Skin in the Game

Brilliance smothered by Condescension and Petty Squabbling

I’ve enjoyed and applies Taleb’s insights for years, but this book was so infused with petty arguments and dismissive quips that it was difficult to pull anything useful from it. The author uncharacteristically wandered off topic so often that trying to reconstruct his arguments almost took more effort than the insight seemed worth. I think there were some pretty significant insights (“don’t confuse data for mathematical rigor” for example). But the book as a whole was so condescending and vitriolic to anyone who disagreed with the author about his past ideas, which is strange coming from someone who preaches such a stoic view of things. I think the author had some very important ideas, but it will take serious work to find them if you aren’t interested in taking the author’s side in all the flame wars he’s either started or been dragged into.

65 of 72 people found this review helpful

The expansion pack to Antifragile

If you've never read Taleb before, pass on this book for now and go read Fooled by Randomness or The Black Swan. This book, while fascinating to long time Taleb fans, is more preaching to the choir, and so he skips a lot of he lead up and background discussions that had been part of the backbone of his other books. I valued the discussion of minority rule and the concept of an absorbing barrier applied to financial ruin, and the authors use of unreliable narratives was entertaining as always. That said, the ideas in this book are minor points compared to his other works, and I found myself wishing he had waited another year or two to continue fleshing out the ideas in this book to allow it to be up to the same standards of his other works.

62 of 70 people found this review helpful

Taleb's snobbery and condescension @ all time high

For someone who rails against critics breaking his principle of charity in not using straw man arguments against his main points, he sure does it himself an awful lot. For example, he uses Richard Thaler's self deprecating story about enjoying a tie his wife bought him when he wouldn't have bought it himself as proof of what an idiot Thaler is. Thaler feels this mental accounting is irrational and Taleb does not. I'm inclined to lean toward what I take to be Taleb's argument that the term 'irrational' is overplayed and does not really describe what is happening in a lot of the behavioral economics studies but to just dismiss the whole field as bunk goes much too far. That is where his ideas about heuristics that he uses to criticize Richard Dawkins come from after all. I bet Dawkins would even concede the point that an outfielder is using heuristics rather than subconsciously doing differential equations to anticipate where to go as he originally wrote decades ago.

Taleb makes some good points but he always overplays his hand and portrays himself and a very small handful of his heroes who 'have skin in the game' as the only people in the world who have contributed anything worthwhile.

Some of the things I liked:
-His points about vocal minorites having large impact on public policy or commerce e.g., kosher foods, non-gmo foods, smoking in restaurants.
-Don't tell me what you think, tell me what's in your portfolio. All that really matters is our actions- not our opinions.

I would give this another star but I'm so turned off by his self aggrandizement and unwarranted dismissal of every scientist, school teacher, public servant, and 9-5 employee that I can't do it.

76 of 89 people found this review helpful

All the Arrogance, Anger and Bile you can Eat!

Taleb interrupts the flow of his work (such as it is) to rant throughout against Michelin starred restaurants, "idiot intellectuals", suit and tie executives, journalists, scientists, academics, genetically modified food (go figure) and in fact pretty much all food other than pizza (made with fresh ingredients) and hamburgers.

He prefers weightlifters to professors and almost anything to Stephen Pinker. He dislikes any and all who aren't what he considers to be traders and risk takers. Gym equipment other than bar bells and sommeliers come in for his especial ire. But he likes brutish looking inarticulate doctors. The non brutish amongst us he considers to be effete and impudent snobs offering comments on matters on which they have no skin in the game. It is hard to see what "skin" Taleb actually has in this irritable list of things he doesn't like.

The book feels like it was dashed off after too many beers on the way to a barroom brawl.
But Taleb obviously delights in his angry skewering of the rest of the world. Somehow he sells this stuff "to the Swiss" (his trading term for the average faceless sucker), so more power to him for developing a business plan and finding a paying audience for his bile.

21 of 25 people found this review helpful

Parting ways with Taleb

I enjoyed previous works by Taleb like Fooled by Randomness and The Black Swan. However, I couldn't stand this one. It is so full of derision against anyone who is not exactly like him, so full of his many personal vendettas that is incoherent.
He skips from subject to subject with little logic, and covers subject rather superficially. He arrogantly dismisses scientists, doctors, economists and then goes on to peddle what are basically conspiracy theories. Then he goes on to raise on a pedestal "ancient wisdom". I almost had the feeling that he would advocate spitting at black cat like my grandmother because it is wisdom that survived, unlike taking statins which is new science.
In conclusion, if I met Taleb, I would suggest he took a nice long look at the mirror. He might recognise one of his "Intellectual Yet Idiot"s there.

29 of 37 people found this review helpful

Didn’t care for this one.

I loved the other three books but this one seemed to be mainly an opportunity to vent for the author. Way too much belittling of others and more “I”s than I think I have ever read in a book that was not an autobiography.

12 of 15 people found this review helpful

Narration detracts with droning bitter emotion

How did the narrator detract from the book?

The narrator sounds angry, or sardonic all the time. Always. Lighten up. I've heard the author speak many times, and he, unlike the narrator, usually expresses even sarcasm or barbs with some grace. Listening to this is like being bludgeoned. Best to listen to this one in a dive bar while drinking cheap well bourbon.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Excellent

I always feel like my IQ went up 10 points after reading one of Talebs books.

There is a lot of wisdom in this one. He is an insta-buy for me.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Great ideas terrible execution

This is the worst book I have listened to this year. The author raises some very insightful ideas but it is difficult to sort through all of the insults and random pop offs to get to the heart of his text. He consistently presents insightful ideas but spends little time flushing them out out completing a thought. I would only recommend this book to someone as an example of how not to write a book.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

It should be mandatory reading

This book should be mandatory reading for anyone who thinks they should have a say in the world.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful