The Bed of Procrustes
Philosophical and Practical Aphorisms
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Narrated by:
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Sean Pratt
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Written by:
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Nassim Nicholas Taleb
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 CorpYou may also enjoy...
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Written by: Nassim Nicholas Taleb
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- From Las Vegas to Wall Street, How I Beat the Dealer and the Market
- Written by: Edward O. Thorp, Nassim Nicholas Taleb - foreword
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Written by: Edward O. Thorp, and others
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Chaos Kings
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Written by: Scott Patterson
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Principles
- Life and Work
- Written by: Ray Dalio
- Narrated by: Ray Dalio, Jeremy Bobb
- Length: 16 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ray Dalio, one of the world's most successful investors and entrepreneurs, shares the unconventional principles that he's developed, refined, and used over the past 40 years to create unique results in both life and business - and which any person or organization can adopt to help achieve their goals.
-
-
Overfit
- By Claire McInerney on 2018-06-25
Written by: Ray Dalio
-
The Rational Optimist
- How Prosperity Evolves
- Written by: Matt Ridley
- Narrated by: L. J. Ganser
- Length: 13 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Life is getting better at an accelerating rate. Food availability, income, and life span are up; disease, child mortality, and violence are down all across the globe. Though the world is far from perfect, necessities and luxuries alike are getting cheaper; population growth is slowing; Africa is following Asia out of poverty; the Internet, the mobile phone, and container shipping are enriching people's lives as never before.
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Good but Agenda-Laden, biased.
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What the critics say
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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- Sindy Li
- 2019-07-05
Surprising facts with interesting perspective
I love this audiobook! Short and Sweet! There are many surprising facts with interesting perspective.
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