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.The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable

by: Nassim Nicholas Taleb

February 28, 2008
The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable
A highly disappointing text from an erudite and capable author. The book is fallacious, mislaeding and mischievious. The abuse of simple statistical distributions alone warrants not taking it seriously. It is oversold by the blurb and does not do what it says on the cover. Extremely disappointing.
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Used Price: £4.50

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

by: Nassim Nicholas Taleb

May 03, 2007
What's in the title is the best summary of what I found in this book.
Not a treatise on probability or a textbook, but his view of all things randomness - its (mis)understanding, and its consequences: in a mix of philosophy, finance, various stories and blunt judgements.

All in a very personal and quirky, but extremely readable form. Thanks god, no editor put their hands on it!
Quite simply, I couldn't put it down till the last line.

As I wrote in a comment already, I actually believe Taleb's style of writing is totally captivating and pure wit & brilliance at times: perhaps not for everyone, so i'd put it down to a question of taste. Granted, there's more than a little narcissism permeating the book ... Read More:
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Used Price: £4.87

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.Taleb on Risk: Dynamic Hedging

by: Nassim Nicholas Taleb

January 23, 1997
This is without a doubt the best book that has ever been written on professional options trading and I simply cant understand why anyone would give a less than glowing review. If there is anything better out there (and i dont mean a pricing book that leaves the reader to infer his own trading realities from the models and hedge ratios that ensue) then I'd love to see it.

Of course this isnt a mathematically rigourous platform to learn the pricing and hedging of option products, Taleb is entirely clear that it wasnt meant to be. Instead it offers one source for a multitude of much, much more intuitive lessons on trading, probability, and market realties offered in a persistently thought provoking, even entertaining style.

As a junior ... Read More:
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Used Price: £35.47

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.The Volatility Surface: A Practitioner's Guide (Wiley Finance)

by: Jim Gatheral

September 05, 2006
Excellent book. I used Jim's lecture notes before the book was published, they were (and still are) the best notes for equity quants. The book essentially contains published lecture notes and I bought it as an aknowledgment to his contribution to equity quant comunity.
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Used Price: £20.19

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

by: Nassim Nicholas Taleb

December 01, 2005
Fooled by Randomness is based on a basic truth about humans: we are not very good at statistics, especially if we simply rely on our instincts. For example, we fear airplanes, sharks and terrorists, yet we rarely think about mundane risks like cancer and car accidents. Similarly, we are not good at judging investments. We think that the broker who picked three winners in a row must know something; not necessarily so, says Taleb.

This book is well worth reading, especially if you ever invest in individual stocks or managed stock funds (it will probably talk you out of doing so). It certainly is not an investment guide, however, so do not buy it if you are looking for a hot stock tip.

Taleb has a quirky writing style. This certaintly ... Read More:
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Used Price: £5.63

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.The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable

by: Nassim Nicholas Taleb

May 03, 2007
A one sentence summary of The Black Swan would be 'The future is unwritten, at least in Bell Curves'. Taleb ponders the random events that arrive unseen and yet cause a huge impact on the world around us for example:

Positive black swans: penicillin, cellular phone, micro-processor, worldwide web, Macintosh, the iPod

Negative black swans: Altamont,Watergate, the 1973 oil crisis, July 7 public transport bombings

The book has received the most publicity around the role that it plays debunking many of the 'scientific' theorems that run the financial markets. He exposes the limitations of scientific models employed by bankers and demonstrated how analysts and journalists retrofit event explanations around events that they don't really ... Read More:
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Used Price: £85.40

Average Rating:

.The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable

by: Nassim Nicholas Taleb

April 17, 2007
A one sentence summary of The Black Swan would be 'The future is unwritten, at least in Bell Curves'. Taleb ponders the random events that arrive unseen and yet cause a huge impact on the world around us for example:

Positive black swans: penicillin, cellular phone, micro-processor, worldwide web, Macintosh, the iPod

Negative black swans: Altamont,Watergate, the 1973 oil crisis, July 7 public transport bombings

The book has received the most publicity around the role that it plays debunking many of the 'scientific' theorems that run the financial markets. He exposes the limitations of scientific models employed by bankers and demonstrated how analysts and journalists retrofit event explanations around events that they don't really understand. ... Read More:
>>See More Reviews & Details on The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable

Used Price: £13.48

Average Rating:

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

by: Nassim Nicholas Taleb

March 29, 2007
What's in the title is the best summary of what I found in this book.
Not a treatise on probability or a textbook, but his view of all things randomness - its (mis)understanding, and its consequences: in a mix of philosophy, finance, various stories and blunt judgements.

All in a very personal and quirky, but extremely readable form. Thanks god, no editor put their hands on it!
Quite simply, I couldn't put it down till the last line.

As I wrote in a comment already, I actually believe Taleb's style of writing is totally captivating and pure wit & brilliance at times: perhaps not for everyone, so i'd put it down to a question of taste. Granted, there's more than a little narcissism permeating the book - but is it necessarily a bad thing?
Polemists ... Read More:
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Used Price: £7.40

Average Rating:

.The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable

by: Nassim Nicholas Taleb

May 18, 2007
A one sentence summary of The Black Swan would be 'The future is unwritten, at least in Bell Curves'. Taleb ponders the random events that arrive unseen and yet cause a huge impact on the world around us for example:

Positive black swans: penicillin, cellular phone, micro-processor, worldwide web, Macintosh, the iPod

Negative black swans: Altamont,Watergate, the 1973 oil crisis, July 7 public transport bombings

The book has received the most publicity around the role that it plays debunking many of the 'scientific' theorems that run the financial markets. He exposes the limitations of scientific models employed by bankers and demonstrated how analysts and journalists retrofit event explanations around events that they don't really understand.

However, ... Read More:
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.Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in the Markets and Life

by: Nassim Nicholas Taleb

November 03, 2001
Fooled by Randomness is based on a basic truth about humans: we are not very good at statistics, especially if we simply rely on our instincts. For example, we fear airplanes, sharks and terrorists, yet we rarely think about mundane risks like cancer and car accidents. Similarly, we are not good at judging investments. We think that the broker who picked three winners in a row must know something; not necessarily so, says Taleb.

This book is well worth reading, especially if you ever invest in individual stocks or managed stock funds (it will probably talk you out of doing so). It certainly is not an investment guide, however, so do not buy it if you are looking for a hot stock tip.

Taleb has a quirky writing style. This certaintly is not a "pretty" book. Nevertheless, it is easy enough to ... Read More:
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Used Price: £10.99