The Bed of Procrustes cover art

The Bed of Procrustes

Philosophical and Practical Aphorisms

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The Bed of Procrustes

By: Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Narrated by: Sean Pratt
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About this listen

By the author of the modern classic The Black Swan, this collection of aphorisms and meditations expresses his major ideas in ways you least expect.

The Bed of Procrustes takes its title from Greek mythology: the story of a man who made his visitors fit his bed to perfection by either stretching them or cutting their limbs. It represents Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s view of modern civilization’s hubristic side effects - modifying humans to satisfy technology, blaming reality for not fitting economic models, inventing diseases to sell drugs, defining intelligence as what can be tested in a classroom, and convincing people that employment is not slavery.

Playful and irreverent, these aphorisms will surprise you by exposing self-delusions you have been living with but never recognized. With a rare combination of pointed wit and potent wisdom, Taleb plows through human illusions, contrasting the classical values of courage, elegance, and erudition against the modern diseases of nerdiness, philistinism, and phoniness.

©2010 Nassim Nicholas Taleb (P)2010 Gildan Media Corp Social Psychology & Interactions Society Witty

Critic Reviews

“[Taleb writes] in a style that owes as much to Stephen Colbert as it does to Michel de Montaigne.” ( The Wall Street Journal)
The most prophetic voice of all.” ( GQ)
"Idiosyncratically brilliant.” ( Los Angeles Times)

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Profile Image for Paul Maconochie

Better Read than Listened to

Read the notice at the front of the book; the author clearly recommends that you only read 4 aphorisms at a time and in a random sequence. I should have followed that advice.
Instead I listened to the whole book in one sitting, while driving, and could barely remember a single aphorisms by the end of the book.
Every aphorism is such a dense encapsulation of wisdom, not unlike haiku poetry, that you need to mull over them rather than listen to the whole lot in succession.
I am already a fan of Taleb's writing and therefore predisposed to highly recommend the book, just not in audible form, and I will swap it for a print version instead.

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