Name: The Bed of Procrustes
ISBN: 9781400069972

Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Presents the author's aphorism that touch on the ideas about the hubris of modern society presented in such earlier works as "The Black Swan" and "Fooled by Randomness."

Philosophical and Practical Aphorisms

The Bed of Procrustes

Rafael Matsumoto

Probably the first book of aphorisms that I've ever read, maybe the last one.

Donald

Great aphorisms. This book is a lot of fun. I checked it out from the Free Library of Philadelphia (Cobb Creek Branch!) and read it on my porch the same day, while my neighbors almost got in a fight with a drug dealer.

Luca Conti

In this profound and playful book, Nassim Nicholas Taleb presents his ideas about life in the form of aphorisms, the world's earliest - and most memorable - literary form. Procrustes was a character from Greek mythology who abducted travellers and invited them to spend the night in a special bed, which they had to fit to perfection. They never did. Those who were too tall had their legs chopped off; those who were too short were stretched. Every aphorism here is about a Procrustean bed of sorts - we humans, facing the limits of our knowledge, the unseen and the unknown, resolve the tension by squeezing life and the world into crisp commoditized ideas, reductive categories, specific vocabularies and pre-packaged narratives. Only by embracing the unexpected - and accepting what we don't know - can we see the world as it really is.

Hugo Ahlberg

So many gems in here, probably my most highlighted book to date (see my shared highlights for a taste). Before picking this up I'd recommend you familiarize yourself with Nassim and his writing. You'll quickly understand why..

Christian Bager Bach Houmann

Erin G.

Rasmus

Sunil

Badal

In this profound and playful book, Nassim Nicholas Taleb presents his ideas about life in the form of aphorisms, the world’s earliest - and most memorable - literary form. Procrustes was a character from Greek mythology who abducted travellers and invited them to spend the night in a special bed, which they had to fit to perfection. They never did. Those who were too tall had their legs chopped off; those who were too short were stretched. Every aphorism here is about a Procrustean bed of sorts – we humans, facing the limits of our knowledge, the unseen and the unknown, resolve the tension by squeezing life and the world into crisp commoditized ideas, reductive categories, specific vocabularies and pre-packaged narratives. Only by embracing the unexpected – and accepting what we don’t know – can we see the world as it really is.

The Bed of Procrustes Philosophical and Practical Aphorisms