It does seem to be a common opinion. I asked one of our program officers in a relevant field if he knew anything about the book and he said he'd once heard Taleb speak and had an impression similar to mine.
Also, reviews of his book seem to fall into two broad classes: (1) "The man is brilliant!" (2) "The man is an arrogant asshat." With most pop science books I really don't think you see nearly so many of (2) even when it's true.
The book, by the way, improved slightly in the last few chapters as he got marginally more specific -- although every time I'd get in a groove of enjoying myself he'd pop out some miserable thing that would annoy me (for instance in one spot he says that he imagines his detractors as "noisy ape[s] with little personal control"). But overall it seemed a bit thin; through most of the book I wanted more idea-explication and less self-indulgent personal narrative.
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Date: 2009-02-26 11:53 pm (UTC)Also, reviews of his book seem to fall into two broad classes: (1) "The man is brilliant!" (2) "The man is an arrogant asshat." With most pop science books I really don't think you see nearly so many of (2) even when it's true.
The book, by the way, improved slightly in the last few chapters as he got marginally more specific -- although every time I'd get in a groove of enjoying myself he'd pop out some miserable thing that would annoy me (for instance in one spot he says that he imagines his detractors as "noisy ape[s] with little personal control"). But overall it seemed a bit thin; through most of the book I wanted more idea-explication and less self-indulgent personal narrative.