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The Bed of Procrustes: Philosophical and Practical Aphorisms

by Nassim Nicholas Taleb (Goodreads Author)

3.6 of 5 stars 3.60 · rating details · 1,597 ratings · 187 reviews

The Bed of Procrustes is a standalone book in Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s landmark Incerto series, an investigation of opacity, luck, uncertainty, probability, human error, risk, and decision-making in a world we don’t understand. The other books in the series are Fooled by Randomness, The Black Swan, and Antifragile.

By the author of the modern classic The Black Swan, this col...more

Hardcover, 128 pages

Published November 30th 2010 by Random House (first published 2010)

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Oct 31, 2012 PGR Nair rated it 4 of 5 stars

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

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Feb 09, 2011 Jon Cone rated it 1 of 5 stars

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 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 of the aphorist and contributes some few others particular to him. He has a special dislike for economists, for example. (Fair enough.) And nerds. (Aren't we all, to some extent, in this age of omnipresent digital technology and oppresive pop culture, nerds? Do people even use that term in a non-ironic way anymore?)

"Some people are only funny when they try to be serious." Well, yes, that happens sometimes, I suppose.

"The opposite of manliness isn't cowardice; it's technology." Should we remind Taleb that the hammer is an instance of technology?

"If someone gives you more than one reason why he wants the job, don't hire him." Let me get this straight: if someone has thought deeply about his qualifications for a job and finds himself suited to it in many ways; and he can articulate this to an interviewer, we should consider this sufficient reason for NOT giving him the job?

"No author should be considered as having failed until he starts teaching others about writing." The cliche that only lousy writers, 'failed writers', teach creative writing is easily refuted by the list of brilliant American writers who have, at one time, taught at American universities. Such nonsense.
We should also understand how difficult it is for writers to make enough money from their writing and laud them for putting a roof over their heads, providing food, shelter, clothing for their families and so forth.

"At a panel in Moscow, I watched the economist Edmund Phelps, who got the 'Nobel' (sic) for writings no one reads, theories no one uses, and lectures no one understands." This isn't even an aphorism. It's merely an expression of professional jealousy.

"Someone who says, I am busy" is either declaring incompetence (and lack of control of his his life) or trying to get rid of you." Or he's busy AND trying to get rid of you. (The incompetent is rarely busy.)

Of course, there are a few interesting aphorisms contained here, though they are few, far between, without enough weight to redeem. (less)

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Dec 28, 2010 Sabra Embury rated it 4 of 5 stars

Taleb received a $4 million advance to write this book of aphorisms as a follow-up to the Black Swan.

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.

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

...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:

Academia is to knowledge what prostitution is to love; close enough on the surface but, to the nonsucker, not exactly the same thing.

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 know in the morning, what your day looks like with any precision, you are a little bit dead--the more precision, the more dead you are.

There is no intermediate state between ice and water but there is one between life and death: employment.

Procrastination is the soul rebelling against entrapment.

They will envy you for your success, for your wealth, for your intelligence, for your looks, for your status--but rarely for your wisdom.

Many of these aphorisms are interesting. A lot of them are specific and esoteric; a retaliation against critics in Academia, economics, the working class and anyone who might think they're smart for getting good grades or scoring high on an IQ test. Taleb's aphorisms are anti-technology, anti-nerd and anti-making a living with a job that draws a salary. The dependence is what he's against, the repetition, an unstimulated life filled with monotonous patterns, notions of false humility, false models, and sports.

Under a section titled ETHICS, Taleb says: Avoid calling heroes those who had no other choice. Some will call him "harsh" for a statement like that; especially firemen, moms who save children from burning buildings, guys who fix flats on the sides of roads for a smile and thank you, and especially Bruce Willis because he's terrible in romantic comedies. Others will say: maybe he's talking about himself and is trying to be humble without seeming humble because he thinks he's saving the world with his intelligence. Those people have too much time, and empathy, on their hands.

Whatever Taleb is trying to say, and whoever he's trying to say it to, we might never officially know. What we do know is that he has the last laugh receiving $4 million to have a few hundred twitter posts published into a hardcover book of philosophical and political aphorisms. It's a best seller, too. A best seller which I bought, read, and am now writing a review about. Call me a sucker, or call me curious, just please don't call me a hero.

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Sep 09, 2014 Santhosh rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Nassim Taleb is definitely not the sort I'd like to get to know personally as I don't agree with about half of his life philosophies. However, in my best Voltaire voice, while I disapprove of what he says, I will defend to the death his right to print it in books and make millions off them. As with such collections, there is a mix of some fantastic and deep aphorisms while there were also a few that made me go 'meh'. Overall though, once you overcome the fact that he keeps calling everyone incom...more

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May 15, 2013 Richard rated it 2 of 5 stars

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 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 about a man that he is intelligent, she often means handsome; when a man says about a woman that she is dumb, he always means attractive), and the inscrutable (The perfect sucker understands that pigs can stare at pearls but doesn't realize he can be in an analog situation). On top of that, he had to slam gratuitously both Sarah Palin and George W Bush (in footnotes). If he had shown a little equal-opportunity bashing, for example by taking a swipe at Al Gore for his views on global warming, I would have been mollified. But he didn't.

In the end, what I believe to be his main message is a good one: Most people most of the time try to make the world fit their models of it (hence my thought that Al Gore might have deserved a mention), and that is a critical mistake. I was prepared to give the book 3 stars (down from 4, the more I read), but then he had to connect with his inner Bill Maher and make it personal against one side of the aisle only. That's a one star penalty.

The other thing that perplexed me is that Taleb really seems to have it in for the condition of employment, but he really says nothing explicit about what the alternative should be. I didn't find those sections of the book to be particularly enlightening. He just sounded like a crotchety old guy. (And being a crotchety old guy myself, I mean no disrespect by that comment.)

It may be that just one or two pages of this short book (112 pages) is worth its cost. Maybe even one or two sentences. But by the time I was about one-fourth of the way into it (and before getting to the first Palin/Bush comment), the earlier glow was dissipating. I got a few nuggets from this book. I'd hoped for more.(less)

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Apr 29, 2011 Marcus rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction, philosophy

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 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 is, by his own admission, all he talks about, it makes him really interesting to listen to.

A lot of his aphorisms deal with what it takes to be clever, witty, magnificent, generous, erudite and humble, himself being the implied example for each of these. Through his arrogance though, there seems to be a certain insecurity about him. He constantly criticizes people who are not like him (anyone who works out in gyms or uses technology heavily, all economists, people who are over 30 and still employed or not wealthy etc.) while justifying his own lifestyle. His wisdom often feels more like a recipe for how to live like Taleb rather than any transcendental truth. Still, there are plenty of good ones, for example:

"There is no intermediate state between ice and water but there is one between life and death: employment"

"You don't become completely free just by avoiding to be a slave; you also need to avoid becoming a master."

"There are two types of people: those who try to win and those who try to win arguments. They are never the same."

"Every social association that is not face to face is injurious to your health."

"Randomness is indistinguishable from complicated, undetected, and undetectable order; but order itself is indistinguishable from artful randomness."

"They agree that chess training only improves chess skills but disagree that classroom training (almost) only improves classroom skills."

So some are good, pithy, insightful etc.; what an aphorism should be, and while the book is worth reading, it's pretty hit or miss, far from the master of the aphorism, Nicolás Gómez Dávila.
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Dec 14, 2012 Kim rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: philosophy

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

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May 24, 2011 Kirsti rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: cake-eaters, hissy-fits, nonfiction, oh-forget-it, overhyped, philosophy, pretentious, sarcasm

Wow, what a douche nozzle. This guy claims he has to take a ritual bath after talking with journalists, apparently because journalists are so . . . well . . . not remotely like Nassim Nicholas Taleb. The repeated uses of the terms "sucker" and "loser" also grated. But I suppose a kind and humble person wouldn't have thought of writing a book of aphorisms in the first place.

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Feb 05, 2011 Mark rated it 2 of 5 stars

I am afraid that the difference between this collection of aphorisms and a bowlful of fortune cookies is not so great as the author had hoped. The one aphorism that stuck with me is "What I learned on my own I still remember." If this aphorism is true, however, it follows that I will forget what others have taught me, which makes this book is immediately forgettable.

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May 29, 2012 Alex rated it 3 of 5 stars

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

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Jan 30, 2012 Nada Abandah rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommends it for: Ala Awaysheh

Shelves: favorite

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

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Oct 03, 2013 Toros rated it 3 of 5 stars

That Taleb is an incisive thinker, nobody could disagree. Nor could anyone with any familiarity with the aphorism reasonably object to the fact that Taleb uses the form as a launchpad for his own views - after all, this is what the aphorism has been used for for centuries.

My reason for giving the book a middling rating stems from the fact that Taleb does not grasp that the aphorism is as much a means of expressing something well as it is of expressing it briefly. Brevity he is comfortable with,...more

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Jan 21, 2011 Patrick rated it 1 of 5 stars

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

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Jul 06, 2011 James rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: culture-and-politics, employment, character-studies

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

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Oct 30, 2012 Renata Ferreira rated it 4 of 5 stars

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

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Dec 05, 2012 Brian rated it 5 of 5 stars

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 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 and editor's remarks for this book, if I had the time.

As it is, you get a few hundred aphorisms. The author picked them all with the likely purpose to share wisdom with the world, but I suspect with the practical, and likely hopeless, hope to reduce the number of idiots that he has to deal with on a personal level. As such, about 50% are only applicable to Taleb, 30% are wrong, 10% are funny, 25% are right, and 10% are useful and 5% are wisdom. I'm not sure which ones though.

It's rare to peek into the mind of someone you respect and are interested in. This book probably gives more of a sense of the person than his actual printed work. And it's quicker than the impossible task of sitting down with an author for hours (where I'm sure I wouldn't be a good enough interviewer to actually find out what I want to know anyway). I kept wondering why Taleb wrote this. I almost think it's a Last Starfighter-like test to find a woman somewhere in the world who will, after reading this, understand him well enough to flatter him so well that he won't know he is being flattered.

I think I would like if all the great essayists were able to write something like this once every decade. But then I have no way of filtering out all the versions that should be ignored. There are probably a ton of these locked away in practical, wise and intelligent men's desks but they have no reason to share with the world.

Aside from all the curiosity that is sated, this book overall is useful and helpful. You don't get too many books that help you work through life and you definitely don't get many that clock in under 100 pages and are full of tweet-length aphorisms. Although you could read the entire thing in 15 minutes if you were in a race, this is something that you will read in 30 minutes 100 times over and over.

My favorite line is "If my detractors knew me better they would hate me even more."(less)

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Jul 19, 2012 James rated it 4 of 5 stars

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

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Feb 04, 2011 John rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011

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

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Mar 05, 2011 Bobby rated it 2 of 5 stars

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

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May 19, 2014 Vasil Kolev rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Сбирщина "thought-terminating cliches".

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Sep 15, 2014 Rahmadiyanti rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: inspirational

Kumpulan beragam jenis peribahasa, dari yang serius, humoris, sarkastis, hingga sadis :D. These are my favorites.

- Perusahaan obat lebih jago menciptakan penyakit yang cocok dengan obat yang sudah ada ketimbang menciptakan obat yang cocok dengan penyakit yang sudah ada.
- Pendidikan membuat mereka yang bijak sedikit lebih bijak, tapi juga membuat yang bodoh menjadi jauh lebih berbahaya.
- Hidup Anda sungguh terkendali kalau sebagian besar yang Anda takutkan itu berbau petualangan.
- Jangan pernah...more

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Sep 12, 2014 Marine Le Canne rated it 5 of 5 stars

Among some of my favorite aphorisms were:
"An erudite is someone who displays less than he knows; a journalist or consultant, the opposite."
"Friendship that ended was never one; there was at least one sucker in it."
"People used to wear ordinary clothes weekdays and formal attire on Sunday. Today it is the exact reverse."
"There are two types of people: those who try to win and those who try to win arguments. They are never the same."
"The difference between technology and slavery is that slaves a...more

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Jul 27, 2014 Favian rated it 2 of 5 stars

The Bed of Procrustes begins by giving a background of what the bed signifies. It was a bed where its occupant was grotesquely stretched if he were too short or amputated if he were too tall for it. To put it into context, Taleb says that our knowledge is compromised and we think we know more than the medieval man because of the information age, but in truth, we are merely denying how ignorant we still are about the universe. Taleb's proverbial aphorisms were radical, a book such as this would n...more

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Apr 20, 2014 István rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2014

“My biggest problem with modernity may lie in the growing separation of the ethical and the legal”

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Aug 21, 2013 Erez Davidi rated it 4 of 5 stars

The Bed of Procrustes is a collection of aphorisms, which mainly concern knowledge (and its limit) and how human beings perceive their reality and lives.

Taleb argues that in order to overcome our limitation in knowledge and understanding, we try to generalize and simplify our lives, thus making it more suitable for our over-simplified models. He tries to illustrate these limitations, in his unique way, by writing very witty and enjoyable aphorisms.

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Jan 08, 2013 Samir rated it 4 of 5 stars

Its more like a book of quotes. But each quote makes you realize how humans of the 21st century are busy trying to fit static models to life's dynamic realities. It basically follows from how life and the world around us is random and there cannot be a perfect model.

We are looking through the wrong end of the telescope

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Jan 03, 2014 Robert Vlach rated it 5 of 5 stars

Tenhle soubor „filozofických a praktických aforismů“ od autora fenomenální Černé labutě a dalších knih jako Zrádná nahodilost či Antifragile je naprostá bomba! Bez přehánění, takto koncentrovanou nálož originálních, hlubokých a nezřídka ostře sarkastických myšlenek jsem už dlouho neviděl — etika, věda, ekonomie, investiční a kariérní strategie, ale především pronikavá filozofie v podání, jaké jsme tady už dlouho neměli. Nebudu vám kazit zážitek výběrem těch nejlepších špeků, prostě si tu knihu k...more

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Feb 14, 2014 Daniel rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: succinct

There were some great aphorisms having to do with freedom, courage, experience, valor, and magnificence; and many lesser ones written from a place of narcissistic, curmudgeonly pettiness on the part of the author. Several aphorisms seemed to bitterly generalize his own particular and extraordinary experiences (how to look down on the economists, businessmen and journalists in your vicinity as they interact with you, and either win awards for their work or fade away into nothingness). Overall, th...more

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Dec 21, 2010 Rory rated it 3 of 5 stars

Condescending, and a little repetitive (ok, we get it, you hate academics), but often thought-provoking and occasionally brilliant.

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Mar 07, 2011 brian tanabe rated it 1 of 5 stars

This guys strikes me as an ass. Not the harshest connotation of this word, but the milder version, the arrogant version.

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About Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Taleb has devoted his life to problems of uncertainty, probability, and knowledge. He spent two decades as a trader before becoming a philosophical essayist and academic researcher in probability theory. Although he now spends most of his time either working in intense seclusion in his study, or as a flâneur meditating in cafés across the planet, he is currently Distinguished Professor of Risk Eng...more

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Books by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable

Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets

Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder

Force Et Fragilitéréflexions Philosophiques Et Empiriques

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