Review: Fooled by Randomness...

Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Title: Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets

Author: Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Pages: 368 (262 for the main text)

Published: in 2004 by Random House

Find it at: Amazon

Genre: Non-Fiction

My Rating: 4/5!

Fooled by Randomness was a book I had been putting off reading in favor of the attractiveness and pull of fantasy genres. I mean, just look at the yummy YA books out there! If you have issues with holding and containing your impulses to just read YA, books like these might be sidelined, but that's just me. For anyone even remotely interested in understanding the dynamics of our psychology, luck, chance and randomness in life and how it applies to what we do everyday (especially what traders in the stock market do everyday), this might be a book you'd quite enjoy reading. I got down to it finally when an assignment required me to read and review a book based around the financial markets and I figured it'd be cool to read this one! It was just worth it.

Blurb from Goodreads!

The word-of-mouth sensation that will change the way you think about the markets and the world.This book is about luck: more precisely how we perceive luck in our personal and professional experiences. 

Set against the backdrop of the most conspicuous forum in which luck is mistaken for skill–the world of business–Fooled by Randomness is an irreverent, iconoclastic, eye-opening, and endlessly entertaining exploration of one of the least understood forces in all of our lives.

My Thoughts!

I often used to think that books that belong to category of Non-Fiction would be interesting, yes, but not as gripping or telling me stories like the fictional ones do. Probably Fooled by Randomness didn't really tell me a story as such, but it did suggest and explain the theories the author wished to explain, along with his interpretations and understanding about the role of luck and chance in life, with the help of interesting instances, examples, and real life facts. The book basically says, "it is more random than we think, rather than it being all random." At first glance and read, the book seems to suggest that everything in life, especially successes are the result of some kind of randomness, and it seems to bash every kind of 'success', by attributing it to randomness rather than skills. The author by that quote wishes to convey that that is not really what he means, but simply that randomness has a greater role in life than what we give it credit for.

The author has drawn conclusions about a lot of things, especially successes and patterns observed in the stock market based on his experience in Wall Street and taking examples from his colleagues. He's used numerous well established theories (Alternative History, Monte-Carlo Simulations, Nonlinerarities in life, Skewness and Asymmetry, Induction, Survivorship Bias, etc) and based them around stories of the lives of traders, and also ancient stories (like that of Solon, the Greek legislator and poet), to give substance to his interpretations:

- Human beings are unable to handle randomness by intuition, they tend to have explanations even when there are none (like how we actively provide a critique for literary and art works)

- We tend to attribute an extraordinary success to strategy or leadership or (ha ha) intelligence, while most often it is just dumb luck

- Past performance cannot be blindly used to estimate future performance (things in the past might not happen now because they might have been just random!)

This is kind of hard to review, since it is more like a collection of essays based on different themes and theories and stories, mostly revolving around statistics and probability and drawing really interesting conclusions. What's good about this book (and what made it an engrossing read for me) is that it isn't too technical. Yes, there are terms you might not be familiar with, but there are explanations. And the even better thing is, you can simply not focus too much on the jargon and just read the interpretations and you'd understand it all. It's been made quite an easy read with this kind of writing style. Although if I have to talk a bit more about the writing style, I'd have to say the author's been a little too critical and bold in his criticisms of pre-established thoughts. It's like he's downright attacking what you thought with little kindness to go with it. That might hurt traders and people who might just 'look a little too deep' into meanings, like the author says they do. ;)  

He's not that brutal, either. At the beginning of the book somewhere, he says, "It certainly takes bravery to remain skeptical; it takes inordinate courage to introspect, to confront oneself, to accept one’s limitations- scientists are seeing evidence that we are specifically designed by mother nature to fool ourselves" so you know, you don't need to feel too bad about being a fool of randomness. :P

I'd like to mention some lines I really like from the book:

“Heroes are heroes because they are heroic in behavior, not because they won or lost.” 

"Somehow words and reason became ineffectual in front of an oversized diamond, a monstrous house and a sports car collection"

“We favor the visible, the embedded, the personal, the narrated, and the tangible; we scorn the abstract.” 

This, for when you need some inspiration!

“Those who were unlucky in life in spite of their skills would eventually rise. The lucky fool might have benefited from some luck in life; over the longer run he would slowly converge to the state of a less-lucky idiot. Each one would revert to his long-term properties.” 

Actually, there are a lot of quotes I've marked. I'd be writing them down for a friend. If you want to know them, just email me and I'll send a copy across. ;) 

Recommended for: He says MBA students read this book the most (simply because they think it applies to other MBAs and not them :P ), but yeah, it'd be a nice read for them anyway, especially since you'd get an opposite perspective to everything you thought holds true. I'd also recommend this book to anyone who's interested in studying 'randomness' and looking at the application of statistics around the stock market, or simply for a mind-stimulating intellectual read, if you're willing to skip the jargon and read his observations! :) Buy your copy here.

Thank you Random House publishers for this book! :)

Review: Pink or Black 2

Tishaa Khosla

Title: Pink or Black 2: High Drama at High School

Author: Tishaa Khosla (click to see the website!)

Published: 2012 by Rupa Publications

Pages: 166

Price: Rs. 140

My Rating: 4/5

Blurb from the book's cover!

Tiana's school year has just started and looks bleak already. Her boyfriend is concerned they 'don't connect anymore', her best friends are being super nasty, her lunch group has been taken over by new comers, and the final nail in the coffin: a blast from the past, whom she believed she had left behind forever, has moved to Hill View High.

Will anything go right for Tiana as she juggles friends old and new, tries to stay in her teachers' good books and most importantly, attempts to keep all the boys at bay while she figures out her own feelings?

My Thoughts!

This book is a sequel to Pink or Black, which introduced the little world of Tiana and her friends when they're Class X students at Hill View High boarding school. Pink or Black 2 takes off from when they're beginning a new year in school, with the baggage of the past on their shoulders, teachers' and parents' heavy expectations in front of them, and some new (unpleasant) surprises for Tiana! Tiana's life seems like it's on a roller coaster, Karam, her boyfriend thinks they should break up, her friends are acting weird, especially Bella, who seems to hold a grudge against Tiana for just about everything. Then there's Tea, Tiana's cousin who joins her school this year (yep. That's her name, after the beverage). This is not all, there's one more person, a new character, whom Tiana had hoped never to see again, but there he is, a 'hot new guy' at Hill View High, bent on making her life as hellish as possible. Okay, not really, but he was a lot of trouble. 

All through the book, it's all about how Tiana's friends gradually start acting like enemies, beginning with Bella. There are a lot of misunderstandings, fights, wrong-place-wrong-time kind of situations, horrible back-biting and whatnot. Tiana definitely has a lot of boy trouble. As if two boys were not enough, a third crops up in the middle of the book. What I liked about this book was the introduction of 'new' characters. Tiana is sort of 'banished-by-chance' from her usual lunch table and she finds it easy to make friends with the other girls, who're not as snooty as her 'friends' are. Even though the new characters added a lot to the book by making it interesting and showing the school as something much more than just Tiana's group of friends, I sometimes felt that it may have been a bit too much. I mean, all those new characters added a whole lot of drama to her life, more than it already is. Though I have to say her new friends, Sara and gang, seemed quite pleasant (or maybe the only ones who are).

Coming to characters, Tiana's a strong willed and smart girl, someone who knows her boundaries and is not afraid to speak her mind as and when the situation demands it. I really admire her for these qualities, but I wish she wouldn't be such a magnet for weird guys! (But who am I to say? :P) Maybe I feel this way because I understand how frustrating it can be and I wanted some comfort in knowing that she'd be able to get away with such silly stuff, but that's not the case, unfortunately. Apart from Tiana, the only other character I admire is Karam, a sensible guy who likes Tiana for who she is. I've been wanting to write this one thing ever since I got into the first few pages of the book: I do not like Bella, at all! As a character, she represents the snooty girl who's aggressively jealous, mean and cares more for herself rather than thinking about her friends. I guess she could have been made likable if she did anything positive or realized the error of her ways anywhere in the book, but that's what was slightly disappointing. Tiana's friends are so obsessed with themselves that she doesn't seem to fit with them anymore, which I guess was simply a reflection of what happens in real life. Haven't most of us gone through a similar situation? I was getting kind of restless seeing Tiana still staying on good terms from her side with them, though I was immensely relieved to see her finally reacting to all the non-sense by lashing out at them and coming to terms with her situation with a few realizations and good decisions. 

Tishaa's writing style is quite simple, and engrossing. She doesn't use heavy set words and phrases, which makes the whole reading experience quite 'easy' and 'light' and I'm sure, readers are able to easily connect with the characters and the sequence of events. Another good thing about it is that it has a wonderful 'flow' to it, with no breaks or hurdles. Thanks to it, you'll be able to finish the book in a day, if you just sit/lie down in a comfortable place and have all day to read, because really, once started, it's hard to put down! ^_^ The message is quite similar to the first book- that of individual choices and 'growing' as a person, shown as Tiana dealing with her innermost feelings and preferences as opposed to those of her friends. Compared to the first book, this one definitely shows the maturity in the characters (or maybe just in Tiana), but it's definitely visible. Even then, I'm not sure which book I like better. The shortcomings of the first are covered in this one and where this one lacks ("too" much drama, I think), the first book was perfectly balanced. Anyway, it's a well-thought attempt, with better writing style and the kind of teenage fiction you'd love to read if you're into high school drama kind of books! This is the first book (except for the first in the series) of this kind that I've read by an Indian author and it does not disappoint! :) 

Recommended for: Teenagers, YA readers, chick-lit lovers and generally, anyone looking for a light high school drama story! 

PS- How can I miss mentioning: the cover! *cuteness* :D

This review is a part of the Book Reviews Program at Blogadda.com. Participate now to get free books!




Review: Glimpse (Zellie Wells #1)

Stacey Wallace

Title: Glimpse (Zellie Wells #1)

Author: Stacey Wallace Benefiel

Published: May 2010, Self-published

Genre: YA Paranormal Fantasy

Pages: 262 

My Rating: 3.5/5!

Goodreads blurb!

Zellie Wells has a devastating crush on Avery Adams, the son of her mom’s high school sweetheart. At her sixteenth birthday party, held in the basement of her dad’s church, she finally finds the courage to talk to him. Turns out, the devastating crush is mutual. 

As Avery takes her hand and leads her out onto the makeshift dance floor, Zellie is overwhelmed by her first vision of his death; shocking because not only are they both covered in his blood, but they’re old, like thirty-five, and she is pregnant.

Afraid to tell anyone about the vision, (she’d just be labeled a freaky black magic witch, right?) Zellie keeps the knowledge of Avery’s future to herself and tries to act like any other teenager in love. When they get caught on their way to a secret rendezvous by her mom and his dad, they are forbidden to see each other.

Convinced that their parents are freaking out unnecessarily, Avery and Zellie vow to be together no matter what. They continue their relationship in secret until Zellie learns that their parents are just trying to prevent her and Avery from suffering like they did. The visions are hereditary, they’re dangerous, and if they stay together the visions will come true. 

Now Zellie must choose between severing all ties with Avery, like her mom did to prevent his father’s death, and finding a way to change Avery’s future.

My Thoughts!

Glimpse is definitely a fairly nice fun read! Based on the life of sixteen year old Zellie and her 'abilities' of a seer that she inherits from her Mother (and grandmother), it takes off from Avery and her huge crush on him. I really enjoyed the author's writing style, the humor element made me laugh so much! It's pretty neat, if you ask me. Descriptions are okay, you can very well imagine all the characters, places and everything that's happening. I liked the clarity, though I wish there were more details, as the sequence sometimes seems to jump from one scene to the next very quickly. Still, if we categorize it as a 'light' read, it's good enough. :)

Coming to characters, I think I like Zellie best! I love her thoughts, the way she acts and handles all the mess and excitement thrown at her, the way she gets flustered and all lovey dovey whenever Avery is mentioned and most of all, her reactions are realistic, unlike in the case of some other characters. For instance, the adults! Zellie's mom and dad? Geez! I couldn't understand how they could simply ignore their kid and in the case of her dad, actually get scared of her abilities when things went wrong. That was weird. Also the sudden change in emotions. Avery, Zellie's mom and dad, disregarding Zellie one moment and when it turns out she wasn't at fault, they're suddenly by her side. Kind of makes it feel unreal. Otherwise I love Claire, Zellie's BFF and Melody, her sister too. 

I found the story intriguing, though. What started as a high school love story, very quickly turned into a fantasy tale with interesting twists and turns. What I liked the most was how Avery was still an important element in the story and it didn't turn into a completely different sphere like it seemed it might. The events in Portland where Zellie, Mel and Claire go to Aunt Hazel seemed interesting to me, they were different and introduced new characters who, I hope, would be in the sequels. The book would keep you hooked on to it till the end, I'm sure of it. The flow's such that you can easily read it all in a go (and Kindle books anyway are read faster, don't you think? ;) ). It's fun, a light book filled with teen love, fantasies and future-telling abilities!  And of course, the cover! *beautiful*

Recommended for: Teens, Young Adult readers, YA fantasy readers and those looking for a light read! :)

PS- I just saw, the Kindle book is free on Amazon (click here. Grab it fast! ;) 

Review: How to be Popular by Meg Cabot

Title: How to be Popular

Author: Meg Cabot

Published: in 2006 by HarperTempest

Pages: 288

Find it at: Amazon

My Rating: 4.5/5!

Blurb from Goodreads!

Do you want to be popular?

Everyone wants to be popular or at least, Stephanie Landry does. Steph's been the least popular girl in her class since a certain cherry Super Big Gulp catastrophe five years earlier.

Does being popular matter?

It matters very much to Steph. That's why this year, she has a plan to get in with the It Crowd in no time flat. She's got a secret weapon: an old book called what else? "How to Be Popular."

What does it take to be popular?

All Steph has to do is follow the instructions in The Book, and soon she'll be partying with the It Crowd (including school quarterback Mark Finley) instead of sitting on The Hill Saturday nights, stargazing with her nerdy best pal Becca, and even nerdier Jason (now kind of hot, but still), whose passion for astronomy Steph once shared.

Who needs red dwarves when you're invited to the hottest parties in town? 

But don't forget the most important thing about popularity.

It's easy to become popular. What isn't so easy? Staying that way.

My thoughts!

How to be Popular is one book that I had first saw when I was a young teenager in a bookstore and it had instantly grabbed my attention. One, the lovely cover! Two, the blurb that talked about a girl who’s very much like me. I mean, I wasn’t really the most popular person in my school. Not that I wanted to be one, but people acknowledging your existence feels good nevertheless. Anyway, I never actually got around to getting that book, until I started using my new Kindle! (Yes, I got one! :D). It’s the first book I read on that device and I’m so happy I chose this one! I knew Meg Cabot can never disappoint me. ;)

Steph Landry has been hugely unpopular, just because she once spilled a Super Big Gulp on Lauren’s white D&G Skirt. It’s been five years, and the school kids and the whole of the town of Bloomville in fact, knows the phrase, ‘Don’t pull a Steph Landry’, coined by Lauren as an expression for something weird or embarrassing anyone does. It’s actually too much for Steph, who decides to get back at Lauren by becoming popular herself, thanks to a book she found in Jason’s attic, called ‘How to be Popular’. It’s a funny and humor filled story about how Steph goes about becoming popular (and grabbing the attention of the school’s cutest guy on whom she harbours a major crush). Steph as a person is quite determined, a total smart alec when it comes to arithmetic and calculations (she handles her mom’s bookstore’s cash counter. I wish I had a bookstore too!) and whatever she does to make things in her favour, she’s also sensitive and kind. I liked Steph as a character except for the fact that she takes a hell lot of time to figure out her feelings, which seem kind of obvious to the reader. But then, she’s like any other sixteen year old. Confused.

The good thing is that the book doesn’t get off track. As in, it stays focused on the main characters and doesn’t delve deep into the lives of other family members who’re mentioned, except for Steph’s grandfather and Jason’s grandmom, who’re getting married. Also there are related excerpts from the book Steph found, that pertains to tips on how to behave in order to be popular. The funny thing is, they’re actually helpful. ;) How to be Popular retains Meg Cabot’s trademark style, the protagonist as a teenage girl with a problem, well defined main characters, detailed with a happy ending! I love happy endings. The writing style is as usual, in first person, conversational and filled with humor. I guess the USP for this book is that it’s a realistic story (though Lauren making her life hell just over one incident seems like too much, also the love thing with Becca and Jason and Stuckey).

Some quotes from the book:

“Popularity can be compared to a house.

It has walls, a strong foundation, and many different rooms.

The more deeply the foundation is sunk, the stronger the walls are and the more rooms that can be added on.

That is why, just like there is no such thing as a house with many rooms, there is no such thing as having too many friends.”

‘Popularity is the easiest thing in the world to gain, and the hardest thing to hold’ ~ Will Rogers

‘Avoid popularity; it has many snares and no real benefits’ ~ William Penn

‘Avoid popularity if you would have peace’ ~Abraham Lincoln

In short, it’s a fun, light read recommended for teenage readers, YA readers, and those generally wanting a light, fun book. :) 

PS- I recently created a Facebook page for this blog. I would love it if you would join that! Click here.

PPS- Now I’m reading Jinx, another standalone novel by Meg Cabot, again on the Kindle! Even though it’s the basic model, I so love it, especially since I’ve discovered how I can actually use it to read while I’m sitting in a boring class. ;)

Review: Jump!

Title: Jump

Author: Elisa Carbone

Published: 2010 by Viking (Penguin Group)

Pages: 258

Price: Rs. 250

My Rating: 4/5!

From the book's cover

P.K. wants out. Out of town before her parents ship her off to boarding school, and out West where she can rock climb to her heart's content. Trouble is, she needs a climbing partner, and none of her friends is up for it.

Critter wants out, too. He's had enough of the mind-numbing drugs in the psych ward. And he's ready to climb anywhere with a girl drop-dead cute as P.K. Trouble is, he doesn't know her.. yet.

They begin as strangers, but life on the run and their shared passion for the rocks draw them closer everyday. Not only are they climbing in awesomely beautiful national parks like Yosemite, but they seem totally made for one another. Then the cops show up, with an arrest warrant, and P.K. and Critter have to decide whom to trust with their lives- the families they left behind or each other.

My thoughts

Jump, for me, turned out to be a book that would be responsible if I actually go out and learn rock climbing, after mountaineering. Or is it included? I'm not sure. Anyway, as I'm already in love with the idea of mountaineering, I naturally picked this book up from the library as soon as I saw the lovely cover! I was about to return it back without reading (less time :| ) but the library was closed that day. I started reading this on my way back and just adored it in the first few pages itself!

P.K. is a lot like me in a lot of aspects. Except of course, I'm not into rock climbing since the age of 12 nor do I have the guts to run away from home, before I'm sent to boarding school, to actually 'live your life the way you want, free from the stupid society shackles'. But I do share her view of how education and school's system makes us more stupid and closed than what we could do if we have more practical kind of a knowledge. Like, consider this from the book: 'Although compulsory schooling was begun in this country mainly in hopes of educating people worthy of democracy, other goals also imbedded themselves in the educational system. One was the goal of creating obedient factory workers who did not waste time by talking to each other or day-dreaming. ~ The Teenage Liberation Handbook by Grace Llewellyn'. Just about sums up my own thoughts.

Otherwise, P.K.'s actually smart, a solid rock climber, too much into her dream of climbing the great rocks, an adventurer, and worries like any normal teenager. She actually grows to like Critter, however annoying he may be. Critter's 'problem' seems like something scary at first, but as you get to know more about him, you realize that what he knows and believes in is actually very interesting and just like the Law-of-Attraction-made-famous-by-Rhonda-Byrne thing, apart from the philosophical stuff about living life to the fullest. Liked that thinking!

In general, I loved the descriptions of all the events, especially the zest about the climbing. It's been described so beautifully, I so felt like just being there and doing that climbing with those guys! The sequencing of events was fun, the chase felt realisctic, though I did feel surprised at the amount of trouble they're ready to get involved in for an adventure. I guess love for something makes you do that. To make it a bit realistic, P.K. does get scared, but Critter's always there with his continuous stream of 'live in the here and the now' thing. In fact, I've started looking at stuff that way too! :P

The different POVs in the book make it slightly different, as in, the book's more like a diary of sorts, with one P.K.'s POV then Critter's. It does help see things from the points of view of two different individuals with their own share of troubles, but sometimes it gets confusing. Also, I hate to say it, but the ending!!! It-SO-could-have-been-more! We knew Critter was going to have a problem later and I expected something about him too, as was the case for P.K. But no, there was a short happy ending, kind of abrupt and what exactly would Critter's future be, no idea! I didn't like that, I'm more of a 'give-me-a-complete-story-with-a-well-explained-ending sort of a reader. Anyway, it is a fun read, gives you a lot of info about rock climbing and is funny! 

Recommended for readers looking for a light, love-cum-sports-adventure story, those who can handle differing POVs after every page and not get confused and adventure lovers in general!