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  • Skin in the Game

  • Hidden Asymmetries in Daily Life
  • By: Nassim Nicholas Taleb
  • Narrated by: Joe Ochman
  • Length: 8 hrs and 20 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (333 ratings)

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Skin in the Game

By: Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Narrated by: Joe Ochman
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Publisher's Summary

Number-one New York Times best seller

A bold work from the author of The Black Swan that challenges many of our long-held beliefs about risk and reward, politics and religion, finance and personal responsibility.

In his most provocative and practical book yet, one of the foremost thinkers of our time redefines what it means to understand the world, succeed in a profession, contribute to a fair and just society, detect nonsense, and influence others. Citing examples ranging from Hammurabi to Seneca, Antaeus the Giant to Donald Trump, Nassim Nicholas Taleb shows how the willingness to accept one's own risks is an essential attribute of heroes, saints, and flourishing people in all walks of life. 

As always both accessible and iconoclastic, Taleb challenges long-held beliefs about the values of those who spearhead military interventions, make financial investments, and propagate religious faiths. Among his insights: 

  • For social justice, focus on symmetry and risk sharing. You cannot make profits and transfer the risks to others, as bankers and large corporations do. You cannot get rich without owning your own risk and paying for your own losses. Forcing skin in the game corrects this asymmetry better than thousands of laws and regulations. 
  • Ethical rules aren't universal. You're part of a group larger than you, but it's still smaller than humanity in general. 
  • Minorities, not majorities, run the world. The world is not run by consensus but by stubborn minorities asymmetrically imposing their tastes and ethics on others. 
  • You can be an intellectual yet still be an idiot. "Educated philistines" have been wrong on everything from Stalinism to Iraq to low carb diets. 
  • Beware of complicated solutions (that someone was paid to find). A simple barbell can build muscle better than expensive new machines. 
  • True religion is commitment, not just faith. How much you believe in something is manifested only by what you’re willing to risk for it.

The phrase "skin in the game" is one we have often heard but have rarely stopped to truly dissect. It is the backbone of risk management, but it's also an astonishingly rich worldview that, as Taleb shows in this book, applies to all aspects of our lives. As Taleb says, "The symmetry of skin in the game is a simple rule that's necessary for fairness and justice and the ultimate BS-buster," and "Never trust anyone who doesn't have skin in the game. Without it, fools and crooks will benefit, and their mistakes will never come back to haunt them." 

©2018 Nassim Nicholas Taleb (P)2018 Random House Audio

What listeners say about Skin in the Game

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

another repeat listen type

You'll need to listen again as it's the type of book that will have wisdom for years to come

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Brilliant book

Such a brilliant book with lots of depth. I’ve listened to it more then 5 times just to fully understand everything with in it and always get something new on each new listen.

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Entertaining and inciteful

Another fun essay from NNT with a few extra digs at other public intellectuals and a good dose of self-aggrandisment. Useful concepts of the Minority Rule, Lindy Effect and Ergodicity discussed.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

A bizarre but enlightening rant

I had many doubts about this book. The author can be hypocritical and blind to very obvious irony. However there are so many flashes of rare insight and interesting uses of language that it is ultimately a very rewarding read. Loved it! A contradiction, just like this book.

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1 person found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars

Real life practical wisdom from a Practitioner

Great analysis and subjects. Really interesting concepts. If everyone read this many of our problems could be tackled practically and resolved or eased.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Imagine grandmothers wisdom in schools

wish I'd come across Taleb earlier, like decades and career choices earlier..told in the uncompromising way of the expert with FU money credentials

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

An interesting take

Unapologetically critical of popular ideas, jobs, their roles and views of modernity. I found it refreshing to hear well thought out counter arguments to popular norms and opinions.

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Not as good as the others

Taleb remains interesting and charismatic. However, the ideas of Skin in the Game are too similar to The Black Swan and Fooled by Randomness to warrant its own book. The latter books also have fewer digressions into score settling, you're better off reading those.

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3 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Better to be read than listened to

Unfortunately, the (monotone) narration style makes it incredibly difficult to engage with the story/argument. What a pitty.

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1 person found this helpful

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thought provoking

This book challenges you to think- in a great way. I highly recommend this book.

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