Antifragile

What Antifragile is about

Taleb starts from a simple sorting of how things respond to shocks. Some are fragile and break under disorder, like a wine glass. Some are robust and carry on much as before. A third kind, the antifragile, actually improves when things get rough. He insists that robustness and antifragility are not the same thing, and he borrows examples from biology, such as hormesis and the way microbes adapt to drugs, and from myth, with the Hydra that grows new heads when one is cut off.

His practical advice is to guard against the worst losses while staying positioned to gain far more than you risk when unexpected events arrive. He contrasts a well-paid, heavily indebted executive with a debt-free taxi driver to show who is really exposed, and he argues that modern life, with its debt, technology and tangled economic structures, has grown more fragile than older societies were. This is the fourth volume of his Incerto series. It suits readers who want a provocative, opinionated way to think about risk, uncertainty and their own finances or careers.

Questions about Antifragile

When was Antifragile published?

Antifragile by Nassim Nicholas Taleb was first published in 2012.

Was Antifragile one of the best books of 2012?

Antifragile is #23 on BookWard's Best Books of 2012, out of 58 2012 books that cleared our data bar. 465 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 4 out of 5 (37 ratings); 21 are reading it right now.

Why is Antifragile on the Best Books of 2012 list?

465 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 4 out of 5 (37 ratings); 21 are reading it right now.

More of the best books of 2012

• Wonder R. J. Palacio, #1
• The Fault in Our Stars John Green, #2
• The Selection (the Selection #1) Kiera Cass, #3
• Drama Raina Telgemeier, #4
• Throne of Glass Sarah J. Maas, #5
• The Power of Habit Charles Duhigg, #6

See the full Best Books of 2012, the Top 100, or new books on Rising.