‘Skin in the game’ is hypocritical, full of dissonance and idiosyncracies, and replete with a variety of insults for a variety of luminaries, but that only serves to make it more interesting.
It’s hard to thread together a coherent narrative of the chapters. Of course, there is an overriding theme (the title), but the staccato slalom of ideas ranging from insulting Saudi Arabia and macroeconomists to discussing pre-Christian theology are jarring and dazzling, like a dog at the agility course at Crufts. It’s precisely this wide ranging philosophy and love of ideas that makes ‘Skin in the game’ so interesting.
Taleb’s idea of skin in the game - opinion with consequence - manifests itself in a pugnacious style which gets tiresome. Tell us about the ideas! At some points he simply lists the people he likes and dislikes, and buries the detail in an appendix.
Taleb deserves his reputation, he has done a superb job of popularising and pushing the idea of tail risks, something we struggle sorely with in our world today. This book, and the rest of the Incerto collection are part non-fiction, part proselytisation. I think the jury is still out on whether his aggressive risk management style is excessively conservative or whether his style of risk aversion has space for great risk taking.