Review: Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets

Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Hooter: A contrarian view on the world of markets and economics

Whilst Taleb has made his name for his contrarian views especially the term "black swan" is now broadly associated with him, he does set the basis that luck has shaped a lot of trading geniuses rather than any key fundamentals over the long run or instincts. A lot of "in hindsight" justification from folks to retrofit their successes to their strategies is the bottom line he gets to taking the various examples of individuals he has interacted with. Whilst he is extremely self centred and his "the rest of the world doesn't know stuff" tone gets irritating, it also gets in the way of him presenting his points as the writing gets tedious at times and repetitive at others. Some crisp editing might have made it an easier read for sure.

There isn't anything new to take away especially if you have been around the financial world for some time. Maybe a new comer might learn a thing or two and not set their baseline on what the market thinks. The thing with contrarians just like the mainstream viewers in the financial world is that they'll be right once in their lifetime.

His academic approach of breaking up the types of individuals in the industry, their philosophies and strategies are good 101 for individuals understanding personalities and diverse styles of traders and trading strategies we have at play.

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