5 ms·
A polarizing figure with polarized reviews. Nearly everything I scrolled by was either 5 stars or 1 star.
by awb 5y ago
A polarizing figure with polarized reviews. Nearly everything I scrolled by was either 5 stars or 1 star.
- BitwiseFool 5y agoWhy leave feedback if the book was unexceptional?
- TedDoesntTalk 5y agoTo persuade others not to read it?
- graedus 5y agoThat's what the one star reviews are for. (I read "unexceptional" to mean "neither exceptionally good nor exceptionally bad").
- BitwiseFool 5y agoYes, that was my reasoning. If the book was adequate but neither good nor bad I wouldn't bother writing a review about it. Much in the same way I wouldn't review an uneventful fast food dining experience.
- hangonhn 5y agoBut isn't that true of most reviewers? I don't feel compelled to act unless I have strong feelings in either direction.
- reader_mode 5y agoFor big investment (time or money) I'd likely review even with a "meh" feedback or mixed feelings
- ghaff 5y agoI don't leave a lot of reviews but I'm guessing most of the books I review are more likely to be in the 3 or 4 star range. I find relatively few books (or films) are necessarily so awesome I'll give them 5 stars. And anything in the 1 or 2 star range I probably won't finish and figure there're just not for me even if others seemed to have liked.
- itsarnavb 5y agowow, Taleb's Barbell strategy at play
- halikular 5y agoYou have to understand that he probably mostly reads books he enjoy and is statistically and factually correct. The 1 star reviews is when finds lots of statistical fallacies and misuse or they're factually incorrect. He doesn't take lightly on these kinds of things. Personally I think it's great when people finds mistakes in book and publish them for others.
- for_i_in_range 5y ago> A polarizing figure with polarized reviews. I came here to say the same! I’ve been thinking about this recently. It began after hearing the Weinstein brothers talk about Taleb[1]. My hunch is that a significant part of Taleb’s popularity stems from how dogmatically polarizing his views are. I’m not sure if he’s doing so authentically (I think he is), or: if he’s dogmatic in his opinions primarily because he knows doing so will result in wider distribution of his views. I struggle with this dilemma. On one hand, there’s a case for being strong-willed, dogmatic and polarizing. It takes courage. On the other hand, there’s a case for being open-minded, flexible in your thinking, and uncertain. Yet, this is generally perceived as weak-willed and doesn’t attract nearly the same attention as the polarizing stance. [1]: https://youtu.be/XxlVAbc1Vjo https://youtu.be/XxlVAbc1Vjo
- OminousWeapons 5y agoTaleb's insights are wonderful and I've learned a lot from his writing, but his writing style is so obnoxious that I always have trouble finishing his books. It is very clear that he thinks he is one of the smartest people on the planet and he wants everyone to know it.
- agumonkey 5y agoI heard the man like fat tails