Skin in the Game, Nassim Nicholas Taleb

This book reminds me of the main premise of “Freakonomics,” phrased a different way and applied slightly differently. Their main point in that book was that if you can find the hidden motive, you can explain seemingly disparate and bizarre social phenomena. This book makes the similar point, but calls it having “skin in the game”. Rather than explaining why things happen the way they do, it instead argues that to be good in any field (indeed, in order not to be a hypocrite, or an idiot–the author likes to denigrate most people’s intelligence), one must have “skin in the game” so that screwing up will affect them, and they will learn from it. Then he uses many different examples to illustrate the point, including religion and politics and economics and healthcare in order to make this point.

It should be obvious, but he’s right; most intellectuals and bureaucrats don’t have skin in the game, which is why they often do make admittedly stupid decisions affecting people other than themselves, and then never learn from them because there are no pain points. There must be consequences for our actions, or of course we’ll never learn. The Bible says the same thing: “a man of great anger must pay the penalty; if you rescue him, you will have to do so again” (Prov 19:19).

My rating: ****

Language: I think there might have been a bit? Can’t recall

Violence: none

Sexual content: none

Political content: if anything it seemed right wing, but not dramatically so

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