Sam-Who-Likes-Nothing - The Black Swan
Not a fantasy novel, The Black Swan is a non-fiction polemic about randomness and the inapplicability of the bell curve to the real world. Although I completely agree with the premise, this 300 page book could have been as well done in about 50. Taleb is actually much more interested in showing off how much he knows about everything, and making up metaphors and thought experiments that make no sense, and never really explaining what he’s talking about (except in three late chapters which he actually suggests non-technically inclined readers should skip), than he does in actually making his case.
Which is a good one. The bell curve doesn’t work in assessing risk at all. As the fincial markets proved last year.
