Similar for me. I first learned of Taleb through another short book called "The Survival of Rats in the Slush Pile" which examines ideas from "Fooled by Randomn

Similar for me. I first learned of Taleb through another short book called "The Survival of Rats in the Slush Pile" which examines ideas from "Fooled by Randomness" as they relate to fiction publishing. (Taleb in turn briefly references this book somewhere in "The Black Swan".) This was actually encouraging for me, because it meant my stories being rejected by publishers did not necessarily mean my writing wasn't good enough; quality is an important variable up to a point, but "luck" also plays a major role. Recognizing that means you can more effectively leverage it.