Nassim Taleb Book Recommendations

Confessions of a Philosopher

A Personal Journey Through Western Philosophy from Plato to Popper

by Bryan Magee

"[The author] was close enough to Popper to present us with his ideas first-hand." - Nassim Taleb (Source)

Mean Genes

From Sex To Money To Food

by Terry Burnham

"So readable as to perhaps set a standard." - Nassim Taleb (Source)

Consciousness

An Introduction

by Susan Blackmore

"Comprehensive, clear, well written." - Nassim Taleb (Source)

The Mind Doesn't Work That Way

The Scope and Limits of Computational Psychology

by Jerry A. Fodor

"Horribly written (that is Fodor's charm after all) but his argumentation is so ferocious that he ends up loud & clear." - Nassim Taleb (Source)

Mapping the Mind

by Rita Carter

"Great reference book, very pedagogical." - Nassim Taleb (Source)

The Making of a Philosopher

My Journey Through Twentieth-Century Philosophy

by Colin McGinn

"A great book but I felt something cold inside of me while reading it." - Nassim Taleb (Source)

I Think, Therefore I Laugh

by John Allen Paulos

"Great refresher in Analytical Philosophy --maybe the best." - Nassim Taleb (Source)

Bull!

A History of the Boom and Bust, 1982-2004

by Maggie Mahar

"[The author] had the courage to take a look at what was behind all of this religious belief in markets." - Nassim Taleb (Source)

A History of the Mind

Evolution and the Birth of Consciousness

by Nicholas Humphrey

"Clarity, so rare, so prized..." - Nassim Taleb (Source)

Invariances

The Structure of the Objective World

by Robert Nozick

"Like a manual for a new regimen in philosophy." - Nassim Taleb (Source)

The Blank Slate

The Modern Denial of Human Nature

by Steven Pinker

"A great exposition of modern scientific thinking and understanding of the nature of man." - Nassim Taleb (Source)

Intellectuals in the Middle Ages

by Jacques Le Goff

"Excellent book." - Nassim Taleb (Source)

Kant and the Platypus

Essays on Language and Cognition

by Umberto Eco

"I was taken aback by the combination of depth and the vividness of the style." - Nassim Taleb (Source)

The Dream of Reason

A History of Western Philosophy from the Greeks to the Renaissance

by Anthony Gottlieb

"Deep, readable & investigative." - Nassim Taleb (Source)

The Status Syndrome

How Social Standing Affects Our Health and Longevity

by Michael Marmot

"Well written, humorous at times, and rigorous --it reads like a well-translated scientific paper." - Nassim Taleb (Source)

Social Cognition

Making Sense of People

by Ziva Kunda

"It is limpid, precise, illustrative, showing a wonderful clarity of mind." - Nassim Taleb (Source)

How Nature Works

The Science of Self-organized Criticality

by Per Bak

"Intuitive & makes you think of universal laws." - Nassim Taleb (Source)

The Sunday Philosophy Club

Isabel Dalhousie, Book 1

by Alexander McCall Smith

"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)

The Wisdom Paradox

How Your Mind Can Grow Stronger As Your Brain Grows Older

by Elkhonon Goldberg

"I am now spoiled; I need more essays by opinionated, original,and intellectual, contemporary scientists." - Nassim Taleb (Source)

Thinking and Deciding

by Jonathan Baron

"I am buying a second copy." - Nassim Taleb (Source)

Thinking, Fast and Slow

by Daniel Kahneman

"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)

Adapt

Why Success Always Starts with Failure

by Tim Harford

"A highly readable, even entertaining, argument against top-down design." - Nassim Taleb (Source)

Zero to One

Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future

by Peter Thiel

"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)

Alchemy

The Dark Art and Curious Science of Creating Magic in Brands, Business, and Life

by Rory Sutherland

"Wonderfully applicable to about everything in life. Furthermore, it is funny as hell." - Nassim Taleb (Source)

The Dao of Capital

Austrian Investing in a Distorted World

by Mark Spitznagel

"At last, a real book by a real risk-taking practitioner." - Nassim Taleb (Source)

The Invisible Gorilla

And Other Ways Our Intuitions Deceive Us

by Christopher F. Chabris

"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)

Market Wizards

Interviews with Top Traders

by Jack D. Schwager

"Twenty years from now, [this book] will still be fresh. There is no other like it." - Nassim Taleb (Source)

The Misbehavior of Markets

A Fractal View of Financial Turbulence

by Benoit Mandelbrot

"The deepest and most realistic finance book ever published." - Nassim Taleb (Source)

The Bitcoin Standard

The Decentralized Alternative to Central Banking

by Saifedean Ammous

"Bitcoin is an excellent idea." - Nassim Taleb (Source)

The Formula

The Universal Laws of Success

by Albert-László Barabási

"[Approaches] the problem of randomness and success using the state of the art scientific arsenal we have." - Nassim Taleb (Source)

Financial Derivatives

Pricing, Applications, and Mathematics

by Jamil Baz

"A condensed, but extremely deep , and complete exposition of the subject of theoretical finance." - Nassim Taleb (Source)

Modern Aramaic-English/English-Modern Aramaic Dictionary & Phrasebook

Assyrian/Syriac

by Nicholas Awde

"Most excellent, except for very few and small mistakes." - Nassim Taleb (Source)

A Few Lessons from Sherlock Holmes

by Peter Bevelin

"It makes you both wiser and eager to reread Sherlock Holmes." - Nassim Taleb (Source)

Modelling Extremal Events

For Insurance and Finance

by Paul Embrechts

"The bible for the field." - Nassim Taleb (Source)

1,000 Foods To Eat Before You Die

A Food Lover's Life List

by Mimi Sheraton

"This is THE reference book." - Nassim Taleb (Source)

The Kelly Capital Growth Investment Criterion

by Leonard C. MacLean

"Finally, a compendium of the most rigorous research (gamblers ruin based) on risky decisions." - Nassim Taleb (Source)

A Guide to Econometrics

by Peter Kennedy

"The best intuition builder in both statitics and econometrics." - Nassim Taleb (Source)

Tartar Steppe

by Dino Buzzati

"A masterpiece." - Nassim Taleb (Source)

The Statistical Mechanics of Financial Markets

by Johannes Voit

"Very useful bridge between physics methodologies and finance." - Nassim Taleb (Source)

No Bull

My Life In and Out of Markets

by Michael Steinhardt

"The man is one of the greatest traders in history. There are a few jewels in there." - Nassim Taleb (Source)

Hopping over the Rabbit Hole

How Entrepreneurs Turn Failure into Success

by Anthony Scaramucci

"So gripping you can read it standing up. A must read." - Nassim Taleb (Source)

The Secret of Fatima

A Father Kevin Thrall Thriller

by Peter J. Tanous

"James Bond as a Catholic Priest." - Nassim Taleb (Source)

Rational Decisions

by Ken Binmore

"Presents a comprehensive set of the principles and axioms behind neo-classical economics." - Nassim Taleb (Source)

The Elements of Statistical Learning

Data Mining, Inference, and Prediction

by Trevor Hastie

"Very comprehensive, sufficiently technical to get most of the plumbing behind machine learning." - Nassim Taleb (Source)

The Count of Monte Cristo

by Alexandre Dumas

"This treasure will prevent you from enjoying other novels." - Nassim Taleb (Source)

Order without Design

How Markets Shape Cities

by Alain Bertaud

"It is a pleasure to read something by a person who knows his subject in so much depth." - Nassim Taleb (Source)

Deep Learning

by Ian Goodfellow

"Very clear exposition, does the math without getting lost in the details." - Nassim Taleb (Source)

The French Revolution and What Went Wrong

by Clarke Stephen

"So much fun to read. The author, visibly writes with an attitude." - Nassim Taleb (Source)

Birth of a Theorem

by Cédric Villani

"[The author] is playful in real life, his research is playful, and [this book] is playful." - Nassim Taleb (Source)

Scale

The Universal Laws of Growth, Innovation, Sustainability, and the Pace of Life in Organisms, Cities, Economies, and Companies

by Geoffrey West

"Will expand your thinking from three dimensions to four." - Nassim Taleb (Source)

Ficciones

by Jorge Luis Borges

"How literature and philosophy can be saved by parables." - Nassim Taleb (Source)

Elements of Information Theory

by Thomas M. Cover

"The BEST book [on information theory]." - Nassim Taleb (Source)

A New Kind of Science

by Stephen Wolfram

"Not a book, but a monument." - Nassim Taleb (Source)

Idea Makers

Personal Perspectives on the Lives & Ideas of Some Notable People

by Stephen Wolfram

"Excellent! Only read on mathematicians by insiders." - Nassim Taleb (Source)

Blueprint

The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society

by Nicholas A. Christakis

"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)

Perilous Interventions

The Security Council and the Politics of Chaos

by Hardeep Singh Puri

"Should be mandatory reading to every student and practitioner of foreign affairs." - Nassim Taleb (Source)

The Practice of Natural Movement

Reclaim Power, Health, and Freedom

by Erwan Le Corre

"Excited to find in my mailbox [this book]." - Nassim Taleb (Source)

The Complete Guide to Fasting

Heal Your Body Through Intermittent, Alternate-Day, and Extended Fasting

by Dr. Jason Fung

"An excellent book!" - Nassim Taleb (Source)

The Longevity Solution

Rediscovering Centuries-Old Secrets to a Healthy, Long Life

by Dr. James DiNicolantonio

"Incredibly well made book." - Nassim Taleb (Source)

Who We Are and How We Got Here

Ancient DNA and the New Science of the Human Past

by David Reich

"Finally, science enters historical fields." - Nassim Taleb (Source)

Free The Animal

How to Lose Weight and Fat on the Paleo Diet

by Richard Nikoley

"A charming primer on the paleo idea, with an illustration through the authors own life. I read it in one sitting." - Nassim Taleb (Source)

Happy Accidents

Serendipity in Major Medical Breakthroughs in the Twentieth Century

by Morton Meyers MD

"Please Please READ This Book! Read it TWICE!" - Nassim Taleb (Source)

Statistical Models

Theory and Practice

by David Freedman

"The best statistics book I've seen." - Nassim Taleb (Source)

The Doctrine of Deification in the Greek Patristic Tradition

by Norman Russell

"The most complete overview of theosis." - Nassim Taleb (Source)

Seeking Wisdom

From Darwin to Munger

by Peter Bevelin

"A wonderful book on wisdom and decision-making written by a wise decision-maker." - Nassim Taleb (Source)

Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar...

Understanding Philosophy Through Jokes

by Thomas Cathcart

"Like a brief drink in an airplane lounge with someone funny, smart, witty, but not too funny." - Nassim Taleb (Source)

Good Calories, Bad Calories

Fats, Carbs, and the Controversial Science of Diet and Health

by Gary Taubes

"Read it twice, once for the diet, once a a rich document in the history of science." - Nassim Taleb (Source)

The Discovery of France

A Historical Geography from the Revolution to the First World War

by Graham Robb

"An answer to so many questions." - Nassim Taleb (Source)

Explaining Social Behavior

More Nuts and Bolts for the Social Sciences

by Jon Elster

"Simply the best: read it at least twice." - Nassim Taleb (Source)

The Blank Swan

The End of Probability

by Elie Ayache

"I am relieved to finally find a book that deals with Black Swan Events in a new way." - Nassim Taleb (Source)

Probability, Random Variables and Stochastic Processes

by Athanasios Papoulis

"I always always recommend [this book]." - Nassim Taleb (Source)

Information

The New Language of Science

by Hans Christian von Baeyer

"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)

Bull by the Horns

Fighting to Save Main Street from Wall Street and Wall Street from Itself

by Sheila Bair

"The account of a person who says it the way it was." - Nassim Taleb (Source)

The Opposing Shore

by Julien Gracq

"Once you enter it, you are stuck there." - Nassim Taleb (Source)

The Hour Between Dog and Wolf

How Risk Taking Transforms Us, Body and Mind

by John Coates

"Excellent exposition of overcompensation." - Nassim Taleb (Source)

Body by Science

A Research Based Program to Get the Results You Want in 12 Minutes a Week

by John R. Little

"I owe a lot to this book." - Nassim Taleb (Source)

Models.Behaving.Badly.

Why Confusing Illusion with Reality Can Lead to Disaster, on Wall Street and in Life

by Emanuel Derman

"Convincingly establishes the difference between model and theory and shows why attempts to model financial markets can never be genuinely scientific." - Nassim Taleb (Source)

Probability Theory

by S. R. S. Varadhan

"Gives a complete overview of the basis of probability theory with some grounding in measure theory, and presents the main proofs." - Nassim Taleb (Source)

Mathematics

Its Content, Methods and Meaning

by A. D. Aleksandrov

"Mathematicians should be using this book as a model for their own composition." - Nassim Taleb (Source)

The Science of Conjecture

Evidence and Probability before Pascal

by James Franklin

"Stands above, way above other books on the history and philosophy of probability." - Nassim Taleb (Source)