The Bed of Procrustes: Philosophical and Practical AphorismsThe Bed of Procrustes is a standalone book in Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s landmark Incerto series, an investigation of opacity, luck, uncertainty, probability, human error, risk, and decision-making in a world we don’t understand. The other books in the series are Fooled by Randomness, The Black Swan, Antifragile, and Skin in the Game. By the author of the modern classic The Black Swan, this collection of aphorisms and meditations expresses his major ideas in ways you least expect. The Bed of Procrustes takes its title from Greek mythology: the story of a man who made his visitors fit his bed to perfection by either stretching them or cutting their limbs. It represents Taleb’s view of modern civilization’s hubristic side effects—modifying humans to satisfy technology, blaming reality for not fitting economic models, inventing diseases to sell drugs, defining intelligence as what can be tested in a classroom, and convincing people that employment is not slavery. Playful and irreverent, these aphorisms will surprise you by exposing self-delusions you have been living with but never recognized. With a rare combination of pointed wit and potent wisdom, Taleb plows through human illusions, contrasting the classical values of courage, elegance, and erudition against the modern diseases of nerdiness, philistinism, and phoniness. “Taleb’s crystalline nuggets of thought stand alone like esoteric poems.”—Financial Times |
Contents
Counter Narratives | 10 |
The Sacred and the Profane | 25 |
Charming and Less Charming Sucker Problems | 45 |
The Republic of Letters | 60 |
Fooled by Randomness | 74 |
AESTHETICS | 80 |
ROBUSTNESS AND ANTIFRAGILITY | 98 |
THE SCANDAL OF PREDICTION | 112 |
The Sage the Weak and the MagnifiCENT | 129 |
ON THE VARIETIES OF LOVE AND NONLOVE | 143 |
Postface | 185 |
Other editions - View all
The Bed of Procrustes: Philosophical and Practical Aphorisms Nassim Nicholas Taleb Limited preview - 2016 |
The Bed of Procrustes: Philosophical and Practical Aphorisms Nassim Nicholas Taleb Limited preview - 2010 |
The Bed of Procrustes: Philosophical and Practical Aphorisms Nassim Nicholas Taleb No preview available - 2010 |
Common terms and phrases
absence academic advice alpha male ANTIFRAGILE aphorism arrogant asshole autism avoid become better Black Swan boring Cato the Elder charlatans charm complain complicated conversation convince corrupts detect difference economics economist enemies envy epistemic erudition ethics explain failure fake feel feminizing FOOLED BY RANDOMNESS fragile friends give harder harm hate human ideas ignore impress insult intellectual intelligent investment journalists Knowing stuff knowledge La Rochefoucauld less live logic look lose money Mafia magnificent mathematics means minds mistakes modern Moore’s Law narrative NASSIM NICHOLAS TALEB nerdiness never Nicomachean Ethics person philosopher poetry predictable Procrustean bed Procrustes profane prostitute religion rent-seeking reverse rich risk taker robust sense skills social Socrates someone someone’s stupid success SUCKER PROBLEMS talk tell tend Theseus things truth unconditional understand unobserved vastly virtue weak wisdom wonder worse write wrong