Antifragile

Copyright © 2012 by Nassim Nicholas Taleb All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Random House, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House LLC, a Penguin Random House Company, New York RANDOM HOUSE and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House LLC. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA Taleb, Nassim. Antifragile : things that gain from disorder / Nassim Nicholas Taleb. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-4000-6782-4 eISBN: 978-0-679-64527-6 1. Uncertainty (Information theory)—Social aspects. 2. Forecasting. 3. Complexity (Philosophy) I. Title. Q375.T348 2012 155.2’4—dc23 2012028697 Cover design: Keenan Cover Illustration: based on a photograph © Malerapaso/iStockphoto www.atrandom.com v3.1_r7 CONTENTS Cover Title Page Copyright Chapter Summaries and Map Prologue APPENDIX: The Triad, or A Map of the World and Things Along the Three Properties BOOK I: THE ANTIFRAGILE: AN INTRODUCTION Chapter 1: Between Damocles and Hydra Half of Life Has No Name Please Behead Me On the Necessity of Naming Proto-Ant......