The Bed of Procrustes
Ratings20
Average rating3.6
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.
Tags
Genre
Series
Featured Series
5 primary books#3 in Incerto
Incerto is a 5-book series with 5 released primary works first released in 2001 with contributions by Nassim Nicholas Taleb.
Reviews
Popular Reviews
Reviews with the most likes.
A really interesting collection of aphorisms on several parts of life. Quite enlightening and helping while still being really easy to read. There are real pearls of wisdoms in this book that you can always come back to at different moments of your life.
Confessions Cum Review.
at least 30% of the contents will require repeated reading to understand the deep meaning in his words. I must confess he is a genius and very smart person. (Conclusion from what I understood from his readings).
30% u will understand easily and it is awesome to come across these writing.
This books is exclusively aphorisms. Dont expect any information beyond you finding the meaning to the quotes themselves. There are some great quotes here that you should take actively abide by but there are some significant themes (finance) that constantly reappear that detract from the overall meaning.
Related Books
Books
9 booksReaders of This Book Also Enjoyed
If you enjoyed this book, then our algorithm says you may also enjoy these.
