Book cover of Antifragile

Book description

'Really made me think about how I think' - Mohsin Hamid, author of Exit West

Tough times don't last. Tough people do.

In The Black Swan, Taleb showed us that highly improbable and unpredictable events underlie almost everything about our world. Here Taleb stands uncer tainty on its head, making…


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Why read it?

4 authors picked Antifragile as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

I recommend this book because it completely flips the idea of resilience.

Taleb argues that we shouldn’t aim to be unbreakable. Instead, we should aim to grow stronger from stress and volatility. I don’t agree with every example (and it’s dense at times), but it’s one of those books that forces me to think differently about systems, teams, and even my own mindset.

It’s a powerful reminder that disruption isn’t the enemy, stagnation is. 

Once you get passed the extreme arrogance of the author, who knows everything, he actually has some great insights about how to think about your life. He eschews "resilience", which means you get knocked down and get up again, for being "antifragile", a way of living that means hardships make you stronger.
He gives great examples what and how to do this.
Well worth the read.

I loved being challenged with the idea that there is something beyond resilience, that strength can be redefined as antifragility, and the application of this concept is infinite. Often shocked and kept off balance by the unorthodox words he created and paired, the uncertainty as he jumped from ancient Greece to the 21st century in one paragraph, I was forced as a reader to analyze old ideas through a novel lens.

I admit I feel a little smarter and less fragile, but I am still a novice as a flâneur. I agree with “I’d rather be dumb and antifragile…

If you love Antifragile...

Book cover of These Blue Mountains

These Blue Mountains by Sarah Loudin Thomas,

A moving story of love, betrayal, and the enduring power of hope in the face of darkness.

German pianist Hedda Schlagel's world collapsed when her fiancé, Fritz, vanished after being sent to an enemy alien camp in the United States during the Great War. Fifteen years later, in 1932, Hedda…

In Antifragile, Nassim Taleb describes the concept of convexity as a property of systems that benefit from volatility, stressors, or uncertainty, and suffer from calm or stability.

You should work to make your body and mind antifragile by exposing yourself to stressors, such as exercise, fasting, and solving complex cognitive problems. That will make you stronger and more resilient.

The principle of convexity can be applied to your own cognitive development in several ways for example make it an everyday habit to embrace small failures and mistakes, pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone, and working on skills that…

If you love Antifragile...

Book cover of These Blue Mountains

These Blue Mountains by Sarah Loudin Thomas,

A moving story of love, betrayal, and the enduring power of hope in the face of darkness.

German pianist Hedda Schlagel's world collapsed when her fiancé, Fritz, vanished after being sent to an enemy alien camp in the United States during the Great War. Fifteen years later, in 1932, Hedda…

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