Why I Hated "Skin in the Game" by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

I tried to read widely, including things that I will disagree with and things I doubt I will like. I rarely run into a book I hate. I run into boring books or books that I disagree with, but I often enjoy books that challenge what I think more than those that tell me I’m right, and I almost always get more value from them. I disliked almost all of “Skin in the Game” by Nassim Nicholas Taleb.

Those of you who know him may assume that it was because I disagreed with him or am one of the intellectual idiots he refers to constantly. I won’t try to defend myself for the second because I don’t really care what you or Nassim thinks. But for the first part, I don’t, in most cases, disagree with him. In fact, in most of his assertions I strongly agree with. I, like him, call myself a libertarian and I agree largely with the assertions he makes you need to have real consequences for people for taking risks. Even his less central assumptions are the same ones I make.

So, why don’t I like this book? It wasn’t badly written. It wasn’t boring. I largely agreed with it. It even gave some interesting prescriptions for how to do things to make society better. But if you look back in the previous paragraph, you’ll see me use the word assumption and assertion. That is where the genuine problems with the book begin.

Nassim seemed disinterested in proving anything he says. He even has an entire chapter explaining people give proof of what they are saying is worse than those who just say things without backing it it up with facts. What he does instead is say something is true, insults someone who said the opposite and then gives as “proof” of his statement a quote from some ancient book. The book doesn’t seem to matter so long as it it agrees with his assertion. I have no problem with ancient wisdom and follow some of it. But picking things that agree with you out of old books isn’t much harder than picking out things that agree with you on the internet. That’s why it intellectuals he seems to hate so much test their assumptions.

The other thing that makes this book insufferable to read is the tone. Nassim is insulting to both groups and specific people constantly. I think he believes it’s OK to act this way because he has “Skin in the Game” or some other equally inane reason. The truth is that you don’t insult people that way because it makes you look petty, childish, and ultimately makes people ignore you. And just to prove that I’m right, I’ll quote some ancient wisdom. “When words are both true and kind, they can change the world.” or as my grandma would say, “You catch more flies with honey.”

If you want someone to tell you how terrible intellectuals are and insult people while telling you your beliefs are correct this may be the book for you. It is also an excellent book if you want someone to tell you what to think because they want you to think it. If you want a book that will backup anything it says or make any attempt to persuade you should look somewhere else because while I am confident Nassim Nicholas Taleb is both smarter than me but that doesn’t matter because he is uninterested in testing his assumptions and instead spends his time yelling about the people he doesn’t like while insisting you believe what he does with no proof.