✒ Books read in 2021 #06 to #09

Fooled by randomness

If you want to read only one book by Nassim Taleb, it would be this one in my opinion. I read this book for the first time a long time ago (either still in University or just started working), upon rereading, I am amazed how this book touches on so many topics (related to logic/fallacy/bias in life and financial market) that I am interested in and found myself keep reading more of other books in these topics over the years.

Now when I think about it, I am not sure whether this book hit my areas of interest, or it shaped my areas of interest instead.

Black Swan

A detailed explanation and philosophical discussion about the concept “absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence”. For a plain language and shorter version, refer to Fooled by Randomness.

Antifragile

The big idea is that the opposite of “fragile” is not “robust”, “resilient”, or “solid”. Logically, the exact opposite of a “fragile” parcel would be a package on which one has written “please mishandle” or “please handle carelessly”. Its contents would not just be unbreakable, but would benefit from shocks and a wide array of trauma.

The fragile would be at best unharmed, the robust would be at best and at worst unharmed. And the opposite of fragile — the antifragile — is therefore what is at worst unharmed.

Life is long gamma: stressors and failures are information, use them to adjust opportunistically.

Skin in the Game

Don’t tell me what you think, just tell me what’s in your portfolio.