Bought this book in India for $2 , less than the shipping cost of an item from Amazon!. Price difference of books sometimes amazes me. If one really wants to read a set a books, one can manage the stuff with a very lean budget in India. This is a book about outliers. In some sense, everybody wants to be an outlier. Ask any person and he/she might say " I want to be different" .

Key takeaways from the discussion : Taleb - Discredit Business Schools, CFA’s, math-fin programs which teach crap portfolio theory / gaussian theories Taleb - 2 tiered structure , Banks should be made utility companies . High risk taking firms such as hedge funds should be left alone with a clear signal of NO BAILOUT under any circumstances. Taleb - Semi government intervention will not work..NATIONALIZATION is the only solution Daniel - Useless map is better than no Map, as it gives confidence for people to go out and venture.

Back To Bedlam -

This books falls under a specific category of books which includes titles like " In Praise of Slow", Zen books which focus on simplicity, Productivity books etc. As the title hints, there is one simple theme running through out the book - “Declutter your life, in all aspects of your life.” Cutting down variables and living with fewer and lesser variables in life is a far richer experience than dealing with a lot of variables and trying to do justice to all the variables.

Brazilian Straddle : When traders know that they are technically bankrupt, there is a tendency to take a huge speculative position. If price changes favorably they are saved. Otherwise, the outcome was same as before-“doomed” A trader who uses this strategy is said to hold a “Brazilian Straddle”. It consists of a large market position held against a one way airline ticket to Brazil in the breast pocket. If the market position proves profitable, the trader sells the ticket and comes back to trade tomorrow.