I tackled Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s Antifragile slowly–both to reflect on Taleb’s ideas, and because reading this book is like hanging out with a brilliant and obnoxious friend who is best taken in small doses.

Nearly a year later, reading the book’s Conclusion, I found Taleb had articulated exactly why I couldn’t stay away from this dense, sometimes fervently arrogant, work:

It is hard to find people knowledgeable and confident enough to like to extract the essence of things, instead of nitpicking. (p. 421)

The concepts Taleb puts forth in Antifragile are simple, and not new, but the thought behind those concepts is substantial and not quickly navigated. In our modern world, and to our detriment, we too often attempt to control the uncontrollable. Accepting and embracing the random and improbable are necessary to thrive in our unpredictable world. If that sounds like a premise you strongly agree or disagree with, you will find plenty of food for thought in this book.