In this series I share my love of non-fiction books, and discuss why reading is important; especially in our digital day and age.
On Nassim Nicholas Taleb; a Wall Street renegade
It's difficult to read the news. They tend to be scattered with opinions and very few facts, often leaving us more confused than we were before. With the dawn of the internet anyone with an internet connection can pose as being a reliable news source, which furthers the confusion in the media landscape. Because of this, author Nassim Nicholas Taleb argues that one should simply reduce ones news consumption to as little as possible, as journalists "write and write, with the hopes of someday finding something to say"
He's an illusive figure, who rarely gives interviews, works on Wall Street, but is "Physically allergic to bankers". He works with futures only, predicted the 2008 financial crash in his book, The Black Swan and refuses to drink liquids that aren't more than a thousand years old.
On the surface he comes across as a grumpy mad man, a highly intelligent, grumpy mad man, but his work is relentlessly brilliant, working with data to analyse the faults of the global capitalistic system. He started out as a trader, a quantitative analyst, and now runs his own hedge fund. His literary bull rush to fame came after his 2017 novel, The Black Swan, in which he outlines the impacts of so called Black Swans; Highly improbable shocks, that we never prepare for, which hits society with enormous consequences.
Taleb is an absolute must read for fellows who are interested in cryptocurrencies, blockchain and the everyday toppling of the international banking system. He's the voice-in-the-wild turned global seer, picking apart the international banking system from withing.
Do yourself a favour; read some Taleb
Webpage: www.fooledbyrandomness.com
Interview for more: www.theguardian.com/books/2012/nov/24/nassim-taleb-antifragile-finance-interview