{"product_id":"the-black-swan-nassim-nicholas-taleb-9781400063512","title":"The Black Swan: Second Edition: The Impact of the Highly Improbable: With a New Section: On Robustness and Fragility","description":"\u003cb\u003eThe most influential book of the past seventy-five years: a groundbreaking exploration of everything we know about what we don't know, now with a new section called \"On Robustness and Fragility.\"\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eA black swan is a highly improbable event with three principal characteristics: It is unpredictable; it carries a massive impact; and, after the fact, we concoct an explanation that makes it appear less random, and more predictable, than it was. The astonishing success of Google was a black swan; so was 9\/11. For Nassim Nicholas Taleb, black swans underlie almost everything about our world, from the rise of religions to events in our own personal lives. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWhy do we not acknowledge the phenomenon of black swans until after they occur? Part of the answer, according to Taleb, is that humans are hardwired to learn specifics when they should be focused on generalities. We concentrate on things we already know and time and time again fail to take into consideration what we don't know. We are, therefore, unable to truly estimate opportunities, too vulnerable to the impulse to simplify, narrate, and categorize, and not open enough to rewarding those who can imagine the \"impossible.\" \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFor years, Taleb has studied how we fool ourselves into thinking we know more than we actually do. We restrict our thinking to the irrelevant and inconsequential, while large events continue to surprise us and shape our world. In this revelatory book, Taleb will change the way you look at the world, and this second edition features a new philosophical and empirical essay, \"On Robustness and Fragility,\" which offers tools to navigate and exploit a Black Swan world. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eTaleb is a vastly entertaining writer, with wit, irreverence, and unusual stories to tell. He has a polymathic command of subjects ranging from cognitive science to business to probability theory. Elegant, startling, and universal in its applications, \u003ci\u003eThe Black Swan\u003c\/i\u003e is a landmark book--itself a black swan.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Nassim Nicholas Taleb\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1400063515\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781400063512\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Random House\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 04\/17\/2007\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 480\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.60lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.30h x 6.10w x 1.70d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e 03\/15\/2007 pg. 9\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e 04\/15\/2007 pg. 94\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eTime\u003c\/i\u003e 05\/21\/2007 pg. 89\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e 04\/22\/2007 pg. 24\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eBooks \u0026amp; Culture\u003c\/i\u003e 09\/01\/2007 pg. 23\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eVanity Fair\u003c\/i\u003e 03\/01\/2008 pg. 232\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eDiscover\u003c\/i\u003e 08\/01\/2008 pg. 74\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly Best Books\u003c\/i\u003e 03\/23\/2009 pg. 22","brand":"Nassim Nicholas Taleb","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":44050076893439,"sku":"9781400063512","price":35.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_24d628e6-fda6-440b-8bc3-90f8d5420f58.jpg?v=1685005079","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/the-black-swan-nassim-nicholas-taleb-9781400063512","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}