The Black Swan
The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Talebby Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Shares rank 30 of 152 nonfiction books by recommenders
Recommended as a conceptual, readable guide to statistics that non-specialists can follow. Critics most often call it self-indulgent and padded.
Recommended as a conceptual, readable guide to statistics that non-specialists can follow. Critics most often call it self-indulgent and padded.
10 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 7
- criticize it
- 3
- approval share
- 70%
Recommended in 6 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 7 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 2.3 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 6 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Readable by non-specialists
“they are pretty good at explaining statistics to anyone interested in learning the material at a conceptual level”
Comment from 7 Sep 2026 in “Ask HN: Would you read a statistics textbook?” “anyone can read and understand these books, regardless of their educational background”
Comment from 26 Aug 2026 in “More than half of adults in U.S. say they lack basic statistical understanding” “The Black Swan, by Nassim Taleb is a very good casual read on the subject.”
Comment from 24 Mar 2026 in “Epoch confirms GPT5.4 Pro solved a Frontier Math Open Problem for the first time” Recommended as must-read
“Every HN poster should be forced to read the chapters in the Black Swan where Taleb describes Extremistan and Mediocristan.”
Comment from 22 May 2026 in “US employers spend more than $1.5B a year to fight labor unions, report finds” “Everyone should read for Black Swan, especially the Casino anecdote.”
Comment from 26 Apr 2026 in “An AI agent deleted our production database. The agent's confession is below”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Self-indulgent and padded writing
“the work felt to me like 99% was just garrulous "look at me aren't I smart" padding”
Comment from 11 Aug 2026 in “The brain may be about to have its Ozempic moment” “starts out as self indulgent, self aggrandizing nonsense”
Comment from 20 Nov 2025 in “210 IQ Is Not Enough”
Other nonfiction books people recommend
The four most recommended other nonfiction books, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Cuckoo's Eggby Cliff Stoll | 40 | 0 | 100% | 8 | — | Approved |
| Amusing Ourselves to Deathby Neil Postman | 36 | 0 | 100% | 9 | 1 yr3 owners | Approved |
| The Anxious Generationby Jonathan Haidt | 24 | 12 | 67% | 10 | — | Approved |
| Bullshit Jobsby David Graeber | 20 | 12 | 63% | 8 | — | — |
| The Black Swanby Nassim Nicholas TalebThis page | 7 | 3 | 70% | 6 | — | — |
What people said
8 of the 11 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Good gameplay though, especially since the rule changes are random and different everytime.”
“they are pretty good at explaining statistics to anyone interested in learning the material at a conceptual level”
“anyone can read and understand these books, regardless of their educational background”
“the work felt to me like 99% was just garrulous "look at me aren't I smart" padding”
“Every HN poster should be forced to read the chapters in the Black Swan where Taleb describes Extremistan and Mediocristan.”
“Everyone should read for Black Swan, especially the Casino anecdote.”
“The Black Swan, by Nassim Taleb is a very good casual read on the subject.”
“starts out as self indulgent, self aggrandizing nonsense”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.