Jan 30, 2011

Q.122

This ("The Bed of ___") is the latest book by Nicholas Nassim Taleb, author of "Fooled by Randomness" and "The Black Swan" (previous IZ question here). This is a book of aphorisms, and about how humans constantly try to summarise knowledge into short and crisp sentences, ideas, and categories.

The book is named after an interesting figure from Greek Mythology, who invited passer-bys to spend the night in his house, and would forcibly 'fit' them into their beds, by amputation or stretching, to exactly match the length of the bed. Which figure?

image: Black Swan Report

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