I first picked this up three years ago and couldn't get through it. Came back to it recently and was hooked from start to finish. The idea that hit hardest is one I see everywhere: people are quick to credit their own skill when things go well, but the moment results turn bad, it's suddenly bad luck. Never their judgment. Never their blind spots.
I don't subscribe to that. My philosophy is to sit with the loss and ask where I went wrong — to stay obsessed with improving. That's the craft of trading. When so many variables are in play at once, your inability to read all of them doesn't make you unlucky. It just means you weren't far-sighted enough. And that's something you can work on.
The book was published in 2001, and there were a few ideas I didn't fully agree with. But criticizing an author of Taleb's stature feels a bit like a chimpanzee offering fashion advice.
