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  • Skin in the Game

  • Hidden Asymmetries in Daily Life
  • By: Nassim Nicholas Taleb
  • Narrated by: Joe Ochman
  • Length: 8 hrs and 20 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (857 ratings)
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Skin in the Game cover art

Skin in the Game

By: Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Narrated by: Joe Ochman
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Summary

Number-one New York Times best seller

A bold work from the author of The Black Swan that challenges many of our long-held beliefs about risk and reward, politics and religion, finance and personal responsibility.

In his most provocative and practical book yet, one of the foremost thinkers of our time redefines what it means to understand the world, succeed in a profession, contribute to a fair and just society, detect nonsense, and influence others. Citing examples ranging from Hammurabi to Seneca, Antaeus the Giant to Donald Trump, Nassim Nicholas Taleb shows how the willingness to accept one's own risks is an essential attribute of heroes, saints, and flourishing people in all walks of life. 

As always both accessible and iconoclastic, Taleb challenges long-held beliefs about the values of those who spearhead military interventions, make financial investments, and propagate religious faiths. Among his insights: 

  • For social justice, focus on symmetry and risk sharing. You cannot make profits and transfer the risks to others, as bankers and large corporations do. You cannot get rich without owning your own risk and paying for your own losses. Forcing skin in the game corrects this asymmetry better than thousands of laws and regulations. 
  • Ethical rules aren't universal. You're part of a group larger than you, but it's still smaller than humanity in general. 
  • Minorities, not majorities, run the world. The world is not run by consensus but by stubborn minorities asymmetrically imposing their tastes and ethics on others. 
  • You can be an intellectual yet still be an idiot. "Educated philistines" have been wrong on everything from Stalinism to Iraq to low carb diets. 
  • Beware of complicated solutions (that someone was paid to find). A simple barbell can build muscle better than expensive new machines. 
  • True religion is commitment, not just faith. How much you believe in something is manifested only by what you’re willing to risk for it.

The phrase "skin in the game" is one we have often heard but have rarely stopped to truly dissect. It is the backbone of risk management, but it's also an astonishingly rich worldview that, as Taleb shows in this book, applies to all aspects of our lives. As Taleb says, "The symmetry of skin in the game is a simple rule that's necessary for fairness and justice and the ultimate BS-buster," and "Never trust anyone who doesn't have skin in the game. Without it, fools and crooks will benefit, and their mistakes will never come back to haunt them." 

©2018 Nassim Nicholas Taleb (P)2018 Random House Audio

What listeners say about Skin in the Game

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Diminishing returns

Skin in the Game is an enjoyable collection of anecdotes, observations and angry diatribes. It is also much inferior to the previous three volumes in the "Incerto" series. Taleb is still scratching the same itch and seeking after the same high. But he has run out of things to say.

His message remains important, but please go read Antifragile, Black Swan or Fooled by Randomness instead. They will give you everything you need. This aimless volume, which merely introduces a few new terms to explore again many of his familiar topics, can only be recommended to devoted Taleb fans.

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Another great work by Teleb

If you've read anything else by Teleb, you won't be disappointed with Skin in the Game. Another thoughtful rant covering many fields and subjects. If you haven't read anything by him before... I would suggest reading fooled by randomness first, but that's just personal preference, his books can be read in any order. I can't recommend them highly enough. They prove what the majority of people believe about risk, probability and indeed life, is wrong.

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Interesting reading, take it with a grain of salt

Although the author is definetely an intelligent person and the main point of the book is worth understanding, some of the examples -particularly that against Richard Dawkins- have important flaws or are too extreme to be taken without more evidence. This is basically a book about opinions, with no science behind it. Nonetheless, it does have some common sense points that are worth being conscious about.

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7 people found this helpful

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What was it all about..??!

Passive/aggressive narration which gives you the impression that’s exactly how the author wanted it to be and he is, especially given the subject matter. Comes across as basically a rant about everything that’s wrong with society and all the things the author just does like in life. He doesn’t like Michelin star food so rants about what a waste it is, no mention of the effort and ability of the chef, he’d rather bloat out on a pizza and a beer , as a result he rants about it too long, as with other things. He’s a supremely intelligent guy but he’s just looking at the world and wishing it was different, so bemoans everything unless it’s the way he thinks it should be. He’s wealthy, so, as he says, has F.U money, life looks different when you’re wealthy, you can afford to pick holes in everything that everyone else is doing wrong, which he does the whole book. Maybe I missed the point of the book, but being ranted at for 9hrs wears thin!

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too much waffle

it has moments of brilliance, interspersed with a lot of bluster and arrogance, which is a shame. it would be better if it was half as long

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Funny and entertaining

This was my first of the series from Nasim Taleb. It was like listening to the rant of a smart but drunk Uncle. A bit like the American know it all at the party that just needs to listen before he talks.
That being said, it was entertaining and some food for thought. He is an equal opportunities offender. Everyone from Obama to Salafism gets a mention. Lots of personal score settling.

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Hard to take

If you've read anything about Taleb and his work, you've probably read that it involves some insights scattered around the big mess of his own ego. And that's just the case here. A few interesting principles buried in diatribes about individuals and professions he doesn't like or respect, glorification of his personal preferences as confirming himself as a macho man or a man of the people (deadlifting as a hobby and pizza over expensive cuisine), and asides into classical history and literature. He desperately tries to make this preening seem relevant to the supposed subject matter by way of hokey, pathetic analogies, such as likening Wall Street traders like himself to ancient generals dying on the frontline with spears in their chests. But all this really shows is that for all his railing against pretentious, showy tastes, sophistry, and weak, self serving analytical constructs, it would be difficult to find a worse offender on any of these counts than Prof Taleb himself.

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I listened to twice, to make sure I understood it

Taleb's "Skin in the Game" is a book I listened to twice to make sure I understood it. A lot of what's in the book made sense if I had to ignore some strong opinions. A book that talks about science is full of opinions. But I liked it. But it's not as strong as Taleb's previous books. That said, Taleb, even on half-power, leaves most other authors in the dust.

Key lessons:

Aim for errors that don't cost too much - innovation and invention happens by accident
Observe what people do, not what they say
Never discount anything that allows you to survive or avoid ruin; anything that hinders that is irrational. Consider the survival of populations with dominant beliefs.
Beware of scientism vs. science
Beliefs map to action, risk-taking, and having something at stake, "skin in the game"
Consider how much you bleed vs. how much you're willing to risk for it
Beware of asymmetry.
Bet when in profit and not when in distress.

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Overly Jargonistic. Intellectually weak.

I didn’t feel at all enlightened or informed by this book. The term “skin in the game” was used dozens, possibly hundreds of times and I still didn’t understand the meaning of the phrase in the way Taleb was applied it. This book was frustrating. The Author’s ego runs from the first page to the last.

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No prisoners

Part philosophy, part statistics, how to lose friends and burn bridges. If you have any certainty this book will help you lose it.

Will read again.

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