Taleb's books are full of stories, random ideas, non-sequitur thoughts and a quite a few rants about things that bother him. This essay was clearly an invitation to rant about something and the more controversial the better.
Sure, he comes across as arrogant, confrontational and uncompromising and he is unapologetic on top of that; yet dismissing the bulk of his writing based on his personality and style of writing is a shame as the recurring theme throughout all his books are worth the time spent reading. To paraphrase: We believe and accept a lot of things without question and let fallacious thinking and cognitive biases lead us into making decisions and actions that do us harm.
Also, his books are that rare type that you can pick up, read a few pages and have set off a train of thinking for the rest of the day.
Sure, he comes across as arrogant, confrontational and uncompromising and he is unapologetic on top of that; yet dismissing the bulk of his writing based on his personality and style of writing is a shame as the recurring theme throughout all his books are worth the time spent reading. To paraphrase: We believe and accept a lot of things without question and let fallacious thinking and cognitive biases lead us into making decisions and actions that do us harm.
Also, his books are that rare type that you can pick up, read a few pages and have set off a train of thinking for the rest of the day.