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21st out of 52 books
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7 voters
The Bed of Procrustes: Philosophical and Practical Aphorisms
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.
The Bed of Procrustes takes its title from Greek mythology: the story of a man who made his visitors fit his bed to perfection by either stretching them or cutting their limbs. It represents Taleb’s view of modern civilization’...more
The Bed of Procrustes takes its title from Greek mythology: the story of a man who made his visitors fit his bed to perfection by either stretching them or cutting their limbs. It represents Taleb’s view of modern civilization’...more
Hardcover, 128 pages
Published
November 30th 2010
by Random House
(first published 2010)
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Aphorisms Galore!
If for any literary fan, the country Lebanon brings to mind the tender, lyrical and mystical poet Khalil Gibran, we have another compatriot from Lebanon to remember for his scathing, caustic, intelligent and often cynical observations on our society. He is none other than Nicholas Nassim Taleb, the Lebanese American essayist and scholar whose main works focus on problems of randomness, probability and uncertainty.
His 2007 book “The Black Swan “was described in a review by Sunda...more
If for any literary fan, the country Lebanon brings to mind the tender, lyrical and mystical poet Khalil Gibran, we have another compatriot from Lebanon to remember for his scathing, caustic, intelligent and often cynical observations on our society. He is none other than Nicholas Nassim Taleb, the Lebanese American essayist and scholar whose main works focus on problems of randomness, probability and uncertainty.
His 2007 book “The Black Swan “was described in a review by Sunda...more
9 likes · like · see review
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I liked two other Taleb books, so naturally I expected to like this book as well. And I did for the first 8 pages or so with aphorisms like "Procrastination is the soul rebelling against entrapment" and "If your anger decreases with time, you did injustice; if it increases, you suffered injustice".
But then it went slowly downhill, devolving into the catty (We should make students recompute their GPAs by counting their grades in finance and economics backwards), the dubious (When a woman says abo...more
But then it went slowly downhill, devolving into the catty (We should make students recompute their GPAs by counting their grades in finance and economics backwards), the dubious (When a woman says abo...more
Taleb received a $4 million advance to write this book of aphorisms as a follow-up to the Black Swan.
Some of my favorites:
Some of my favorites:
Academia is to knowledge what prostitution is to love; close enough on the surface but, to the nonsucker, not exactly the same thing....more
I suspect that they put Socrates to death because there is something terribly unattractive, alienating and nonhuman in thinking with too much clarity.
Education makes the wise slightly wiser, but it makes the fool vastly more dangerous.
If you kno
Overall I liked this book and enjoyed reading much of it. I actually read it twice, but then given its length that is not terribly demanding or time consuming. There are some flashes of brilliance here. I have to admit to being biased and being a fan of the very different other books Taleb has written. A personal favourite: "There are two types of people: those who try to win and those who try to win arguments. They are never the same." I'm sure we can all think of people who fall into either ca...more
Unavoidably, when you review a Taleb book you end up reviewing the man himself, because his books are so uniquely him, and The Bed of Procrustes is no exception.
I must confess that I didn't do justice to the book, reading through it quickly, neither did I understand all the aphorisms. And I'm sure that Taleb would wipe the floor with me if argued with him about any of them. But I found it a mixed bag of ingenious insights, witty one-liners and bitter rants. The latter are always the most memora...more
I must confess that I didn't do justice to the book, reading through it quickly, neither did I understand all the aphorisms. And I'm sure that Taleb would wipe the floor with me if argued with him about any of them. But I found it a mixed bag of ingenious insights, witty one-liners and bitter rants. The latter are always the most memora...more
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.
The Bed of Procrustes takes its title from Greek mythology: the story of a man who made his visitors fit his bed to perfection by either stretching them or cutting their limbs. It represents Taleb’s view of modern civilization’s hubristic side effects—modifying humans to satisfy technology, blaming reality for not fitting economic models, inventing
A rare book. It probably has the highest usefulness to character ratio of any book I've found. Not to say that it's super useful, but it is very short.
The book is the equivalent of poring over Taleb's blog and twitter account for the past 10 years and picking out the stuff that is worth sharing. I can imagine the author's notebook that he kept witty and interesting-to-him stuff marked up, over and over, front and back of every page and margin. I think it would be interesting to read the notes an...more
The book is the equivalent of poring over Taleb's blog and twitter account for the past 10 years and picking out the stuff that is worth sharing. I can imagine the author's notebook that he kept witty and interesting-to-him stuff marked up, over and over, front and back of every page and margin. I think it would be interesting to read the notes an...more
1 like · like · see review
Eu passei a seguir o Taleb depois de um artigo que ele escreveu num livro chamado "This will change everything", em que um bando de gente falava sobre coisas que supostamente acontecerão no futuro.
O artigo dele é esse aqui: http://www.edge.org/q2009/q09_10.html...
Achei sensacional o discurso sobre o "iatrogenic, i.e., harm caused by the healer", e então fui atrás de outras coisas.
Encontrei o "Cisne Negro" que é tipo uma Teoria do Caos moderninha e não gostei.
Mas esse livro agora me supreendeu. É...more
O artigo dele é esse aqui: http://www.edge.org/q2009/q09_10.html...
Achei sensacional o discurso sobre o "iatrogenic, i.e., harm caused by the healer", e então fui atrás de outras coisas.
Encontrei o "Cisne Negro" que é tipo uma Teoria do Caos moderninha e não gostei.
Mas esse livro agora me supreendeu. É...more
This is a small book of aphorisms that centers on human error and limitation in knowledge and judgment. Taleb in the prose appendix to the book explains that he is showing in it the way human beings often by knowing too much, categorize reality in such ways as to totally misunderstand it. Taleb's concept 'The Black Swan' refers to those unpredictable historical events that totally change a whole set of realities. The recent great Black Swan was the 2008 Financial Debacle. Taleb however here goes...more
I like Taleb, I thoroughly enjoyed both his 'Fooled by Randomness' and 'Black Swan' and am very much looking forward to 'Antifragile' due out this November, but this collection of aphorisms left me softly disappointed. Most were sharp, but not razor sharp and all too often the form was compromised. A good aphorism, like a good haiku must follow certain rhythm and tempo without sacrificing the quality and succinctness of thought. Taleb's didn't quite hold it together.
Pure idea wise - there are d...more
Pure idea wise - there are d...more
I picked up this book simply because it was by Nassim Taleb, and I wasn't the least disappointed.
Nassim's ability to articulate things that you already think of and know (but don't know that you know) is simply unmatched. It allows you to look at things you've always seen from a different new prespective that you didn't realize you posses.
The book is not narrative, but it is actually a series of sentences and "quote-like" thoughts that takes you a way.
When I started reading it, I decided to t...more
Nassim's ability to articulate things that you already think of and know (but don't know that you know) is simply unmatched. It allows you to look at things you've always seen from a different new prespective that you didn't realize you posses.
The book is not narrative, but it is actually a series of sentences and "quote-like" thoughts that takes you a way.
When I started reading it, I decided to t...more
Alkisah di Athena, Yunani, hiduplah Prokrustes (Procrustes), seorang dengan keramah tamahan yang aneh. Dia akan mengundang para musafir ke rumahnya dan menjamu mereka dengan makanan dan minuman. Lalu kemudian mempersilahkan tamunya beristirahat pada ranjang istimewa. Yang istimewa adalah perlakuannya pada tamunya, jika tamunya lebih tinggi dari ranjang, maka dia akan memotong kaki (atau kepala) tamunya agar sesuai dengan panjang ranjang. Juga sebaliknya, jika tamunya kebetulan lebih pendek dari...more
Taleb is fascinating. How does a guy who relentlessly attacks the credibility of economists and academics get invited to speak in front of them so often? He's utterly arrogant and abrasive, yet he has a certain appeal that is difficult to explain. Part of it undoubtedly stems from his main idea that revolves around "how we deal, and should deal, with what we don't know." It is interesting and applicable to so many aspects of life; investing, politics, literature, philosophy and more and since it...more
If you read this book you are a sucker, or an economist. Don't bother. Taleb is a narcissistic snob.
Amazon Review:
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.
The Bed of Procrustes takes its title from Greek mythology: the story of a man who made his visitors fit his bed to perfection by either stretching them or cutting their limbs. It represents Taleb’s view of modern civilization’s hubristi...more
Amazon Review:
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.
The Bed of Procrustes takes its title from Greek mythology: the story of a man who made his visitors fit his bed to perfection by either stretching them or cutting their limbs. It represents Taleb’s view of modern civilization’s hubristi...more
The Bed of Procrustes taught me a great deal about what inspires and angers Taleb, significantly less about what inspires and angers me, and almost nothing at all about the world. (I think "The person you are most afraid to contradict is yourself" is one of the only aphorisms that encouraged, in me, a new way to see things.)
It's not that there weren't interesting ideas in the book. It's just that most of the ideas I found interesting were ones I'd already considered...and I kept getting distract...more
It's not that there weren't interesting ideas in the book. It's just that most of the ideas I found interesting were ones I'd already considered...and I kept getting distract...more
This book of aphorisms has an introduction, in which the myth of Procrustes is told, and concludes with an essay which begins, "The general theme of my work is the limitation of human knowledge." Both introduction and concluding essay strike me as special pleading. Aphorisms need no defending. They stand on their own, if they are good. Too often Taleb's aphorisms fail because they lack the necessary iron, fire, mystery. They seldom surprise. In this book, Taleb accepts the traditional concerns o...more
When you try to boil down Taleb's thought, the crux is a plea for epistemological and intellectual humility, which is kind of jarring from someone who clearly has a high opinion of himself. The logic is one of accepting that the world is far more complicated than we can imagine. Finding Taleb was a complete revelation for me; I had been tossing ideas of uncertainty and the problems of social science around in my head for years, mostly as a gut instinct as I battled through political science read...more
After having written some successful books, Nassim Nicholas Talebc came to conclude he is a genius and assembled a collection of pretentious remarks. He is even sometimes insulting to some categories (employees, athletes) he assimilates to animals or morons.
Genius or not, Taleb violates some basic principle of civil argumentation, by starting with false assumptions.
Look at this aphorism:
Atheism (materialism) means treating the dead as if they were unborn. After that, Taleb adds a virtuous I won'...more
Genius or not, Taleb violates some basic principle of civil argumentation, by starting with false assumptions.
Look at this aphorism:
Atheism (materialism) means treating the dead as if they were unborn. After that, Taleb adds a virtuous I won'...more
A better title for "The Bed of Procrustes" might have been "Crusts of Bread from a Pro."
The classically accented moniker refers to a character in Greek mythology who fed guests at his road house and, afterward, either cut off some part of their body to fit the bed he offered them, or stretched them to achieve the same.
Author Nassim Nicholas Taleb resorts to Procrustes' bed as a parable for modern thought.
Taleb says his collection of disparate aphorisms are about the Procrustean bed in which h...more
The classically accented moniker refers to a character in Greek mythology who fed guests at his road house and, afterward, either cut off some part of their body to fit the bed he offered them, or stretched them to achieve the same.
Author Nassim Nicholas Taleb resorts to Procrustes' bed as a parable for modern thought.
Taleb says his collection of disparate aphorisms are about the Procrustean bed in which h...more
I would have said it's incredibly unlikely that someone could put together a book of aphorisms during their lifetime that would be worth reading. It's probably fitting that Taleb could beat those odds. This book is theme around the myth of Procrustes--an ancient figure who would stretch or maim overnight guests so they could fit into his bed (instead of, you know, fitting the bed to them). It's kind of ironic that Taleb, coiner of the Narrative Fallacy, would put an overarching theme in a collec...more
while i liked taleb's "fooled by randomness" (discussions on probabilty, predictability, and luck), i find his writing style a little off-putting at times. in this collection of aphorisms, he stays true to form. he has very thoughtful ideas about interesting topics, but often has a pretentious and repetitive manner of writing that WORKS for this book format, but requires some tolerance from the reader. i appreciated (and agreed with) other goodreads reviews of this unusual book, both one star an...more
First, I think I should've read Black Swan before this book. It would have provided more insight into Taleb's area of expertise. That said, while I understand the author's goal for writing this collection, it's hard to believe someone would try and fill an entire book with their own aphorisms. Did he come up with these on the spot? Has he been collecting them throughout his life? Is it conceited to think that your pithy statements warrant this sort of devoted book?
There are some gems in here, bu...more
There are some gems in here, bu...more
A collection of aphorisms by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, author of The Black Swan. Many of these I recognized from his short-lived Twitter account. The aphorisms are roughly organized by subject matter, although many could fit under other headings.
Taleb takes his title from the Greek myth of Procrustes, who invited travelers to sleep in his "perfect" bed. Procrustes made all travelers fit his bed: If the traveler was too tall, the legs would be chopped off; if too short, they would be stretched to f...more
Taleb takes his title from the Greek myth of Procrustes, who invited travelers to sleep in his "perfect" bed. Procrustes made all travelers fit his bed: If the traveler was too tall, the legs would be chopped off; if too short, they would be stretched to f...more
This is a collection of aphorisms (proverbs/maxims). It is an interesting collection that flow out of Taleb's worldview. Some are wonderful, some are a bit baffling. His essay at the end is the best part of the book.
He argues forcefully that the modern conception of knowledge is one that assumes information adds to our understanding of the world--the more the better. Yet Taleb argues that this only adds noise, or confusion to our understanding of the world.
The scientific worldview acts such tha...more
He argues forcefully that the modern conception of knowledge is one that assumes information adds to our understanding of the world--the more the better. Yet Taleb argues that this only adds noise, or confusion to our understanding of the world.
The scientific worldview acts such tha...more
Aug 07, 2011
Maria
added it
Not quite sure what to make of this, somewhat self-indulgent, a reflection of the author's mind & personality (the latter of which I tend to find rather unpleasant), occasionally brilliant, at times not particularly insightful, but more often than not thought provoking & I am surprised to say rather more-ish. There is no doubt he is a unique thinker for our times, and I particularly enjoyed the style of the book, written in aphorisms. It's true there is not a lot that's new in terms of h...more
Mr. Taleb has problems with the following: economists, suckers, modernity, academics, nation-states, modern medicine, politicians, employment, technology, the web, social networking, phonies, nerds, philistines, economists and economists. Did I mention he doesn't like economists? To take an example from the book, Mr. Taleb shows his contrarian take on economics and politics:
"The left holds that because markets are stupid models should be smart; the right believes that because models are stupid m...more
"The left holds that because markets are stupid models should be smart; the right believes that because models are stupid m...more
the best piece of literary work i have ever come across!!!
gets you thinking in a way that u possibly would never dare to think....
My best quotes-
1. “If you want to annoy a poet, explain his poetry.”
2. “The best way to measure the loss of intellectual sophistication - this "nerdification," to put it bluntly - is in the growing disappearance of sarcasm, as mechanic minds take insults a bit too literally.”
3. "I suspect the I.Q., SAT, and school grades are tests designed by nerds so they can get hi...more
gets you thinking in a way that u possibly would never dare to think....
My best quotes-
1. “If you want to annoy a poet, explain his poetry.”
2. “The best way to measure the loss of intellectual sophistication - this "nerdification," to put it bluntly - is in the growing disappearance of sarcasm, as mechanic minds take insults a bit too literally.”
3. "I suspect the I.Q., SAT, and school grades are tests designed by nerds so they can get hi...more
This is a fun read that I suspect I’ll come back to many times. In this little book Taleb is his usual self, if his public persona is his usual self. In this collection of aphorisms he comments on the present with the eyes of a man steeped in classical thought. Taleb writes with a healthy distrust in institutions, especially academia, and with furor against thought practices that
“squeeze a phenomenon into the Procrustean bed of a crisp and known category (amputating the unknown), rather than sus...more
“squeeze a phenomenon into the Procrustean bed of a crisp and known category (amputating the unknown), rather than sus...more
A real disappointment. I enjoyed Taleb's earlier books, Fooled by Randomness and The Black Swan - they were both works that really had something to get across. This, however, is an exercise in empty style (or rather an attempt at it) without substance.
The aphorisms which make up the book are simply a lot of the kind of messages people put on bumper stickers - they're usually catchy, but a lot of them don't make sense, or are just stupid. The overall tone reminds me of that incredibly annoying s...more
The aphorisms which make up the book are simply a lot of the kind of messages people put on bumper stickers - they're usually catchy, but a lot of them don't make sense, or are just stupid. The overall tone reminds me of that incredibly annoying s...more
Taleb is an ideas man. I've never come to regard him as a man of having talent in writing. Contrast him with Naipaul who gracefully manages to separate his writing from his being. With Taleb however , it always a struggle to distinguish the man and his writing ( ideas). Procrustes is book written in aphorisms ( after Nietzsche, one of Taleb's favourite philosophers) In a way, I can see how aphorisms provide the best form to express Taleb's ideas. However, unlike Nietzsche, there is no sense of t...more
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Taleb was a pioneering trader of complex financial derivatives, and his first major book was a treatise for practitioners. He has since delved into some of the themes that he encountered in that "laboratory" to consider randomness, especially the the epistemology of chance events, more broadly, and his more recent books have sought to make connections between the financial and more general manifes...more
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