Antifragile

12 December 2012Book ReviewsAntifragile, Nassim Taleb, optionalityNick Dunbar

Nassim Taleb Allen Lane 2012 I first met Nassim Taleb in New York in the spring of 1998 while working for a trade magazine. I had been commissioned to edit a supplement on the 25th anniversary of the publication of the Black-Scholes option pricing formula, while Taleb at the time was a currency option trader…

Thinking, Fast and Slow

23 May 2012Book Reviewsbehavioural economics, Daniel Kahneman, Gerd Gigerenzer, Nassim Taleb, Thinking Fast And Slow, two-system thinkingNick Dunbar

Daniel Kahneman Penguin/Allen Lane 2011 I first met Daniel Kahneman in May 2001 when I was researching my still-unpublished book about probability. I had expected to visit him at his office in Princeton's economics department, but for some reason I can no longer remember, Kahneman said the interview should take place at his suburban house.…

Flogging a dead black swan

12 February 2009Articlesblack swan events, CDOs, Credit Crunch, Nassim TalebNick Dunbar

Risky Finance 21 May 2008 Nassim Taleb's avian metaphor may have helped sell a lot of books. But when it comes to the credit crunch, it lets people off the hook. The time has come to shoot the black swan. If there is one image that for many characterises the modern financier brought low, it…