glad the author didn’t simplify the language at an editor’s suggestion — that would’ve stripped the book of its distinctive voice and the unique pleasure of slow, thoughtful reading.

It completely changes the perspective in everything. Although some concepts take time to understand but it’s worth the waiting. The black swans in everything (Market, Career, life) exists so we can accept those instead of controlling it. Thank you

Not an easy read, but a peek into the depth of human machinery and the faults that lay around causing biases. Starting point for introspecting oneself into being a deep thinker, a good starting point.

Loved it. I could relate with the context even without any background in finance or economics. I am happy to have purchased it

Book-Level: Advanced The book brings "randomness" to the centre of the thought process. The idea that history is just one sample path randomly chosen from all the available sample paths at that point was explained well. Author, as expected, and seen on YouTube videos, does have a different attitude and tone on his writing, but I feel it suits him. Solon's explanation on who is luckiest was a good one too. There are several other characters and points which are explained well but probably I either couldn't recollect as I am writing this review OR I simply glanced them through. Nevertheless, this did make me fan of NNT, and worth a re-read.

Quality of pages not Penguin.

Liked the theme

The book does complete justice to all the reputation that it has. It is a phenomenal work and reading this has made me more curious about other books of the Incerto series. Taleb is known as an iconoclast and it becomes pretty clear why, after reading this. Everything he suggests is driven by logic and reason. He makes some stunning claims and explains them brilliantly. His thought process on the current brand of journalism is absolutely true. He ridicules people mercilessly and is also accepting of the fact that he himself is only a pawn of his emotions. Finally, I would say that this book must be read by everyone who wants to delve deep on the affects of uncertainty and randomness in our daily life. Taleb seems to the kind of writer whom you'll either respect and admire a lot or hate to your bones, I am glad that I find myself in the former category.