Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets [Kindle Edition] Author: Nassim Nicholas Taleb | Language: English | ISBN:
B001FA0W5W | Format: PDF, EPUB
Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets Free PDF
You can download Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets [Kindle Edition] Free PDF for everyone book mediafire, rapishare, and mirror link “[Taleb is] Wall Street’s principal dissident. . . . [Fooled By Randomness] is to conventional Wall Street wisdom approximately what Martin Luther’s ninety-nine theses were to the Catholic Church.”
–Malcolm Gladwell, The New Yorker
Finally in paperback, the word-of-mouth sensation that will change the way you think about the markets and the world.This book is about luck: more precisely how we perceive luck in our personal and professional experiences.
Set against the backdrop of the most conspicuous forum in which luck is mistaken for skill–the world of business–Fooled by Randomnessis an irreverent, iconoclastic, eye-opening, and endlessly entertaining exploration of one of the least understood forces in all of our lives.
From the Trade Paperback edition. Download latest books on mediafire and other links compilation Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets Free PDF
- File Size: 642 KB
- Print Length: 369 pages
- Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1400067936
- Publisher: Random House; 2 Updated edition (October 14, 2008)
- Sold by: Random House LLC
- Language: English
- ASIN: B001FA0W5W
- Text-to-Speech: Not enabled
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- Lending: Not Enabled
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #20,665 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
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- #1
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Politics & Social Sciences > Philosophy > Free Will & Determinism - #6
in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Philosophy > Free Will & Determinism - #6
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Business & Money > Economics > Statistics
REVIEW: This book tends to elicit very strong opinions about its quality (both very good and very bad) so it is important to know which camp you are in before you purchase it or you may be very disappointed. I found that both the very bullish and the very bearish reviews have significant merit. On the plus side Taleb aggressively addresses a topic that many readers will be interested in - randomness in our daily lives. He discusses many important concepts that are not known or at least not very well understood by the general public and experts alike. These include: 1) that uncertainty and luck play a large role in the outcomes of human activities (much more than most people think); 2) that a correlation between two types of events does not necessarily mean that one causes the other; 3) that statistics and the rare random event are poorly understood by almost everyone; 4) that small differences in performance and ability can cause very large differences in the rewards or difficulties that people obtain in life; and 5) that humans are very irrational beings and are not very good at thinking probabilistically and understanding the probabilities of even everyday events rationally. All of these are important points that I commend Taleb for bringing to our attention.
However, there are significant drawbacks to this book, which to some readers will make the book significantly unenjoyable or even impossible to read. While it did not significantly bother me, Taleb does have an attitude or style which at times tends to the snobbish. The author repeatedly reminds readers that he is well traveled, is a "voracious" reader, pursues his exercise routines "assiduously", and is from upper class Mediterranean roots.
Anyone who holds any doubts in regards to the validity of this book must read Edward Chancellor's 'Devil Take the Hindmost,' which provides a history of financial markets from the dawn of the Roman Empire up to now. After reading such a sweeping historical account, one sees the financial markets for exactly what they have always been: one vast bubble machine where people have even invested in, according to Chancellor, a company that refused to explain anything about what it did but simply assured the investors that it had a great idea for making money. Sounds rather similar to some of the dot coms in recent years. Through a compliation of both antecdotes and thoughts, Taleb provides an explanation as to why the markets work in this way, why so many fail to realize this, and how these issues are mirrored in our everyday lives. He addresses many issues that everyone should understand in order to view the world in a realistic manner. Evolution is not a one way road to nirvana but rather the process through which those adapted to the current situation fare better, and they may not be best adopted when things change. When judging the validity of any strategy in business or in life one must consider that the winners write the history books; you can only talk to survivors of war but that certainly doesn't mean that everyone survives it. When deducing anything from viewing a sample you must consider the forces that created that sample: should you consider yourself unintelligent because you're behind your classmates at a top law school? Are a good outcome and a good decision the same thing, and likewise for a bad outcome and a bad decision? And the list goes on.
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