Greek god. Philosopher. Adonis. The only person on earth who has earned the right to have an opinion about anything. All appropriate characterizations of one Nassim Nicholas Taleb, and the way at least three-quarters of all living homo sapiens have described NNT in their conversations with friends and in their diaries. And while his many admirers have surely studied him in great detail in the hopes of one day having the opportunity to unlock his heart or simply bask in his reflected glory for a moment or two, not everyone has a comprehensive list of the things that rev Taleb’s engine and, more importantly, that tick him off. Luckily, a recent profile by Chronicle writer Tom Bartlett has produced a near-complete guide to the likes and dislikes of Nassim Nicholas Taleb. Read it, print it out, carry it in your pocket– but really, consider taking the time to commit it to memory. Your chance may only come along once and you don’t want to fuck it up by fumbling around your notes because you can’t remember what his thoughts are on “bourgeois bohemian bonus earners” or fruit.
Likes:
Pumping iron (“He writes in Antifragile that readers, upon meeting him, ‘have a rough time dealing with an intellectual who has the appearance of a bodyguard.’ I wouldn’t have guessed bodyguard, though he is thicker—thanks to a newfound love of weightlifting”)
Smart sciences
Sandals
People with “skin in the game”
Double espressos
Guessing games (“He asked me how much I thought he made during the crisis. ‘I don’t know,’ I said. ‘Guess.’ ‘Five million?’ He laughed. ‘Try times 10,’ he said.”)
Footnotes
Dislikes:
Professors
Business schools (“specifically the one at Harvard,” which “lectures birds to fly and then arrogantly claim credit when the fledglings become airborne”)
Structured learning
Fruits without Greek or Hebrew names
Austrian novelist Stefan Zweig
Editors
“Unctuous, fawning travel assistants”
“Bourgeois bohemian bonus earners”
Meetings
Appointments
Doctors
Paul Krugman
Thomas Friedman
Nerds
Bureaucrats
Air conditioning
TV
Soccer moms
Smooth surfaces
Federal Reserve bankers
Bankers period
Economists (“weak, ignorant, fearful, and generally pathetic”)
Robert C. Merton
Myron Scholes
Gary Pisano
Career academics
Sissies
Fakes
“Bureaucrato-journalistic talk”
Bob Rubin
Google News
Marketing
Neckties
“The inexorable disloyalty of Mother Nature”
Social sciences
Regular shoes
Hope this was helpful. Good luck out there.
This Is Not A Profile Of Nassim Taleb [Chronicle]
Related: Nassim Nicholas Taleb Became The Chiseled Adonis You See Before You Through A Strict Regimen Of Picking Up Rocks And Lying In Bed For Two Years
Sorry Matt NTT hates footnotes.
How many nipples does Shazar have?
Skin in the game ???
So, members of the tribe not welcome ?
It's listed under likes…
-details quant
Try reading
I thought the italicized parts had to be Bess' commentary, but I read the article and apparently he really does ask the author to guess how much he got paid, and said "try 10x that number". Who DOES that??
Saw Nicky T at a roofdeck party about 12 months ago failing miserably to pick up decidedly unimpressed chicks 25 years his junior. Homeboy is built out of playdoh. He couldn't guard bodies at a morgue.
He is smart, though. In that "I was a failed trader for 20 years then realized I could get people to buy my musings about being a failed trader" sort of way.
I don't understand why he dislikes smooth surfaces when you can use that to describe the area between his legs and in front of his asshole.
The gooch?
Shaseven!
i dislike soccer moms as well
Given his massive bodybuilder-esq apperance, Taleb is confident he will be selected 1st overall in the 2013 NFL Draft.
[Setting: NY Health & Racquet Club. Nassim is wearing a Marcus Allen LA Raiders mesh jersey cropped at belly button with rosin-coated palms. Anal_yst is wearing mesh lifting gloves with a Gold's Gym A-shirt.]
Anal_yst: [Jumping rope] Your book was wack, bro.
Nassim: [Spotting an attractive female] Right, right. Because you're so accomplished.
Anal_yst: [Puts rope down; approaches Nassim] Swans are for fags, dawg. [Moves towards Elliptical]
Nassim: [Helps attractive female raise bar] Very mature. Very mature, indeed.
Anal_yst: [Inputting metrics into machine] Just sayin' man. Swans are pussies. They can't even fly efficiently with the weight that they have. Gay.
Nassim: [Still spotting attractive female] Such BIG words for a man performing cardiovascular exercises. What can you bench? Ha ha! What…maybe, 25 pounds?
Anal_yst: [Turns over elliptical; storms towards Nassim, red-faced] TRY TIMES 10, YOU FUCKING BITCH. TRY TIMES 10!
I'm enjoying these posts, and dreaming of a future where no one pays any more attention to this pompous guy.
Wouldn't you have more skin in the game?
If the world does end shortly, I will die knowing he's gone, too.
He seems so different on Louie
Hey, on "Likes" he left out "myself"
Clearly his self loathing showing through.
Katie Couric: Nassim…I just want to say that it's a pleasure to sit down with you.
Nassim: Thanks Katie. Nice to be here!
Katie: So…I read your book, "Black Swan." Really phenomenal stuff. It really seems to encapsulate just how crazy and random life can be!
Nassim: It certainly is wild out there, Katie.
Katie: I'm always so impressed with authors. I know that it takes a lot of time and personal restraint to sit down for months and pen a couple hundred pages.
Nassim: Well, absolutely. You need focus. You need will-power. You need to really set aside your desires.
Katie: Does that self-restraint carry into your personal life? Or are you able to shelf it when you're "off the clock?"
Nassim: No, I'm a pretty focused person. I mean…definitely.
Katie: Well this is silly, but…you know Pringles? [Giggles] You know [Imitates baritone voice] "Once you pop, you can't stop!" You know that? Well…I mean. C'mon – you couldn't really just have one, right?
Nassim: Try times 10! [Winks]
[Both erupt in laughter]
I generally "have a rough time dealing with an intellectual" that's so very intellectual he can't grasp that most gym folks could bury him in a "Wanna try my workout, Tubby?" challenge.
J Gundlach Likes/Dislikes
Likes: goatees, geniuses (self included), restraints, handcuffs, dildos, glass bottom boats (the urban dictionary variety), hardcore pornos (including 'Hit Er in athe Shitter, Slap Er in the Crapper', 'Creampie Surprise' and 'Big Trouble in Little Vagina'), kittens and puppies.
Dislikes: TCW, Bill Gross
the 'nacho'?
The sandbar
Obviously not being truthful. Otherwise "Proofreading" and "Writing concisely and comprehensibly" would be items one and two on the Dislikes list.
"People have a hard time dealing just how brilliant & jacked I am."
Nicholas Taleb, what Ben Bernake would look like if He were an alcoholic with an emerging meth issue.
Humm…Likes: “Pumping” iron, sandals, and “skin” in the game. Dislikes: regular shoes and “fruits” without Greek or Hebrew names….Greek God….sounds like Greek Passport.
what?
No, that's called the "taint." Cause taint dick and taint asshole.
Huh. Thanks for the etymology lesson.
Best.Comments.Ever.
Holy shit. Great post!
+1 for all the losers here who are waiting for an opening bell that probably won't come
I guess I'll just have to check back tomorrow…
to unlock the iCelltphone, turn to sucking ones own pen15
So it seems most of NNT's vitriol is reserved for business schools – does this mean that he is a CFA fan or does he sh*t on that designation as well?
- Guy who didn't read "Fooled…" or "Black Swan"
he's just an overrated shit trader thinking he is some grand fuck philosopher
"Bankers period"
Sorry PMCO.
How much did he make in his tail risk fund after 9/11, the blackest of all swans? Five million? Try times zero.
HAHAHAHA BOO YA SKEEE DADDY. YOU IS FUNY GUY
Sorry, wrong. There has yet to be a comment thread equal to the original HBCP threads.
Nassim Nicholas Taleb has devoted his life to problems of uncertainty, probability, and knowledge. He spent two decades as a trader before becoming a philosophical essayist and academic researcher. He will be remembered for years to come
I strongly agree hear hear