80 Books recommended by Nassim Taleb

The Complete Guide to Fasting
Heal Your Body Through Intermittent, Alternate-Day, and Extended Fasting
Author :Dr. Jason Fung

"An excellent book!" - Nassim Taleb [Source]

Happy Accidents
Serendipity in Major Medical Breakthroughs in the Twentieth Century
Author :Morton Meyers MD

"Please Please READ This Book! Read it TWICE!" - Nassim Taleb [Source]

1,000 Foods To Eat Before You Die
A Food Lover's Life List
Author :Mimi Sheraton

"This is THE reference book." - Nassim Taleb [Source]

Thinking and Deciding
Author :Jonathan Baron

"I am buying a second copy." - Nassim Taleb [Source]

Rational Decisions
Author :Ken Binmore

"Presents a comprehensive set of the principles and axioms behind neo-classical economics." - Nassim Taleb [Source]

The Elements of Statistical Learning
Data Mining, Inference, and Prediction
Author :Trevor Hastie

"Very comprehensive, sufficiently technical to get most of the plumbing behind machine learning." - Nassim Taleb [Source]




A Few Lessons from Sherlock Holmes
Author :Peter Bevelin

"It makes you both wiser and eager to reread Sherlock Holmes." - Nassim Taleb [Source]

The Blank Slate
The Modern Denial of Human Nature
Author :Steven Pinker

"A great exposition of modern scientific thinking and understanding of the nature of man." - Nassim Taleb [Source]

The Bitcoin Standard
The Decentralized Alternative to Central Banking
Author :Saifedean Ammous

"Bitcoin is an excellent idea." - Nassim Taleb [Source]

A Guide to Econometrics
Author :Peter Kennedy

"The best intuition builder in both statitics and econometrics." - Nassim Taleb [Source]

Hopping over the Rabbit Hole
How Entrepreneurs Turn Failure into Success
Author :Anthony Scaramucci

"So gripping you can read it standing up. A must read." - Nassim Taleb [Source]

The Secret of Fatima
A Father Kevin Thrall Thriller
Author :Peter J. Tanous

"James Bond as a Catholic Priest." - Nassim Taleb [Source]

Body by Science
A Research Based Program to Get the Results You Want in 12 Minutes a Week
Author :John R. Little

"I owe a lot to this book." - Nassim Taleb [Source]

The Invisible Gorilla
And Other Ways Our Intuitions Deceive Us
Author :Christopher F. Chabris

"The illusion of attention is one of the most important, surprising, and least known flaws in human thinking. This lucid book examines it in detail." - Nassim Taleb [Source]

The Count of Monte Cristo
Author :Alexandre Dumas

"This treasure will prevent you from enjoying other novels." - Nassim Taleb [Source]

Consciousness
An Introduction
Author :Susan Blackmore

"Comprehensive, clear, well written." - Nassim Taleb [Source]


Mathematics
Its Content, Methods and Meaning
Author :A. D. Aleksandrov

"Mathematicians should be using this book as a model for their own composition." - Nassim Taleb [Source]

Modern Aramaic-English/English-Modern Aramaic Dictionary & Phrasebook
Assyrian/Syriac
Author :Nicholas Awde

"Most excellent, except for very few and small mistakes." - Nassim Taleb [Source]

The Kelly Capital Growth Investment Criterion
Author :Leonard C. MacLean

"Finally, a compendium of the most rigorous research (gamblers ruin based) on risky decisions." - Nassim Taleb [Source]

Mapping the Mind
Author :Rita Carter

"Great reference book, very pedagogical." - Nassim Taleb [Source]

Confessions of a Philosopher
A Personal Journey Through Western Philosophy from Plato to Popper
Author :Bryan Magee

"[The author] was close enough to Popper to present us with his ideas first-hand." - Nassim Taleb [Source]

Good Calories, Bad Calories
Fats, Carbs, and the Controversial Science of Diet and Health
Author :Gary Taubes

"Read it twice, once for the diet, once a a rich document in the history of science." - Nassim Taleb [Source]

The Longevity Solution
Rediscovering Centuries-Old Secrets to a Healthy, Long Life
Author :Dr. James DiNicolantonio

"Incredibly well made book." - Nassim Taleb [Source]

Perilous Interventions
The Security Council and the Politics of Chaos
Author :Hardeep Singh Puri

"Should be mandatory reading to every student and practitioner of foreign affairs." - Nassim Taleb [Source]

Invariances
The Structure of the Objective World
Author :Robert Nozick

"Like a manual for a new regimen in philosophy." - Nassim Taleb [Source]

Statistical Models
Theory and Practice
Author :David Freedman

"The best statistics book I've seen." - Nassim Taleb [Source]

Kant and the Platypus
Essays on Language and Cognition
Author :Umberto Eco

"I was taken aback by the combination of depth and the vividness of the style." - Nassim Taleb [Source]

The Hour Between Dog and Wolf
How Risk Taking Transforms Us, Body and Mind
Author :John Coates

"Excellent exposition of overcompensation." - Nassim Taleb [Source]

The Mind Doesn't Work That Way
The Scope and Limits of Computational Psychology
Author :Jerry A. Fodor

"Horribly written (that is Fodor's charm after all) but his argumentation is so ferocious that he ends up loud & clear." - Nassim Taleb [Source]

Order without Design
How Markets Shape Cities
Author :Alain Bertaud

"It is a pleasure to read something by a person who knows his subject in so much depth." - Nassim Taleb [Source]

The Dao of Capital
Austrian Investing in a Distorted World
Author :Mark Spitznagel

"At last, a real book by a real risk-taking practitioner." - Nassim Taleb [Source]

The Sunday Philosophy Club
Isabel Dalhousie, Book 1
Author :Alexander McCall Smith

"I don't want to spoil the story but I felt that I was reading a detective story until I realized what it was..." - Nassim Taleb [Source]

Bull by the Horns
Fighting to Save Main Street from Wall Street and Wall Street from Itself
Author :Sheila Bair

"The account of a person who says it the way it was." - Nassim Taleb [Source]

Deep Learning
Author :Ian Goodfellow

"Very clear exposition, does the math without getting lost in the details." - Nassim Taleb [Source]

Modelling Extremal Events
For Insurance and Finance
Author :Paul Embrechts

"The bible for the field." - Nassim Taleb [Source]

Birth of a Theorem
Author :Cédric Villani

"[The author] is playful in real life, his research is playful, and [this book] is playful." - Nassim Taleb [Source]

Financial Derivatives
Pricing, Applications, and Mathematics
Author :Jamil Baz

"A condensed, but extremely deep , and complete exposition of the subject of theoretical finance." - Nassim Taleb [Source]

Zero to One
Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future
Author :Peter Thiel

"When a risk taker writes a book, read it. In the case of [this author], read it twice. Or, to be safe, three times. This is a classic." - Nassim Taleb [Source]
Also Recommended by

A New Kind of Science
Author :Stephen Wolfram

"Not a book, but a monument." - Nassim Taleb [Source]

Social Cognition
Making Sense of People
Author :Ziva Kunda

"It is limpid, precise, illustrative, showing a wonderful clarity of mind." - Nassim Taleb [Source]

The Misbehavior of Markets
A Fractal View of Financial Turbulence
Author :Benoit Mandelbrot

"The deepest and most realistic finance book ever published." - Nassim Taleb [Source]

The Formula
The Universal Laws of Success
Author :Albert-László Barabási

"[Approaches] the problem of randomness and success using the state of the art scientific arsenal we have." - Nassim Taleb [Source]

A History of the Mind
Evolution and the Birth of Consciousness
Author :Nicholas Humphrey

"Clarity, so rare, so prized..." - Nassim Taleb [Source]

Models.Behaving.Badly.
Why Confusing Illusion with Reality Can Lead to Disaster, on Wall Street and in Life
Author :Emanuel Derman

"Convincingly establishes the difference between model and theory and shows why attempts to model financial markets can never be genuinely scientific." - Nassim Taleb [Source]

The Doctrine of Deification in the Greek Patristic Tradition
Author :Norman Russell

"The most complete overview of theosis." - Nassim Taleb [Source]

Intellectuals in the Middle Ages
Author :Jacques Le Goff

"Excellent book." - Nassim Taleb [Source]


Seeking Wisdom
From Darwin to Munger
Author :Peter Bevelin

"A wonderful book on wisdom and decision-making written by a wise decision-maker." - Nassim Taleb [Source]

The French Revolution and What Went Wrong
Author :Clarke Stephen

"So much fun to read. The author, visibly writes with an attitude." - Nassim Taleb [Source]

The Practice of Natural Movement
Reclaim Power, Health, and Freedom
Author :Erwan Le Corre

"Excited to find in my mailbox [this book]." - Nassim Taleb [Source]

The Wisdom Paradox
How Your Mind Can Grow Stronger As Your Brain Grows Older
Author :Elkhonon Goldberg

"I am now spoiled; I need more essays by opinionated, original,and intellectual, contemporary scientists." - Nassim Taleb [Source]

The Discovery of France
A Historical Geography from the Revolution to the First World War
Author :Graham Robb

"An answer to so many questions." - Nassim Taleb [Source]

Information
The New Language of Science
Author :Hans Christian von Baeyer

"If you want an introduction to information theory, and, in a way, probability theory from the real front door, this is it." - Nassim Taleb [Source]


Explaining Social Behavior
More Nuts and Bolts for the Social Sciences
Author :Jon Elster

"Simply the best: read it at least twice." - Nassim Taleb [Source]

The Statistical Mechanics of Financial Markets
Author :Johannes Voit

"Very useful bridge between physics methodologies and finance." - Nassim Taleb [Source]

Thinking, Fast and Slow
Author :Daniel Kahneman

"A landmark book in social thought, in the same league as The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith and The Interpretation of Dreams by Sigmund Freud." - Nassim Taleb [Source]

Who We Are and How We Got Here
Ancient DNA and the New Science of the Human Past
Author :David Reich

"Finally, science enters historical fields." - Nassim Taleb [Source]

The Dream of Reason
A History of Western Philosophy from the Greeks to the Renaissance
Author :Anthony Gottlieb

"Deep, readable & investigative." - Nassim Taleb [Source]


The Opposing Shore
Author :Julien Gracq

"Once you enter it, you are stuck there." - Nassim Taleb [Source]

Probability Theory
Author :S. R. S. Varadhan

"Gives a complete overview of the basis of probability theory with some grounding in measure theory, and presents the main proofs." - Nassim Taleb [Source]

The Blank Swan
The End of Probability
Author :Elie Ayache

"I am relieved to finally find a book that deals with Black Swan Events in a new way." - Nassim Taleb [Source]

Mean Genes
From Sex To Money To Food
Author :Terry Burnham

"So readable as to perhaps set a standard." - Nassim Taleb [Source]

Market Wizards
Interviews with Top Traders
Author :Jack D. Schwager

"Twenty years from now, [this book] will still be fresh. There is no other like it." - Nassim Taleb [Source]

The Making of a Philosopher
My Journey Through Twentieth-Century Philosophy
Author :Colin McGinn

"A great book but I felt something cold inside of me while reading it." - Nassim Taleb [Source]

How Nature Works
The Science of Self-organized Criticality
Author :Per Bak

"Intuitive & makes you think of universal laws." - Nassim Taleb [Source]

Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar...
Understanding Philosophy Through Jokes
Author :Thomas Cathcart

"Like a brief drink in an airplane lounge with someone funny, smart, witty, but not too funny." - Nassim Taleb [Source]

The Science of Conjecture
Evidence and Probability before Pascal
Author :James Franklin

"Stands above, way above other books on the history and philosophy of probability." - Nassim Taleb [Source]

The Status Syndrome
How Social Standing Affects Our Health and Longevity
Author :Michael Marmot

"Well written, humorous at times, and rigorous --it reads like a well-translated scientific paper." - Nassim Taleb [Source]

Free The Animal
How to Lose Weight and Fat on the Paleo Diet
Author :Richard Nikoley

"A charming primer on the paleo idea, with an illustration through the authors own life. I read it in one sitting." - Nassim Taleb [Source]

Idea Makers
Personal Perspectives on the Lives & Ideas of Some Notable People
Author :Stephen Wolfram

"Excellent! Only read on mathematicians by insiders." - Nassim Taleb [Source]

Probability, Random Variables and Stochastic Processes
Author :Athanasios Papoulis

"I always always recommend [this book]." - Nassim Taleb [Source]


Elements of Information Theory
Author :Thomas M. Cover

"The BEST book [on information theory]." - Nassim Taleb [Source]

I Think, Therefore I Laugh
Author :John Allen Paulos

"Great refresher in Analytical Philosophy --maybe the best." - Nassim Taleb [Source]
FAQs
Q1: What books does Nassim Taleb recommend?
Nassim Taleb has recommended a range of different books spanning from philosophy and sociology to probability theory and risk. Books recommended by Nassim Taleb include “The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable” and “Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder” by Nassim Taleb himself, “The Curse of Knowledge” by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, ”The Discourses” by Epictetus, ”The Cynic Philosophers” by Diogenes, ”The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger, and ”The Bed of Procrustes” by Nassim Nicholas Taleb.
Q2: What themes are discussed in books recommended by Nassim Taleb?
The books recommended by Nassim Taleb explore various topics such as the impact of highly improbable events, risk management, philosophy, sociology, politics, probability theory, and cognitive biases. They also provide insight into a range of topics including the philosophy of stoicism, the curse of knowledge, modern parenting and education, societal health, and much more.
Q3: What is Nassim Taleb's opinion on modern parenting and education?
According to Nassim Taleb, modern parenting and education are placing too much emphasis on outward success and academic achievement, rather than arming today's children with the tools and knowledge to not only be successful, but also be resilient and independent thinkers. Taleb argues that modern parenting and education should, instead, focus on instilling values and teaching children to think for themselves and be more resilient in the face of adversity.
Q4: What is Nassim Taleb's take on societal health?
Nassim Taleb believes that societies are becoming increasingly fragile, and that society's well-being and health depends on individuals who are independent, resilient, and able to adapt to changing situations. This is why Taleb argues for limiting the influence of experts and global systems, which he believes are too rigid to make the best decisions for society, instead advocating for the empowerment of individuals and embracing a more distributed form of decision making.
Q5: What does Nassim Taleb mean by the curse of knowledge?
The 'curse of knowledge' refers to experts' inability to see a topic from a beginner's perspective and communicate effectively as a result.