Antifragile

Wall Street's principal dissident

Malcolm Gladwell

The hottest thinker in the world

Bryan Appleyard, The Sunday Times

A guru for every would-be Damien Hirst, George Soros and aspirant despot

John Cornwell, Sunday Times

A superhero of the mind

Boyd Tonkin

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

Taleb takes on everything from the mistakes of modern architecture to the dangers of meddlesome doctors and how overrated formal education is. . . . An ambitious and thought-provoking read . . . highly entertaining

Economist

This is a bold, entertaining, clever book, richly crammed with insights, stories, fine phrases and intriguing asides. . . . I will have to read it again. And again

Wall Street Journal

[Taleb] writes as if he were the illegitimate spawn of David Hume and Rev. Bayes, with some DNA mixed in from Norbert Weiner and Laurence Sterne. . . . Taleb is writing original stuff-not only within the management space but for readers of any literature-and . . . you will learn more about more things from this book and be challenged in more ways than by any other book you have read this year. Trust me on this

Harvard Business Review

What sometimes goes unsaid about Taleb is that he's a very funny writer. Taleb has a finely tuned BS detector, which he wields throughout the book to debunk pervasive yet pernicious ideas. . . . Antifragility isn't just sound economic and political doctrine. It's also the key to a good life

Fortune

At once thought-provoking and brilliant, this book dares you not to read it

Los Angeles Times

Really made me think about how I think

Mohsin Hamid, Guardian