Thursday, August 13, 2009

Book Review: Fooled by Randomness

I almost didn't read this book. I normally read a book cover-to-cover, all the way down to the copyright date. However, I had a hard time getting through the table of contents, the preface and the prologue. But once I started Chapter 1, I was hooked. I recommend that you start right in with Chapter 1 after you get a copy of Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. It is about how we perceive luck in like, from the standpoint of an investment trader and investor. As a matter of fact, all traders should read this book.

If there are two traders, one is very successful and very rich but very conservative, and the other one is extremely successful and rich but takes substantial risks, who is better off? If you guess the extremely successful one, you would be wrong. Taleb uses real life examples and explains in easy-to-understand detail how he comes up with his conclusions. As a quantitative trader in New York and London, so he knows what he is talking about. If you are trader or investor, check out Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets.

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