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Summary of The Black Swan 

4.5 . 2913 reviews

Short summary

“The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable” was released in 2007 by Nicholas Nassim Taleb, a Lebanese-American essayist, scholar, mathematical statistician, and former options trader and risk analyst, whose work concerns problems of randomness, probability, and uncertainty. It is a bestseller that centers on the enormous impact of random and unpredictable events and phenomena that occur in our everyday world and lives, inclusive of ways to find reasonable and simple explanations and strategies to deal with these events.

Table of content

  • Summary of The Black Swan
  • About the author
  • What is The Black Swan about?
  • Who should read The Black Swan
  • Topics in The Black Swan
first key point

Most people accept only what they can see or what they are told, shunning different ideas

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The Black Swan logic is said to have originated many years ago. Before the discovery of Australia, people in the Old World had been told, had seen and so they were convinced that there were only white swans in existence; all swans were white. But then the very first black swan was sighted. Of course, it was a complete surprise for the ornithologists then who stood steadfast in their anecdotal, even somewhat empirical belief of only white swans.
The Black Swan logic makes it evident that not knowing about a certain thing does not imply that it is non-existent.
Just a single observation made, immensely invalidated the general sightings of millions of white swans. This illustrates the severe limitation to our learning from mere experience and observations and the fragility of our knowledge.

The human mind suffers from three main ailments when it comes in contact with history; with information from past events. Nassim Nicholas Taleb called them the “Triplet of Opacity”.

1. The illusion of understanding: This expatiates on how shortsighted we humans can be. Everyone thinks they understand what is going on in this world which is more complicated and random than we could ever imagine.

2. The retrospective distortion: Taleb explained this as how we can assess matters only after the fact. History seems more organized and clearer in history books than in reality.

3. The overvaluation of factual information and the handicap of authoritative and learned people: This is particularly when categories are created, when they platonify. Black Swan logic expresses what one does not know to be far more relevant than what one does know.
second key point

Black Swans are often represented by the most unexpected things

Nassim Taleb developed two ideas to help explain his Black Swan theory. He called these ideas Mediocristan and Extremistan.
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third key point

Prediction is a great cause of the ignorance towards black swans

fourth key point

Cultivate the habit of being prepared at all times for the impact of highly improbable events

fifth key point

Another way to come to terms with the randomness of black swans is to accept the aesthetics of its unpredictability

sixth key point

You, as a person, can be different and do the unexpected; this makes you a black swan

seventh key point

Conclusion

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What is The Black Swan about?

Who should read The Black Swan

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Do you find yourself staring at your computer for long minutes, unaware of time slipping by? Do you enter a room and suddenly cannot remember why you stepped in the first place? Is it a herculean task for you to sit through ten pages of a book without reaching for your phone? If yes, your focus needs some work and fast.

Actually, yours is not a unique situation. Many adults like you have issues concentrating on a given task. However, in this fast-paced world of ours, you can’t afford to be not focused at all times. Thankfully, this article comes to your rescue! With the tips and tricks from Hyperfocus by Chris Bailey, you will get in the top percent of folks who have mastered the art of concentration.