The phenomenal international bestseller that shows us how to stop trying to predict everything - and take advantage of uncertainty

What have the invention of the wheel, Pompeii, the Wall Street Crash, Harry Potter and the internet got in common? Why are all forecasters con-artists? Why should you never run for a train or read a newspaper?

This book is all about Black Swans: the random events that underlie our lives, from bestsellers to world disasters. Their impact is huge; they're impossible to predict; yet after they happen we always try to rationalize them.

'Taleb is a bouncy and even exhilarating guide ... I came to relish what he said, and even develop a sneaking affection for him as a person' Will Self, Independent on Sunday

'He leaps like some superhero of the mind' Boyd Tonkin, Independent

About the Author
Nassim Nicholas Taleb is an uncompromizing no-nonsense thinker for our times. He has spent his life immersing himself in problems of luck, uncertainty, probability, and knowledge, and he has led three high-profile careers around his ideas, as a man of letters, as a businessman-trader, and as a university professor and researcher. He is currently Distinguished Professor of Risk Engineering at New York University's School of Engineering. He is the author of the 4-volume INCERTO (Antifragile, The Black Swan, Fooled by Randomness, and The Bed of Procrustes). Taleb refuses all awards and honours as they debase knowledge by turning it into competitive sports.

Reviews
A fascinating study of how we are regularly taken for suckers by the unexpected * Guardian *
Like the conversation of a raconteur ... hugely enjoyable - compelling * Financial Times *
It has altered modern thinking * The Times *
Confirms his status as a guru for every would-be Damien Hirst, George Soros and aspirant despot * Sunday Times *
The Black Swan changed my view of how the world works -- Daniel Kahneman, author of Thinking, Fast and Slow
Great fun... brash, stubborn, entertaining, opinionated, curious, cajoling -- Stephen J. Dubner, co-author of Freakonomics
The most prophetic voice of all * GQ *



Book Information
ISBN 9780141034591
Author Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Format Paperback
Page Count 480
Imprint Penguin Books Ltd
Publisher Penguin Books Ltd
Weight(grams) 348g
Dimensions(mm) 198mm * 129mm * 26mm