Winners take all is about the dream of “doing well by doing good”, the idea that there is always a win-win solution to every social problem, and the belief that elites equipped with technology and market tools should be entrusted to lead social changes, preferably independent of the democratic processes, or politics. The author argues these ideas are largely an illusion, if not a deception, because the overlap between individual and collective interest is limited.  There is nothing wrong about wanting to do well by doing good; but we are kidding ourselves if we believe these do-gooders are saviors of our collective future.  The book is very harsh on the intellectuals who promote these ideas.  These so-called “thought leaders” are described as the cheerleaders employed by the “idea industry” to project positive energy, presumably at the expense of our collective good.

Overall, a good and easy read, and the main argument is fair and well-reasoned, if not entirely neutral.

This short review was originally written in April of 2021.

Overall,  Antifragile is a disappointment.  This is not to say it offers no interesting and useful ideas. It does.  What strikes me the most are the oversized impact of tail events (black swans) and their utter unpredictability, our ruinous obsession with optimization and intervention, and the agent problem ubiquitous in modern societies.  However, Taleb could have explained these ideas in 40 pages. Instead, he wrote 400, filling many of them with impulsive bragging, as well as his signature rant against the entire intellectual establishment.  In the end, I felt these self-inflicted distractions severely undermine the narrative and the logic flow.    I was looking forward to reading Black Swan, but after this experience, I wonder whether it would be worth my time.

A special note for my fellow academics who might be interested in Taleb’s work: he absolutely hates professors and minces no words berating them, so if you take the challenge, buckle up for a bumpy ride.

One of the good things that came out of COVID19 pandemic is I suddenly discovered (or rediscovered?) a new hobby: reading.  Post War is among the first books I read after the pandemic starts. This short review was written in December 2020.

Tony Judt’s Post War is a great read for anyone who is curious about Europe since WWII.  You may be disappointed if you expect a completely objective narrative based on data and stories. Don’t get me wrong—Judt is a good storyteller and he tells a wide range of stories, in fact, so broad he even commented on David Beckham, describing him as “an English player of moderate technical gifts but an unsurpassed talent for self-promotion”….He does, however, insistently make you feel his presence, preference, and emotions in these stories. I love his style, but I realize some may prefer historians without strong opinions.

Judt never hides his love for the “European Social Model”, which recognizes the state has the duty to “shield citizens from the hazards of misfortune or the market”, and “social responsibility and economic advantage should not be mutually exclusive”.  At the end of the book, he passionately compares Europe with America and China, writing, “America would have the biggest army and China would make more, and cheaper, goods. But neither America nor China had a serviceable model to propose for universal emulation. In spite of the horrors of their recent past—and in large measure because of them—it was Europeans who were now uniquely placed to offer the world some modest advice on how to avoid repeating their own mistakes. Few would have predicted it sixty years before, but the twenty-first century might yet belong to Europe.”