num_pages: 112
description: The Bed of Procrustes is a standalone book in Nassim Nicholas Talebs landmark Incerto series an investigation of opacity luck uncertainty probability human error risk and decision-making in a world we dont understand. The other books in the series are Fooled by Randomness The Black Swan Antifragile and Skin in the Game.By the author of the modern classic The Black Swan  this collection of aphorisms and meditations expresses his major ideas in ways you least expect.The Bed of Procrustes takes its title from Greek mythology: the story of a man who made his visitors fit his bed to perfection by either stretching them or cutting their limbs. It represents Talebs view of modern civilizations hubristic side effectsmodifying humans to satisfy technology blaming reality for not fitting economic models inventing diseases to sell drugs defining intelligence as what can be tested in a classroom and convincing people that employment is not slavery.Playful and irreverent these aphorisms will surprise you by exposing self-delusions you have been living with but never recognized.With a rare combination of pointed wit and potent wisdom Taleb plows through human illusions contrasting the classical values of courage elegance and erudition against the modern diseases of nerdiness philistinism and phoniness.Talebs crystalline nuggets of thought stand alone like esoteric poems. Financial Times
language: English
title: The Bed of Procrustes: Philosophical and Practical Aphorisms
publisher: Random House