Comments on: Summer Reading

By: John Mondragon

John Mondragon — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 10:33:09 +0000

I read four pages of the Black Swan and was so turned off by its arrogance and perfunctory argumentation that I couldn't go any further. I'm confident that I got everything I needed to from those four pages and the podcast with Russ.

By: mike

mike — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 13:33:54 +0000

I don't really get it. I read Fooled by Randomness, and wasn't particularly struck by it. If you've studied statistics/econometrics/finance, it pretty much tells you stuff you already know.

By: T L Holaday

T L Holaday — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 23:17:10 +0000

Taleb is such a strong personality that all it takes is for someone to mention his book and opinions about him will dominate the comment thread. I suspect Hodak, Methinks, and Gunn are Bayesians; certainly they have updated their priors on the basis of observation. Taleb is unkind to Bayesians.

There are two other books on the reading list, though. I am interested in The Dirty Dozen, because I enjoyed the author's presentation at the Cato Institute (see here). He suggests in passing that the Ninth Amendment offers a quick way to distinguish a conservative from a libertarian. A conservative considers the notion of "unenumerated rights" an inkblot: you have no right to privacy, you have no right to grow food or medicinal plants for your own use, etc. I supposed from the title ("Dirty Dozen") that it would be some presentation of puzzling judgements without context such as might be found in a Readers' Digest rant about "activist judges", but from his discussion at Cato, I think it's actually substantive.

By: Alan Gunn

Alan Gunn — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 08:23:22 +0000

Ditto M. Hodak. This book is a decent short article, followed by repetitive nonsense. "The Black Swan" is just the same thing but less disciplined (hard to imagine, but true).

By: Chris Meisenzahl

Chris Meisenzahl — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 07:11:05 +0000

M. Hodak, you're not wrong, it's quite pretentious.

But between that, the mild humor, and Taleb's rich and peculiar personality, I do find nuggets of wisdom.

By: Chris Meisenzahl

Chris Meisenzahl — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 07:08:36 +0000

M. Hodak, you're not wrong, it's quite pretentious.

But between that, the mild humor, and Taleb's rich and peculiar personality, I do find nuggets of wisdom.

By: DJ Slimchopstick

DJ Slimchopstick — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 06:54:27 +0000

I only wish I can find this blog earlier, tons of info.

thank you for the recommendation.

By: BoscoH

BoscoH — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 01:21:15 +0000

I think Russ Roberts liked Taleb's books because Russ has a pretty good sense of humor. Taleb's rude dismissiveness and pompous arrogance is schtick, and it's actually pretty funny. It's also funny that most all of the negative critiques of Taleb that I've seen read like if someone reviewed South Park and complained that Eric Cartman is a manipulative, bigoted, foul mouthed fourth grader. Um, that's what makes it funny. As for the substance of Taleb, Chris nails it in his reviews linked above. Humility is a practical virtue. Admitting uncertainty is not admitting weakness.

By: Methinks

Methinks — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 22:59:58 +0000

I read FBR when it was first published and I couldn't agree more with M. Hodak. In fact, everyone I know who has read FBR agrees. I can't bring myself to read Black Swan either.

By: M. Hodak

M. Hodak — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 18:40:52 +0000

You're just now getting to FBR? I read it. Once was enough. The first 35 pages were among the best writing on applied behavioral finance that I've ever seen. Shortly after that point, however, the book's editor apparently took off for vacation, and the narrative quickly degenerated into a long, solipsistic babble.

I didn't even bother with Black Swan. I'm pretty sure it's just a way for Taleb to cash in on an equally pretentious rendition of the very same premise. Chris, please let me know if I'm mistaken.

By: Chris Meisenzahl

Chris Meisenzahl — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 14:57:06 +0000

Dr. Boudreaux, I'm reading the Black Swan now, I've read Fooled By Randomness twice and loved it. I left my comments/reviews here:
Fooled By Randomness book update
Fooled By Randomness Review