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Fooled by randomness : the hidden role of chance in the markets and in life

by Taleb, Nassim Nicholas, 1960-

Format: Print Book 2001
Availability: Available at 1 Library 1 of 1 copy

Available (1)
Location Collection Call #
Community Library of Allegheny Valley - Harrison Non Fiction 332 TALEB
Location  Community Library of Allegheny Valley - Harrison
 
Collection  Non Fiction
 
Call Number  332 TALEB
 
 

Summary
In Fooled by Randomness, Taleb takes the reader on a fascinating journey through our perceptions of success, failure and luck. He takes the mathematics and psychology of probability and explains them with reference to the financial markets and life in general. Concepts such as survivorship bias, induction and our genetic lack of fitness for the modern world are laid before the reader in a highly entertaining and accessible narrative that sweeps across the trading rooms of New York and Chicago, passing along the way Solon (the Ancient World's wisest man), the philosophy of Karl Popper and the pronouncements of Yogi Berra ("it ain't over 'till the fat lady sings") amongst others. At the end of the journey, the reader is left with a deep understanding of the role randomness plays in all our lives.
Published Reviews
Booklist Review: "Taleb is a "quant," or mathematical trader, and an expert on financial derivatives who has made a name for himself in investing circles as a voluble critic of popular theories and conventional wisdom. He is also the author of Dynamic Hedging: Managing Vanilla and Exotic Options (1996). Taleb is fluent in seven languages and a reader of classical literature, an avocation that readily manifests itself in this meandering discourse on the roles of probability, luck, and risk in the markets and in life. Taleb examines how and why the attempt to determine cause and effect is continually hampered by random occurrences and our emotional responses to them. He freely shares his ideas and opinions, finding insights in the funeral of Jackie Onassis, B. F. Skinner's experiments on pigeons, Solon's warning, Karl Popper's work, George Soros, Darwinism, the O. J. Simpson trial, Pascal's wager, the collapse of Long Term Capital Management, the trading floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, birthdays, taxicabs, and especially the works of ancient Greek philosophers. --David Rouse"
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Publisher's Weekly Review: "In this look at financial luck, hedge fund manager Taleb (Dynamic Hedging) addresses the apparently irrational movement of money markets around the world. Using his own investing experience and examples of others' successes and disappointments, he discusses theories like Monte Carlo math (easy; considered cheating by purists) and the concept of Russian roulette. Taleb tells interesting, well-wrought stories about individual behavior: "While Nero has succeeded beyond his wildest dreams, both personally and intellectually, he is starting to consider himself as having missed a chance somewhere." While serious investors and mathematics enthusiasts will be intrigued, readers looking for practical investment strategies will be disappointed by this rambling intellectual discourse. Tables. 40,000-copy first printing; $150,000 marketing budget. (Oct. 30) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved"
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Additional Information
Subjects Investments.
Finance.
Markets.
Chance.
Random variables.
Risk.
Publisher New York :Texere,2001
Language English
Description xix, 203 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
Bibliography Notes Includes bibliographical references (page [197]) and index.
ISBN 1587990717
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