
Nassim Taleb Recommended Books
Nassim Taleb has recommended 80 books. Browse the complete reading list with quotes and sources below.
Nassim Taleb is a Lebanese-American essayist, scholar, mathematical statistician, and former option trader and risk analyst.
(Read more on Wikipedia)80 Books Recommended
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Probability, Random Variables and Stochastic Processes
"I always always recommend [this book]." - Nassim Taleb (Source)
Who We Are and How We Got Here
Ancient DNA and the New Science of the Human Past
"Finally, science enters historical fields." - Nassim Taleb (Source)
Also recommended by:
Naval Ravikant, Michael Mauboussin, Balaji Srinivasan, Marc Andreessen
The Longevity Solution
Rediscovering Centuries-Old Secrets to a Healthy, Long Life
"Incredibly well made book." - Nassim Taleb (Source)
The Complete Guide to Fasting
Heal Your Body Through Intermittent, Alternate-Day, and Extended Fasting
"An excellent book!" - Nassim Taleb (Source)
The Practice of Natural Movement
Reclaim Power, Health, and Freedom
"Excited to find in my mailbox [this book]." - Nassim Taleb (Source)
Perilous Interventions
The Security Council and the Politics of Chaos
"Should be mandatory reading to every student and practitioner of foreign affairs." - Nassim Taleb (Source)
Blueprint
The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society
"Excited to get [this book] as I am trying to go deeper into the notion of fractal (multiscale) localism & see what's wrong w/my thesis" - Nassim Taleb (Source)
Also recommended by:
Idea Makers
Personal Perspectives on the Lives & Ideas of Some Notable People
"Excellent! Only read on mathematicians by insiders." - Nassim Taleb (Source)
A New Kind of Science
"Not a book, but a monument." - Nassim Taleb (Source)
Also recommended by:
Elements of Information Theory
"The BEST book [on information theory]." - Nassim Taleb (Source)
Also recommended by:
Hopping over the Rabbit Hole
How Entrepreneurs Turn Failure into Success
"So gripping you can read it standing up. A must read." - Nassim Taleb (Source)
Also recommended by:
Arianna Huffington, Mark Cuban, Tony Robbins, Carl Icahn, Peter Schiff
Scale
The Universal Laws of Growth, Innovation, Sustainability, and the Pace of Life in Organisms, Cities, Economies, and Companies
"Will expand your thinking from three dimensions to four." - Nassim Taleb (Source)
Also recommended by:
Birth of a Theorem
"[The author] is playful in real life, his research is playful, and [this book] is playful." - Nassim Taleb (Source)
The French Revolution and What Went Wrong
"So much fun to read. The author, visibly writes with an attitude." - Nassim Taleb (Source)
Deep Learning
"Very clear exposition, does the math without getting lost in the details." - Nassim Taleb (Source)
Also recommended by:
Order without Design
How Markets Shape Cities
"It is a pleasure to read something by a person who knows his subject in so much depth." - Nassim Taleb (Source)
The Count of Monte Cristo
Monte Cristo, Book 1
"This treasure will prevent you from enjoying other novels." - Nassim Taleb (Source)
Also recommended by:
The Elements of Statistical Learning
Data Mining, Inference, and Prediction
"Very comprehensive, sufficiently technical to get most of the plumbing behind machine learning." - Nassim Taleb (Source)
Rational Decisions
"Presents a comprehensive set of the principles and axioms behind neo-classical economics." - Nassim Taleb (Source)
The Secret of Fatima
A Father Kevin Thrall Thriller
"James Bond as a Catholic Priest." - Nassim Taleb (Source)
Ficciones
"How literature and philosophy can be saved by parables." - Nassim Taleb (Source)
Also recommended by:
The Science of Conjecture
Evidence and Probability before Pascal
"Stands above, way above other books on the history and philosophy of probability." - Nassim Taleb (Source)
Mathematics
Its Content, Methods and Meaning
"Mathematicians should be using this book as a model for their own composition." - Nassim Taleb (Source)
Probability Theory
"Gives a complete overview of the basis of probability theory with some grounding in measure theory, and presents the main proofs." - Nassim Taleb (Source)
Models.Behaving.Badly.
Why Confusing Illusion with Reality Can Lead to Disaster, on Wall Street and in Life
"Convincingly establishes the difference between model and theory and shows why attempts to model financial markets can never be genuinely scientific." - Nassim Taleb (Source)
Body by Science
A Research Based Program to Get the Results You Want in 12 Minutes a Week
"I owe a lot to this book." - Nassim Taleb (Source)
The Hour Between Dog and Wolf
How Risk Taking Transforms Us, Body and Mind
"Excellent exposition of overcompensation." - Nassim Taleb (Source)
Also recommended by:
The Opposing Shore
"Once you enter it, you are stuck there." - Nassim Taleb (Source)
Bull by the Horns
Fighting to Save Main Street from Wall Street and Wall Street from Itself
"The account of a person who says it the way it was." - Nassim Taleb (Source)
Information
The New Language of Science
"If you want an introduction to information theory, and, in a way, probability theory from the real front door, this is it." - Nassim Taleb (Source)
Free The Animal
How to Lose Weight and Fat on the Paleo Diet
"A charming primer on the paleo idea, with an illustration through the authors own life. I read it in one sitting." - Nassim Taleb (Source)
The Blank Swan
The End of Probability
"I am relieved to finally find a book that deals with Black Swan Events in a new way." - Nassim Taleb (Source)
Explaining Social Behavior
More Nuts and Bolts for the Social Sciences
"Simply the best: read it at least twice." - Nassim Taleb (Source)
The Discovery of France
A Historical Geography from the Revolution to the First World War
"An answer to so many questions." - Nassim Taleb (Source)
Good Calories, Bad Calories
Fats, Carbs, and the Controversial Science of Diet and Health
"Read it twice, once for the diet, once a a rich document in the history of science." - Nassim Taleb (Source)
Also recommended by:
Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar...
Understanding Philosophy Through Jokes
"Like a brief drink in an airplane lounge with someone funny, smart, witty, but not too funny." - Nassim Taleb (Source)
Seeking Wisdom
From Darwin to Munger
"A wonderful book on wisdom and decision-making written by a wise decision-maker." - Nassim Taleb (Source)
Also recommended by:
The Doctrine of Deification in the Greek Patristic Tradition
"The most complete overview of theosis." - Nassim Taleb (Source)
Statistical Models
Theory and Practice
"The best statistics book I've seen." - Nassim Taleb (Source)
Happy Accidents
Serendipity in Major Medical Breakthroughs in the Twentieth Century
"Please Please READ This Book! Read it TWICE!" - Nassim Taleb (Source)
Financial Derivatives
Pricing, Applications, and Mathematics
"A condensed, but extremely deep , and complete exposition of the subject of theoretical finance." - Nassim Taleb (Source)
Thinking and Deciding
"I am buying a second copy." - Nassim Taleb (Source)
The Wisdom Paradox
How Your Mind Can Grow Stronger As Your Brain Grows Older
"I am now spoiled; I need more essays by opinionated, original,and intellectual, contemporary scientists." - Nassim Taleb (Source)
The Sunday Philosophy Club
Isabel Dalhousie, Book 1
"I don't want to spoil the story but I felt that I was reading a detective story until I realized what it was..." - Nassim Taleb (Source)
How Nature Works
The Science of Self-organized Criticality
"Intuitive & makes you think of universal laws." - Nassim Taleb (Source)
Social Cognition
Making Sense of People
"It is limpid, precise, illustrative, showing a wonderful clarity of mind." - Nassim Taleb (Source)
The Status Syndrome
How Social Standing Affects Our Health and Longevity
"Well written, humorous at times, and rigorous --it reads like a well-translated scientific paper." - Nassim Taleb (Source)
The Dream of Reason
A History of Western Philosophy from the Greeks to the Renaissance
"Deep, readable & investigative." - Nassim Taleb (Source)
Kant and the Platypus
Essays on Language and Cognition
"I was taken aback by the combination of depth and the vividness of the style." - Nassim Taleb (Source)
Intellectuals in the Middle Ages
"Excellent book." - Nassim Taleb (Source)
Confessions of a Philosopher
A Personal Journey Through Western Philosophy from Plato to Popper
"[The author] was close enough to Popper to present us with his ideas first-hand." - Nassim Taleb (Source)
Invariances
The Structure of the Objective World
"Like a manual for a new regimen in philosophy." - Nassim Taleb (Source)
A History of the Mind
Evolution and the Birth of Consciousness
"Clarity, so rare, so prized..." - Nassim Taleb (Source)
Bull!
A History of the Boom and Bust, 1982-2004
"[The author] had the courage to take a look at what was behind all of this religious belief in markets." - Nassim Taleb (Source)
Also recommended by:
I Think, Therefore I Laugh
"Great refresher in Analytical Philosophy --maybe the best." - Nassim Taleb (Source)
The Making of a Philosopher
My Journey Through Twentieth-Century Philosophy
"A great book but I felt something cold inside of me while reading it." - Nassim Taleb (Source)
Mapping the Mind
"Great reference book, very pedagogical." - Nassim Taleb (Source)
The Mind Doesn't Work That Way
The Scope and Limits of Computational Psychology
"Horribly written (that is Fodor's charm after all) but his argumentation is so ferocious that he ends up loud & clear." - Nassim Taleb (Source)
Consciousness
An Introduction
"Comprehensive, clear, well written." - Nassim Taleb (Source)
Mean Genes
From Sex To Money To Food
"So readable as to perhaps set a standard." - Nassim Taleb (Source)
The Blank Slate
The Modern Denial of Human Nature
"A great exposition of modern scientific thinking and understanding of the nature of man." - Nassim Taleb (Source)
Also recommended by:
No Bull
My Life In and Out of Markets
"The man is one of the greatest traders in history. There are a few jewels in there." - Nassim Taleb (Source)
The Statistical Mechanics of Financial Markets
"Very useful bridge between physics methodologies and finance." - Nassim Taleb (Source)
Tartar Steppe
"A masterpiece." - Nassim Taleb (Source)
A Guide to Econometrics
"The best intuition builder in both statitics and econometrics." - Nassim Taleb (Source)
The Kelly Capital Growth Investment Criterion
"Finally, a compendium of the most rigorous research (gamblers ruin based) on risky decisions." - Nassim Taleb (Source)
1,000 Foods To Eat Before You Die
A Food Lover's Life List
"This is THE reference book." - Nassim Taleb (Source)
Modelling Extremal Events
For Insurance and Finance
"The bible for the field." - Nassim Taleb (Source)
A Few Lessons from Sherlock Holmes
"It makes you both wiser and eager to reread Sherlock Holmes." - Nassim Taleb (Source)
Also recommended by:
Modern Aramaic-English/English-Modern Aramaic Dictionary & Phrasebook
Assyrian/Syriac
"Most excellent, except for very few and small mistakes." - Nassim Taleb (Source)
Thinking, Fast and Slow
"A landmark book in social thought, in the same league as The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith and The Interpretation of Dreams by Sigmund Freud." - Nassim Taleb (Source)
Also recommended by:
Bill Gates, Ray Dalio, Scott Adams, Naval Ravikant, Ev Williams, Marc Andreessen, Stewart Brand, Bryan Johnson, Derek Sivers, Sam Altman, Ron Conway, Jason Fried, Sahil Lavingia, Mark Manson, Jay Shetty, Michiko Kakutani, Preston Pysh, Ben Greenfield
The Formula
The Universal Laws of Success
"[Approaches] the problem of randomness and success using the state of the art scientific arsenal we have." - Nassim Taleb (Source)
Also recommended by:
The Bitcoin Standard
The Decentralized Alternative to Central Banking
"Bitcoin is an excellent idea." - Nassim Taleb (Source)
Also recommended by:
The Misbehavior of Markets
A Fractal View of Financial Turbulence
"The deepest and most realistic finance book ever published." - Nassim Taleb (Source)
Also recommended by:
Market Wizards
Interviews with Top Traders
"Twenty years from now, [this book] will still be fresh. There is no other like it." - Nassim Taleb (Source)
Also recommended by:
The Invisible Gorilla
And Other Ways Our Intuitions Deceive Us
"The illusion of attention is one of the most important, surprising, and least known flaws in human thinking. This lucid book examines it in detail." - Nassim Taleb (Source)
Also recommended by:
The Dao of Capital
Austrian Investing in a Distorted World
"At last, a real book by a real risk-taking practitioner." - Nassim Taleb (Source)
Also recommended by:
Alchemy
The Dark Art and Curious Science of Creating Magic in Brands, Business, and Life
"Wonderfully applicable to about everything in life. Furthermore, it is funny as hell." - Nassim Taleb (Source)
Also recommended by:
Zero to One
Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future
"When a risk taker writes a book, read it. In the case of [this author], read it twice. Or, to be safe, three times. This is a classic." - Nassim Taleb (Source)
Also recommended by:
Andrew Ng, Ben Horowitz, Bryan Johnson, Chris Dixon, Dustin Moskovitz, Elon Musk, Eric Weinstein, Keith Rabois, Kishore Biyani, Lee Stranahan, Luis von Ahn, Marc Andreessen, Mark Zuckerberg, Matt Mullenweg, Max Levchin, Sam Altman, Patrick O'Shaughnessy, Tom Bilyeu, Ryan Petersen, Brian Dean, Rupert Murdoch
Adapt
Why Success Always Starts with Failure
"A highly readable, even entertaining, argument against top-down design." - Nassim Taleb (Source)
Also recommended by:
Other Recommenders
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