Mr. Taleb has a problem. He is not fond of randomness. Specifically, he is not fond of catastrophic, unexpected randomness. Likely, this has much to do with the destruction of his own home in Lebanon. These events that are unecpected he calls a Black Swan.

This read is a little dated in the sense that it was written in 2006. Much of the science present reflects the thinking of the period. However, Mr. Taleb succeeds in his quest to be a kind of modern day Socrates basically resisting the Gaussian tyranny and insisting on some level we know nothing. He does exceedingly well at this.

On the other hand, he seems to completely overlook those who can generate a black swan almost single-handedly. The Ultra-Rich banking people who have fueled much of Mr. Taleb's career are likely not affected by the black swans of the world the way the rest of humanity is. Why? Because a conspiracy among a few is not a black swan except to those who are not "in on it". By his own admission, Mr. Taleb's father preferred the company of highly educated Jesuit Priests. In a later chapter, he mentions the Da Vinci code as a book example. He also uses Nero as the name of an example character, as well as mobsters. These things make one wonder what or who Mr. Taleb is ultimately serving.

One thing is for sure, by his own admission he "Hates black swans" and yet, his entire career has been defined by them.

My rating reflects less a judgment on the quality of the writing, and more of a judgment on the content. Simply put, there is much in this book I do not agree with. Yet, where I do agree, I am in strong agreement. If I agreed with the whole thing, would I have given the review five stars? Perhaps. Somehow, in this case, it feels like my disagreements where they exist are strong enough to warrant the docking of one star. The contents is well worth reading simply to make one "think through" what they think they know, especially if they have ever had statistics. Just know beforehand that I think at the very least Mr. Taleb has some blindness. At the worst, he is providing a framework to protect his own interests.