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The Bed of Procrustes
- Philosophical and Practical Aphorisms
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 1 hr and 41 mins
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The Bed of Procrustes
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Publisher's Summary
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.
Critic Reviews
What listeners say about The Bed of Procrustes
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Paul Maconochie
- 16-11-2019
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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