---
product_id: 36501717
title: "The Bed of Procrustes"
price: "฿2019"
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reviews_count: 8
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region: Thailand
---

# The Bed of Procrustes

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The Bed of Procrustes: Philosophical and Practical Aphorisms (Incerto) [Taleb, Nassim Nicholas] on desertcart.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. The Bed of Procrustes: Philosophical and Practical Aphorisms (Incerto)

Review: Your Brain Will Twist and Turn - Who the hell is Procrustes and “Are you going to bore me with another book review?” Grow up and get wise! Procrustes is a figure from Greek Mythology, or ancient religion, if you prefer. Here’s the short version; Procrustes was a man who made his visitors fit his bed to perfection by either stretching them or cutting their limbs. A book about a weirdo? Not exactly. Nassim Taleb’s view of the modern world, as expressed in this book of aphorisms, is that humans are being modified to fit technology, reality being bent to fit economic models, diseases being invented to sell drugs, and the breadth of intelligence being limited to what can be tested in a classroom. Taleb’s inventive and often humorously pithy remarks will wake you up, make you think, and make you laugh out loud. Don't like to laugh? Pick another book. Sounds a bit too New Age, or maybe esoteric? Check out this tidbit: The best revenge on a liar is to convince him that you believe what he said. Or how about this one: If you want people to read a book, tell them it’s overrated. Part psychology, part insightful, part surgeons knife slicing through marriage, economics, politics, and everyday life, you could read this book in an hour….but you won’t. Your brain will catch on a phrase and stop your thoughts like a rowboat’s bow hitting a rocky shore. Your mind will churn. Often you’ll look around for someone to share these darts of logic, these reflective mirrors. You’ll come across: Nothing is more permanent than “temporary” arrangements, deficits, truces, relationships; and nothing is more temporary than permanent ones. The book gets laid aside. Your attitude swings this way and that. You mentally review and ponder. Hours or days later, you once again grab the book by the throat and your rowboat floats free of the shoals. Nassim Taleb’s books are like that. They challenge, but at the same time entertain. Have preconceptions? They’re sure to be twisted and blurred. Think your persuasions won’t be carved with Taleb’s scalpel? Think again. But, try as you might, you can’t forget this book and the sometimes obtuse approach that unravels things you’ve previously thought about and things you’ve never considered. The Bed of Procrustes. Pick it up once and you’ll pick it up again and again. [...]
Review: What's the rush? Slow down and think ..... - An intriguing book based on an interesting thesis, well presented, in saying "we humans, facing limits of knowledge, and things we do not observe, the unseen and the unknown, resolve the tension by squeezing life and the world into crisp commoditized ideas ..." "The person you are most afraid to contradict is yourself," Taleb begins, and shortly after continues, "to bankrupt a fool, give him information." Okay, I declare bankruptcy. These aphorisms are an eloquent Luddite protest against the madcap technological excesses and follies of the modern world. I agree. Every new technology blossoms into excess, then retreats into practical use as newer ideas develop. Obsidian was once a new idea in cutting; but, anything this good soon evolved into ornaments and other impractical uses. It's the inevitable fate of all new technology and all new ideas. All good ideas become complicated into absurdity, until wiser people ask, "Just what are we trying to accomplish here?" Taleb is a wise man asking such questions, and this book is one of questions and relevant observations. It's the same question anyone with a cell phone and the choice of 250,000 apps might ask, like Taleb, "Why?" and the answer is "I dunno." In brief, this is an eloquent plea to slow down and think. What's missing is a recognition of human curiosity which creates all technology, from obsidian blades to Blackberrys. It's a book devoid of curiosity, of Rudyard Kipling's Five Faithful Serving Men and the journalist's eternal questions, "Who? What? Why? When? How?" Of course, I'm not aware of the Luddites having many answers. But, Taleb, like those who sit and refuse to budge do serve to remind the rest of us that scurrying about accomplishes little. More power to him, and to those who ask, "Is this trip necessary?"

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| Best Sellers Rank | #136,073 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #35 in Social Philosophy #83 in Epistemology Philosophy #203 in Popular Social Psychology & Interactions |
| Customer Reviews | 4.3 out of 5 stars 1,693 Reviews |

## Images

![The Bed of Procrustes - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61+QN-+fEJL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Your Brain Will Twist and Turn
*by F***E on March 29, 2014*

Who the hell is Procrustes and “Are you going to bore me with another book review?” Grow up and get wise! Procrustes is a figure from Greek Mythology, or ancient religion, if you prefer. Here’s the short version; Procrustes was a man who made his visitors fit his bed to perfection by either stretching them or cutting their limbs. A book about a weirdo? Not exactly. Nassim Taleb’s view of the modern world, as expressed in this book of aphorisms, is that humans are being modified to fit technology, reality being bent to fit economic models, diseases being invented to sell drugs, and the breadth of intelligence being limited to what can be tested in a classroom. Taleb’s inventive and often humorously pithy remarks will wake you up, make you think, and make you laugh out loud. Don't like to laugh? Pick another book. Sounds a bit too New Age, or maybe esoteric? Check out this tidbit: The best revenge on a liar is to convince him that you believe what he said. Or how about this one: If you want people to read a book, tell them it’s overrated. Part psychology, part insightful, part surgeons knife slicing through marriage, economics, politics, and everyday life, you could read this book in an hour….but you won’t. Your brain will catch on a phrase and stop your thoughts like a rowboat’s bow hitting a rocky shore. Your mind will churn. Often you’ll look around for someone to share these darts of logic, these reflective mirrors. You’ll come across: Nothing is more permanent than “temporary” arrangements, deficits, truces, relationships; and nothing is more temporary than permanent ones. The book gets laid aside. Your attitude swings this way and that. You mentally review and ponder. Hours or days later, you once again grab the book by the throat and your rowboat floats free of the shoals. Nassim Taleb’s books are like that. They challenge, but at the same time entertain. Have preconceptions? They’re sure to be twisted and blurred. Think your persuasions won’t be carved with Taleb’s scalpel? Think again. But, try as you might, you can’t forget this book and the sometimes obtuse approach that unravels things you’ve previously thought about and things you’ve never considered. The Bed of Procrustes. Pick it up once and you’ll pick it up again and again. [...]

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ What's the rush? Slow down and think .....
*by T***N on December 4, 2010*

An intriguing book based on an interesting thesis, well presented, in saying "we humans, facing limits of knowledge, and things we do not observe, the unseen and the unknown, resolve the tension by squeezing life and the world into crisp commoditized ideas ..." "The person you are most afraid to contradict is yourself," Taleb begins, and shortly after continues, "to bankrupt a fool, give him information." Okay, I declare bankruptcy. These aphorisms are an eloquent Luddite protest against the madcap technological excesses and follies of the modern world. I agree. Every new technology blossoms into excess, then retreats into practical use as newer ideas develop. Obsidian was once a new idea in cutting; but, anything this good soon evolved into ornaments and other impractical uses. It's the inevitable fate of all new technology and all new ideas. All good ideas become complicated into absurdity, until wiser people ask, "Just what are we trying to accomplish here?" Taleb is a wise man asking such questions, and this book is one of questions and relevant observations. It's the same question anyone with a cell phone and the choice of 250,000 apps might ask, like Taleb, "Why?" and the answer is "I dunno." In brief, this is an eloquent plea to slow down and think. What's missing is a recognition of human curiosity which creates all technology, from obsidian blades to Blackberrys. It's a book devoid of curiosity, of Rudyard Kipling's Five Faithful Serving Men and the journalist's eternal questions, "Who? What? Why? When? How?" Of course, I'm not aware of the Luddites having many answers. But, Taleb, like those who sit and refuse to budge do serve to remind the rest of us that scurrying about accomplishes little. More power to him, and to those who ask, "Is this trip necessary?"

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Who could have predicted this? Another Black Swan?
*by E***K on December 5, 2010*

In 2007 Nassim Taleb depicted the then current financial situation in America as a brittle house of cards. The subsequent economic crash and burn made his reputation as a seer, though Taleb would never claim prophesy in any form. "I know nothing about the future," he told the Long Now Foundation in February, 2008. He deals not with prediction, but with the unknown, or how humans fail to deal with the unknown, throw it under the carpet and pretend it doesn't exist. "The Black Swan" has become Taleb's symbol for the world's inherent unpredictability. The runaway best seller of the same name has seemingly redefined reality itself for some. From this point on the world looks fuzzier. Taleb has since spread his Black Swan-ism everywhere, and people are listening. But how to follow up such a magnum opus? As if to prove the unpredictability of the world, Taleb releases a thin volume of... aphorisms. Could anyone have expected this? The previously verbose wizard of the unknown takes on the most laconic textual genre next to haiku. Didn't aphorisms go out with Cioran? Not to mention that the book's title sounds right out of 1890: "The Bed of Procrustes: Philosophical and Practical Aphorisms." In recent speeches Taleb has announced that he's now a philosopher. He apparently meant it. But he's still not predicting the future. This very tiny volume, readable in a short sitting, delineates Taleb's thought in a very different manner than his previous books. It also takes on some new subjects. A short introduction frames the aphorisms to follow. Here the charming tale of Procrustes gets juxtaposed with our modern sensibilities. But the comparison seems appropriate. Where Procrustes lopped the limbs off of his dinner guests so they fit perfectly into his bed, we moderns chop huge sections of reality away to fit our preconceived notions. In other words, we tend to ignore outliers, random events and unforeseen events with huge consequences. This expresses, though more poetically, many of the ideas included in his previous two books. Many of these ideas reappear in brief form throughout the book. For example, the section "Fooled By Randomness" (also the title of his first book), includes this passage: "The tragedy is that much of what you think is random is in your control and, what's worse, the opposite." Our Procrustean tendency to deny randomness appears throughout the book in blatant and subtle ways. But Taleb also takes on other subjects. For instance, in numerous places employment gets compared to slavery rather bluntly. Some will see the obvious parallels, others may find his examples overbearing. Taleb also talks about love, friendship, ethics, science, and other psychological and philosophical tidbits. Some are more successful than others. Some, such as "Never say no twice if you mean it" inspire nothing more than a furrowed brow and a shrug before moving on. Many are laugh out loud funny: "The opposite of success isn't failure; it is name-dropping." Still more contain real brilliance that may cause double-takes. Regardless, some lines will pass with little reaction and smack more of opinion than of insight. A few come off as bizarre. All in all, the book provides enough food for thought to justify a good solid read. Taleb does have some surprising ideas about reality and how people should spend their time. He definitely favors more free time over long hours at work. Not to mention his thoughts on academia and economics. In the end, this book defies absolute summary, like most aphoristic works. But the reading level remains simple throughout, and readers can browse without worrying too much about context (unlike Nietzsche's aphoristic works). "The Bed of Procrustes" definitely has its charms. Not only that, aphoristic writing really seems like an appropriate style for our modern attention spans. Though wisdom often sounds quaint in a rapidly changing society. In any case don't expect this minute book to delineate Taleb's thought in full. Read "Black Swan" for that (get the recently released second edition). This one gives only a slight overview. Though fun and often intriguing, it does not delve into details. Again, those looking for depth should read "Black Swan" and those wanting more should pick up this one as an enjoyable breather. In the meantime, Taleb will likely keep ruminating. Hopefully something else akin to "Black Swan" will pop out of him. He presented one provocative thought in a recent talk that involved using nature as a model for economies. Nothing in nature is too big to fail, he claimed. One could take out nature's largest entity (say, a blue whale) and the entire system would not falter. Unlike our economy where one or two big players could level everything. Though he didn't give details, Taleb presented this as a possible economic model. He also summed up that "if economists ran nature we would all have one lung, etc." That does seem startlingly true. Perhaps emphasizing efficiency over strength weakens us in the long run. In any case, hopefully Taleb will develop such ideas in the future.

## Frequently Bought Together

- The Bed of Procrustes: Philosophical and Practical Aphorisms (Incerto)
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- Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder (Incerto)

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*Last updated: 2026-03-05*