Mar 04, 2020 a good person is as rare as a black swan decimus juvenal. What are some good intellectually stimulating books similar. The british government recently said climate change could reduce global g. Adam tremain, the captain of the black swan will deny his loyalty to the south to become a blockade runner, transporting fugitive slaves to freedom. Elegant, startling, and universal in its applications, the black swan is a landmark bookitself a black swan. A committed dancer struggles to maintain her sanity after winning the lead role in a production of tchaikovskys swan lake.
The term is based on an ancient saying that presumed black swans did not exist a saying that became reinterpreted to teach a different lesson after black swans were. If you enjoy imaginative, wellcrafted books and fabulous character development, youll love the black swan series. In case you have been living on mars for the last few weeks, this is a fairly straightforward plot. I liked the idea of the black swan, a person who looks good, or wonderful, but is menacing with hatred underneath.
In contrast with ambassador wantas goals to use his private fortune to help eliminate the u. The screenplay was written by mark heyman, john mclaughlin, and andres heinz, based on an original story by heinz. Extremistan is the unexpectable, black swan world of financial markets, book sales, and death by terrorism. Disturbingly, the journal has forecast a good year for 2007. The black swan goodreads meet your next favorite book. But i assure you, theyre joyful tears, or rather, tears of disbelief at how insanely perfect this book is. Natalie portman won the academy award for best performance by an actress in a leading role and the film was also nominated for. It won 91 awards and was nominated for an impressive total of 257 prizes. Extremistan is where we are subjected to the tyranny of the singular, the accidental, the unseen, and the unpredicted. The book is part of talebs five volume series, titled the incerto including fooled by randomness 2001. The black swan series the black swan series is amazing, and different from anything ive ever read. This book is about the absolutely unexpected, the black swan you would never suspect if you only saw white swans all your life.
The bed of procrustes takes its title from greek mythology. Some of you and some of us have already been personally impacted by the virus. A black swan is an event or occurrence that deviates beyond what is normally expected of a situation and is extremely difficult to predict. Mar 08, 2020 talebs definition of a black swan synced perfectly with the global financial crisis. However, i am glad that i came to it in its second edition, with footnotes addressing some of the criticisms made of it tip. The twelve lessons of abandonment recovery is a self help tool, a supplement for personal growth. The black swan by nassim nicholas taleb book summary. Natalie portman plays nina, the very talented ballerina on the cusp of becoming the prima ballerina if only she could loosen up enough to play both the black and white swan in the companys production of swan lake, as the role is typically played by the same person. This book also teaches how luck plays a major role in life and that there are lot of random things that can happen in life if we just follow gaussian mathematical models. Chris anderson, editor in chief of wired, author of the long tail. Still, its a good book for anyone who invests regularly via 401k into the stock market or wants to know about black swan events. We know the stress you are under and are here to help. Here the primary deep dive is nonfiction with a rich selection of histories and biographies. Aug 27, 2017 the black swan has no particular target group of readers to whom the book is intended.
The black swan theory or theory of black swan events is a metaphor that describes an event that comes as a surprise, has a major effect, and is often inappropriately rationalised after the fact with the benefit of hindsight. Taleb is a vastly entertaining writer, with wit, irreverence, and unusual stories to tell. Written and designed for all audiences especially for enthusiasts that are restless and hungry for new knowledge that opposes the traditional way of predicting, forecasting, analyzing, calculating and estimating different events that happened or may. Sep 28, 2016 the black swan is the second volume of his 4volume body of work on uncertainty, called incerto.
With natalie portman, mila kunis, vincent cassel, winona ryder. It spent 36 weeks on the new york times bestseller list. By the author of the modern classic the black swan, this collection of aphorisms and meditations expresses his major ideas in ways you least expect. As exemplified by the black swan, which in europe was once considered to be nonexistent because there were no such things as black swans. Ive binged read books 19, and am eagerly getting ready to read the rest of the series. Black swan is a 2010 american psychological horror film directed by darren aronofsky. The black swan is a landmark bookitself a black swan. The black swan pdf summary nassim nicholas taleb 12min blog. Jun, 2007 the black swan is a kaleidic bookto borrow shackles termfull of surprising examples, and in that sense the medium is true to the message. Black swan books is an interesting book store, to say the least. I think it should be a bit more known though that this store is primarily rare and old books. Black swan planet is a unique, interesting, and entertaining take on the satirical science fiction genre. Praise for nassim nicholas taleb the most prophetic voice of all.
The first book that i read in the fourvolume incerto set by nassim kaleb was antifragile, so my reading of the black swan is out of sequence. Im a mess right now, and im talking about chokingupwithtearsliterallyflowingdownmycheeks kind of mess. A black swan is a highly improbable event with three principal ch. Taleb is the author of a multivolume essay, the incerto the black swan, fooled by randomness, antifragile, and skin in the game an investigation of opacity, luck, uncertainty, probability, human erro. This is a book of serious philosophy that reads like a standup comedy routine. The book is written by james peters and the audiobook edition is very well narrated by david swanson.
I still enjoyed browsing regardless, its just not somewhere a modern book type person like me would shop regularly. The black swan is basically a sequel to that book, but much more focused, detailed and scholarly. In 2007, nassim taleb wrote a bestselling and highly impactful book titled the black swan. The book is full of wideranging applications of his thesis, great asides and mildly misanthropic comments about businesspeople, anyone in. The philosopher edna ullmannmargalit detected an inconsistency in this book and asked me to justify the use of the precise metaphor of a black swan to describe the unknown, the abstract, and imprecise uncertain white ravens, pink elephants, or evaporating denizens of a remote planet orbiting tau ceti. Mar 08, 2020 in his acclaimed book the black swan, nassim nicolas taleb analyzes the influence of highly improbable events on our lives. Natalie portman plays nina, the very talented ballerina on the cusp of becoming the prima ballerina if only she could loosen up enough to play both the black and white swan in the companys production of swan lake, as the role.
Let me say that it was the cover art, consisting of a chimpanzee in an astronaut suit, that drew me to listen to this book. The same cannot be said for the black swan, which despite the great utility of its insights is badly. Apr 22, 2007 the hubris of predictions and our perpetual surprise when the notpredicted happens are themes of nassim nicholas talebs engaging new book, the black swan. The book uses the analogy of a black swan to describe negative events that appear to be very rare and occur without warning. Jun 25, 2019 the concept of black swan events was popularized by the writer nassim nicholas taleb in his book, the black swan. The term is based on an ancient saying that presumed black swans did not exist a saying that became reinterpreted to. He has a polymathic command of subjects ranging from cognitive science to business to probability theory. Jun 01, 1997 black swan, white raven is the fourth title in this series and one that i had not purchased or read. Set in the civil war south between the years 1852 and 1865, the black swan recounts the story of two memorable and powerful characters. The black swan by nassim nicholas taleb book summary good. I should add that the black swan is unpredictable depending on the observer.
The film stars natalie portman, vincent cassel, mila kunis, barbara hershey, and winona ryder. The black swan book summary by nassim nicholas taleb. Whether you are a hard core statistician or just someone interested in. Gq praise for the black swan a book that altered modern thinking. In the book you have a interesting collection of tales retold for a modern audience that manipulates the tale in fashions that can startle a gasp or a laugh. Black swan is a symbol for healing, a spirit guide for overcoming the woundedness of adandonment. This book is about statistics, probability, and how we often falsely use those to estimate the likelihood of reallife events. The black swan is the second volume of his 4volume body of work on uncertainty, called incerto. Taleb, of course, refers to numerous historical examples of things that have come completely out of the blue. Engaging and enlightening, the black swan is a book that may change the way you think about the world.
This story within a story includes the authors own experience with loss. Mediocristan is where we must endure the tyranny of the collective, the routine, the obvious, and the predicted. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. Black swan 9780886778903 swan lake is my favorite ballet, period, and i trust mercedes lackey as a superb author, so i was very excited to open the black swan and delve deeply into the story. The impact of the highly improbable is a 2007 book by author and former options trader nassim nicholas taleb.
I thought i was just picking up a popular piece of nonfiction. To my delight, lackey has not only lived up to my expectations, but far succeeded them i will gladly state that this is the best novel i have read this year, easily. Jan 26, 2011 the black swan in case you have been living on mars for the last few weeks, this is a fairly straightforward plot. The black swan is the second book in former options trader nassim nicholas talebs fivevolume series on uncertainty. Instead, its my favorite in a field i obsessed over for yearsoverconfidence. The book is full of hundreds of great examples, and it is written in a very approachable style. In the black swan, talebs second book for laypeople, he gives a full treatment to concepts briefly explored in his first book fooled by randomness.
Nassim nicholas talebs book, the black swan, tells about the nature of what we perceive as random events, in addition to the logical difficulties making us overlook the bigger picture. The black swan theory or theory of black swan events is a metaphor that describes an event that comes as a surprise, has a major effect, and is often inappropriately rationalized after the fact with the benefit of hindsight. National debt obligations and develop a high speed rail system, his enemies goals for the money are purely selfish. May 01, 1999 the swan lake is my favorite ballet, period, and i trust mercedes lackey as a superb author, so i was very excited to open the black swan and delve deeply into the story. Black swan by mark heyman meet your next favorite book. Twelve lessons for healing from the loss of love, presented in an allegorical tale of a child who meets a magical black swan after she is abandoned in the forest by her father. Jul 07, 2016 rare, extremely impactful, and retrospectively predictable nassim taleb explains the significance of the black swan and its impact on life. First of all, this has nothing to do with the in my opinion good movie black swan. These seemingly random events which generally have extensive results for the individual and for societies as well eventually, named by the writer as black.
Overall, i think this was a good read that at the very least will give you a. Once upon a time there was a clever young financial professional called nassim nicholas taleb. After explaining that the narrative is dangerous, the author proceeds to deliver. The book focuses on the extreme impact of rare and unpredictable outlier events and the human tendency to find simplistic explanations for these events, retrospectively.
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