In The Black Swan, Taleb showed us that highly improbable and unpredictable events underlie almost everything about our world. Here Taleb stands uncertainty on its head, making it desirable, even necessary. The antifragile is beyond the resilient or robust. The resilient resists shocks and stays the same; the antifragile gets better and better.

Just as human bones get stronger when subjected to stress and tension, many things in life benefit from stress, disorder, volatility, and turmoil. What Taleb has identified and calls antifragile are things that not only gain from chaos but need it in order to survive and flourish.

Antifragile is a blueprint for living in a Black Swan world. Erudite, witty, and iconoclastic, Taleb's message is revolutionary: the antifragile, and only the antifragile, will make it.

'The hottest thinker in the world' Bryan Appleyard, Sunday Times

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Product details

Paperback: 544 pages
Publisher: Penguin; 01 edition (6 Jun. 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0141038225
ISBN-13: 978-0141038223
Product Dimensions: 12.9 x 2.3 x 19.8 cm
Customer reviews: 1,485 customer ratings
Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 5,199 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #35 in Business Decision Making Skills
- #22 in Economic Theory & Philosophy
- #57 in Business & Economic History

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Really made me think about how I think -- Mohsin Hamid, Guardian

The hottest thinker in the world -- Bryan Appleyard, The Sunday Times

A superhero of the mind -- Boyd Tonkin

Wall Street's principal dissident -- Malcolm Gladwell

A guru for every would-be Damien Hirst, George Soros and aspirant despot -- John Cornwell, Sunday Times

Nassim Taleb, in his exasperating but compelling book Antifragile, praises "things that gain from disorder" - people, policies and institutions designed to thrive on volatility, instead of shattering in the encounter with it -- Oliver Burkman, Guardian

More than just robust or flexible, it actively thrives on disruption -- Julian Baggini, Guardian

Modern life is akin to a chronic stress injury. And the way to combat it is to embrace randomness in all its forms. . . Taleb is the great seer of the modern age, Guardian

Something antifragile actively thrives under the impact of the unexpected...to embrace randomness rather than trying to control it, The Sunday Times

Enduring volatility is one thing; what about benefiting from it? That is what Taleb calls 'antifragility' and he thinks that it is the ultimate model to aspire to - for individuals, financial institutions, even nations. . . May well capture a quality that you have long aspired to without having quite known quite what it is. . . I saw the world afresh, The Times

From the Inside Flap

Nassim Nicholas Taleb, the bestselling author of The Black Swan and one of the foremost thinkers of our time, reveals how to thrive in an uncertain world.

Just as human bones get stronger when subjected to stress and tension, many things in life benefit from stress, disorder, volatility, and turmoil. What Taleb has identified and calls antifragile are things that not only gain from chaos but need it in order to survive and flourish.

In The Black Swan, Taleb showed us that highly improbable and unpredictable events underlie almost everything about our world. Here Taleb stands uncertainty on its head, making it desirable, even necessary. The antifragile is beyond the resilient or robust. The resilient resists shocks and stays the same; the antifragile gets better and better.

What's more, the antifragile is immune to prediction errors and protected from adverse events. Why is the city-state better than the nation-state, why is debt bad for you, and why is what we call "efficient" not efficient at all? Why do government responses and social policies protect the strong and hurt the weak? Why should you write your resignation letter before starting on the job? How did the sinking of the Titanic save lives? The book spans innovation by trial and error, life decisions, politics, urban planning, war, personal finance, economic systems and medicine, drawing on modern street wisdom and ancient sources.

From the Back Cover

About the Author

Nassim Nicholas Taleb spent twenty-one years as a risk taker before becoming a researcher in philosophical, mathematical, and (mostly) practical problems with probability. Although he spends most of his time as a flâneur, meditating in cafes across the planet, he is currently Distinguished Professor at New York University's Tandon School of Engineering but self-funds his own research.

His books, Antifragile, The Black Swan, The Bed of Procrustes and Fooled by Randomness (part of a multi-volume collection called Incerto, Latin for uncertainty), have been translated into thirty-seven languages. Taleb has authored more than fifty scholarly papers as backup to Incerto, ranging from international affairs and risk management to statistical physics. He refuses all awards and honours as they debase knowledge by turning it into competitive sports.

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Customer reviews

5 star		69%
4 star		13%
3 star		7%
2 star		5%
1 star		6%

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Ed209

I loved Fooled by Randomness and the Black Swan

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 18 February 2018

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I loved Fooled by Randomness and the Black Swan, but this follow up is disappointing. There's two reasons for this. the first is that Taleb seems to have explained his key thoughts in those earlier books, and there's little new material here. The second is that Taleb suffers from what I would call 'Harry Potter Syndrome', in that as he's become more popular editors seem more reluctant to take a scalpel to his work (actually he repeatedly voices his disdain for editors). The result of this is 500 pages of rambling thoughts, and it's hard to get to the end of it let alone draw any conclusions. I feel bad criticising Taleb as his earlier books made a huge impression on me, but this just isn't up the same standards. Hopefully his publishers will lay down the law next time and insist on a more active editor.

45 people found this helpful

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Karl Chama

Like swimming in an ocean of words and contempt

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 7 August 2019

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I really, really wanted to like this book.

I tried to read it and stick with it - I genuinely did. But Taleb literally was repeating the same thing over and over again to the point I thought that there had been an error in printing. The author's disdain towards other academics and scholars using terms like the "Soviet-Harvard illusion" was quite off-putting and his use of "big-words-for-big-words-sake" really started to chafe.

Honestly, I think that the ideas presented in the book are fantastic and worthy of praise but his tone, hubris and diatribes against others made the book unreadable.

I've put it down and I won't pick it up again. What a shame.

17 people found this helpful

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Kevin Ramsey

interrupted by "wow I never thought of it like that before"

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 25 May 2017

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It's hard to know where to stop when talking about this book. Some books are described as life changing, but are not. This one really is. I will never look at any aspect of my life again in quite the same way. I wish I'd read it years ago. I'm now buying it for my (adult) children. It can become a struggle to read at times but if it does, put it down and come back to it. Having said that most of the book is compulsive and humorous reading, interrupted by "wow I never thought of it like that before". I would however recommend reading "The Black Swan" first as I think you might miss the point of this book, at least initially, if you don't.

25 people found this helpful

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Solitudinal

This book is a game changer

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 6 August 2018

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There is so much in this book you will be enjoying eureka moments over and over.

What as the author says, are things your instincts have known, but your rational side may well have Said, “show me the evidence”; no evidence of existence is not evidence of no existence will seem obvious after his explanation and he joins the dots for you in areas of Science, Medicine and Fiannce.

By the end the simple truth of his “Triad”: Fragility, Volatility and Optionality will be clearer to you.

What surprises me more, is how I feel about rationalists and science now (lecturing birds on how to fly). I was a hardcore card holder for both and though a physicist I still sign up to the benefits of science, I am a persuaded by the arguments in this book.

You must read this. I would six star it if I could as it’s a game changer

5 people found this helpful

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The author is certainly highly erudite and makes some excellent points but does so in a relatively wayward fashion

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 8 April 2016

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If you have read any of the previous Taleb books, such as The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable or Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets you are most likely not in for a surprise. The author is certainly highly erudite and makes some excellent points but does so in a relatively blunt and confrontational manner (explaining the number of reviews giving alternatively 1 or 5 stars).

In the current book he discusses the concept of anti-fragility, i.e. a feature of systems that benefit, rather than get harmed by unpredictability. There are lots of good points made and I certainly buy into the concept. We do tend to be fooled by randomness (pun intended) and do tend to discount rare events - much to our detriment.

Where the success of the book will depend on the disposition of the reader much more, is it's typically Taleb style. He is confrontational and that to an extent where quite some readers may be put off. While this does not bother me generally, I find that he actually belabored the point somewhat too much and that the book would definitely benefit from an abridgement to something like 300 pages. While I did not find any part of the book completely replaceable, the point does get a bit too repetitive after a while.

If you want to get much of the content in a less confrontational, and slimmer volume, I recommend you try A Perfect Mess: The Hidden Benefits Of Disorder first. If, however you have enjoyed his previous work, do go for it by all means - he is much the same (perhaps even a tad more extreme) as always and the content is certainly worthwhile.

12 people found this helpful

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Alister Cryan

Antifragile: Fragile, Robust or Antifragile?

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 10 May 2020

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This book is, in places, quite brilliant and unlike anything I have read since "The Advancement of Learning." It is also, however, flawed. It is almost as if going out to sea, charting new territory, Nassim Taleb, has got frightened and sought safe harbour in a country under siege by the very wind of his own ideas. Every time he hides in the flawed ideas of Charles Darwin, Nassim Taken undermines the very argument he is making: "The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happened to them all." Or in Nassim Helen's own words "You get pseudo-order when you seek order; you only get a measure of order and control when you embrace randomness." Another fragility is his failure to see that an academic and an intellectual are not the same "ting". A great book which everyone should read but I refer to my headline above.

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Nathik

Read and become Anti Fragile

Reviewed in India on 21 April 2017

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If you had read "The Black Swan" or if you follow Nicholas Nassim Taleb on twitter, you are probably aware that many people find his style to be arrogant, pompous and cantankerous. And yet you will find there is a significantly group of individuals who love and values his insights and style of writing. Anti fragile is a hard book to summarise and categorise. (It cut across different domains like anthropology, economics, medicine, history, religion). Let me try to summarise the content nonetheless.

What is Anti fragile? Many things/institutions/individuals are fragile to volatility. Like a vase which is fragile and breaks if it falls. What is the opposite of fragile? Many think that the opposite of fragile is robust. (Things which are unaffected by volatility). But Taleb says things which gains from volatility is the opposite and he calls it Anti Fragile. We may be intellectually blind to it not organically blind. Example: Hormesis, favourable response to small dose of toxins.

Below are some interesting insights from the book.
In Book one:
Domain independence is domain dependence. Meaning one may be aware X is true in a specific domain and completely blind to the same X in a different domain.
Stress is information. Information is anti fragile. Therefore stress is anti fragile. It is said that best horses lose when they compete with slower ones. If you want something to be done give to the busiest or second busiest person in work.
Touristification of life: Eliminating randomness in life by trying too much to control life makes us fragile. You may find people who do well in academica to be boring. Hence erudition is anti fragile and academia is fragile.

In Book two:
Bottom up design is anti fragile because it has a lot of median variation. Top to bottom design is fragile because it has extreme variation. Therefore some form of volatility is good.
The Great Turkey problem: fooled by the properties of the past and getting the story backward. Turkey is fed everyday by the butcher; everyday it confirms its staff analyst that the butcher loves turkey. Then comes a day when it's not a good idea to be a turkey. Therefore ABSENCE OF EVIDENCES IS NOT EVIDENCE OF ABSENCE.
Modernity is the systematic extraction of humans from the randomness of life. Like a lion in bronx zoo.
Intervention causes iatrogenics. Go for intervention only when the benefits outweighs the cost. Therefore only for extreme scenarios.

In Book three:
Having a library is anti fragile.
Introduces Stoicism, Seneca the practical stoic and the domestification of emotions.
Barbell strategy is the domestic of uncertainty. Instead of going for mid risk options, use 80% conservative risk and 20% extreme risk. In the event of black swan, you will be protected from fragility.

In Book four:
Make use of optionality. Option= asymmetric + rationality.
Negatives of Soviet-Harvard types knowledge. Debunks some common misconceptions of Academia. Example wealth creates knowledge and not the other way around.

Book five is for those who are technically inclined.

In Book Six:
Less is more. Importance of Subtractive knowledge. You get rich by not going bust.

In Book Seven:
Being ethical makes you anti fragile.
Modernity provides talkers (Journalists and Economists)free option. Example Thomas Friedman openly advocate the war on Iraq (2003) .Despite all his predictions and advocacies were spectacularly wrong, he doesn't face any consequences of his action. The ancients were aware of the talker's free option and advocated skin in the game.
Hammurabi code written in 1750BC Mesopotamia advocates skin in the game.

100 people found this helpful

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AmazonPrimeMember

Excellent

Reviewed in India on 25 May 2017

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Excellent book from Taleb. I have read his other 2 books before this. This book takes the ideas from financial realm (as developed in Fooled by Randomness and Black Swan) to real world. Gives a few key tools for us to live our lives and ties them back to ancient philosophies from many cultures.

You don't need to read the other two books to appreciate the message that Taleb is giving in this book. I highly recommend this book.

20 people found this helpful

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Shyam

Very poor paper and print quality

Reviewed in India on 20 September 2017

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Very poor paper and print quality, its unreadable. I regret buying this book. I actually bought 3 from the Incerto series, all are bad. I wish there is way to post negative feedback on the print separately. I love Taleb's writing and this is the last I buy book from Amazon.

15 people found this helpful

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Stefan Roth

This book changed my life

Reviewed in Germany on 21 November 2018

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When I first read Jurgen Appelo's Management 3.0 I was already deeply impressed. Then Frédéric Laloux' "Reinventing Organizations" touched me even more. By a random pick from a "dotnet rocks" podcast about antifragile software architectures I detected this literature gem.

This book is philosphical, yet practical for the day-to-day endeavours we encounter in our so-called modern world. It opens your eyes how things influence each other. That our world is not linear and non-predictable. And that it is good that way. Taleb demystifies the scharlatan sciences such as economics as taugh in universities today and detects the vulnerable point in our western societies. Yet this is not a book to complain about the atrocities of the world we're living in. Instead it makes courage. Courage to look at our world with different eyes. See what is a short gain, but probably non-lasting like a spark. Detect what is more lasting - or antifragile - since robustness is not the inverse of fragility.

This book has impact on technology, society, sociology, almost every corner of our life. Still Taleb is not a radical: While pointing out how nature helps to cure itself and is the most persistent and antifragile institution ever he doesn't get into a mood of Darwinism or survival of the fittest. He just shows up where our limits are and what's the tradeoff of the lives we live today.

Deeply impressing, a must-read. My world would be paler if I had missed this book.

5 people found this helpful

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Geoff

Heavy Reading

Reviewed in Canada on 6 July 2019

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I have read both Black Swan and Fooled by Randomness by Taleb however it was some time ago and being a fan I was eager to read this, the fourth Incerto book. It did not disappoint despite taking me a far longer time to finish than I had expected.

The concept of Fragility and Anti-Fragility is presented excellently here. I had never really considered how they exist in our every day lives but now see that far more clearly. It is in a contemplative state, while reading this book, that caused me to evaluate a lot of what Taleb has presented and even try to understand how he comes about with his statements and conclusions. This is the reason for the long reading time. At the end of the book Taleb offers technical overviews to his ideas and references to look into to follow-up on the ideas. Unfortunately, I am not technical enough to be able to fully comprehend the calculations he shows but I do have a desire to do so and may use this inspiration to further my understanding of Statistics so I can follow-up.

What I took away from this book is that in life you need to make yourself Antifragile. To do so you must prepare for volatility by not being so fixated on a current state of expectation that you may be in. If you are someone who works a regular job and live your life around the income derived from that job, specifically counting on it to keep you and perhaps your family going, then when volatility comes (i.e. you get laid off or fired or suddenly are unable to work) you find yourself fragile if you have not set yourself up to survive the period of volatility. Thanks to this book I have been able to inwardly realize areas of fragility in my own life and use some of the concepts I learned of from Antifragility to try and change that state.

I give this, as I so far have all of Taleb's works, 5 plus stars. Taleb is a person to listen to and learn from. Do yourself a favor and check out any of the Incerto books.

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