The Bed of Procrustes: Philosophical and Practical Aphorisms - Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Written by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Format: MP3

Written by: Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Narrated by: Sean Pratt
Length: 1 hr and 41 mins

Format: Unabridged

Release Date:12-30-10
Publisher’s Summary

By the author of the modern classic The Black Swan, this collection of aphorisms and meditations expresses his major ideas in ways you least expect.

The Bed of Procrustes takes its title from Greek mythology: the story of a man who made his visitors fit his bed to perfection by either stretching them or cutting their limbs. It represents Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s view of modern civilization’s hubristic side effects - modifying humans to satisfy technology, blaming reality for not fitting economic models, inventing diseases to sell drugs, defining intelligence as what can be tested in a classroom, and convincing people that employment is not slavery.

Playful and irreverent, these aphorisms will surprise you by exposing self-delusions you have been living with but never recognized. With a rare combination of pointed wit and potent wisdom, Taleb plows through human illusions, contrasting the classical values of courage, elegance, and erudition against the modern diseases of nerdiness, philistinism, and phoniness.
What the Critics Say

“[Taleb writes] in a style that owes as much to Stephen Colbert as it does to Michel de Montaigne.” (The Wall Street Journal)

The most prophetic voice of all.” (GQ)

“Idiosyncratically brilliant.” (Los Angeles Times)
“Buy the BOOK”

While this a good listen and full of little wisdoms, you’ll want the hard bound book near your desk as a reference piece. I can see using many of these aphorisms as quotes in presentations. Lots of great stuff hear but better in book form
“Read this one”

Awesome book with thought provoking insights. Well read with clear audio. I enjoyed listening to this book but then went out and bought a hard copy. Each aphorism is captivating in its own way. Each sentence is its own story. To plow through them in a non-stop narrative means that a lot will be missed. To truly benefit from this work, you need to read it slowly. The optimal way to absorb this book would be to have a hard copy at the bedside and read just a few aphorisms each night.
“Excellent”

This book has some words of wisdom that will make you think and perhaps make you a little bit wiser as well. We try to make complex situations fit in some of our pre concieved notions and in our arrogance and lack of humility leads use to chaotic results.
“Big Taleb fan? You’ll like it. Otherwise, pass.”

Where does The Bed of Procrustes rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Somewhere in the middle. It’s a short listen, so I don’t feel like I wasted my time or money, but I have to admit that it’s my least favorite of his three books. *That said, I loved his other two books, and only like this one. So saying it’s my least favorite isn’t a harsh indictment of it.

What was the most compelling aspect of this narrative?

The entire book is aphorisms. Just short, little, sentences about observations Taleb has made. Some are really insightful, some are pretty stupid.

Which scene was your favorite?

Really insightful:
“For the robust, an error is information; for the fragile, an error is an error.”

Pretty stupid:
“Never say ‘no’ twice.”

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes.

Any additional comments?

Check out the preview. If you like it, there’s lots more just like it. If you don’t, then save your credit. I think this book will divide between “like it a lot” and “wow that’s dumb.” I am in the first camp; my wife in the latter.
“Taleb is a polarizer. I’ll will love or hate him.”

I can understand why some people just don’t get what Taleb is talking about.

He is most known for preaching about the dangers if black swans. But in opposition to modern writings about risk management or economy, he doesn’t offer any complex mathematical models (he doesn’t offer any equations by the way), and he does not present the reader with a quick guide about how NOT the get in a big mess you will regret.

Taleb on the other hand takes a very philosophical posture, advising the reader to think about the problem how it really is, and not how we wish it to be (platonicity). And I’m sure many people find disturbing that they won’t find straight answers in his books.

stick it to the Man: He is one of the few authors I’ve read that defies the system and authorities openly says what he thinks are wrong with the whole, in a healthy way. If that is even possible. As himself puts in The Black Swan, When someone asks him does he manage to cross a street being so much risk adverse,he replies that everyone must cross dangerous streets sometimes, but at least he won’t do it BLINDFOLDED.

After re-reading my review I realize that my review is not just about this book but all his books as a whole. I recommend reading them all, the Bed of Proscrutes being a good summary of his ideas of the Black Swan and Fooled by Randomness
“Good aphorisms but nothing BUT aphorisms”

Any additional comments?

This book has no story to it at ALL. It’s rather a collection of different 1-2 sentence assertions (aphorisms). It was lots of fun to read, but lacks any sort of storyline.

Announce URL:	udp://open.demonii.com:1337/announce
This Torrent also has several backup trackers
Tracker:	udp://open.demonii.com:1337/announce
Tracker:	udp://explodie.org:6969/announce
Tracker:	udp://tracker.opentrackr.org:1337/announce
Tracker:	udp://tracker.tiny-vps.com:6969/announce
Tracker:	udp://tracker.vanitycore.co:6969/announce
Tracker:	http://tracker.baravik.org:6970/announce
Tracker:	http://tracker2.wasabii.com.tw:6969/announce
Tracker:	http://tracker.publicbt.com/announce
Tracker:	udp://tracker.publicbt.com:80/announce
Tracker:	udp://tracker.leechers-paradise.org:6969
Tracker:	udp://tracker.coppersurfer.tk:6969
Tracker:	udp://tracker.desu.sh:6969
Edonkey2000 Hash:	eef19e48126c546e1f741992916d2d12
SHA1 Hash (TorrentAid):	ff8bfb2093522449d978f96a3a5b1c7943fb9ce8
Creation Date:	Fri, 30 May 2014 07:07:09 -0400
File Size:	46.74 MBs
Piece Size:	32 KBs
Comment:	Updated by AudioBook Bay
Encoding:	UTF-8
Info Hash:	711ef1f6322dc3b34a0757e2e3316477650c2f40
Torrent Download	Torrent Free Downloads
Tips	Sometimes the torrent health info isn’t accurate, so you can download the file and check it out or try the following downloads.
Direct Download	Start Direct Download
Tips	You could try out alternative bittorrent clients.
Secured Download	Download Files Now
Ad