Listen free for 30 days

  • Skin in the Game

  • Hidden Asymmetries in Daily Life
  • Written by: Nassim Nicholas Taleb
  • Narrated by: Joe Ochman
  • Length: 8 hrs and 20 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (293 ratings)

1 credit a month, good for any title to download and keep.
The Plus Catalogue—listen all you want to thousands of Audible Originals, podcasts, and audiobooks.
$14.95 a month plus applicable taxes after 30 day trial. Cancel anytime.
Skin in the Game cover art

Skin in the Game

Written by: Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Narrated by: Joe Ochman
Try for $0.00

$14.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $35.09

Buy Now for $35.09

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Tax where applicable.

Publisher's Summary

Number-one New York Times best seller

A bold work from the author of The Black Swan that challenges many of our long-held beliefs about risk and reward, politics and religion, finance and personal responsibility.

In his most provocative and practical book yet, one of the foremost thinkers of our time redefines what it means to understand the world, succeed in a profession, contribute to a fair and just society, detect nonsense, and influence others. Citing examples ranging from Hammurabi to Seneca, Antaeus the Giant to Donald Trump, Nassim Nicholas Taleb shows how the willingness to accept one's own risks is an essential attribute of heroes, saints, and flourishing people in all walks of life. 

As always both accessible and iconoclastic, Taleb challenges long-held beliefs about the values of those who spearhead military interventions, make financial investments, and propagate religious faiths. Among his insights: 

  • For social justice, focus on symmetry and risk sharing. You cannot make profits and transfer the risks to others, as bankers and large corporations do. You cannot get rich without owning your own risk and paying for your own losses. Forcing skin in the game corrects this asymmetry better than thousands of laws and regulations. 
  • Ethical rules aren't universal. You're part of a group larger than you, but it's still smaller than humanity in general. 
  • Minorities, not majorities, run the world. The world is not run by consensus but by stubborn minorities asymmetrically imposing their tastes and ethics on others. 
  • You can be an intellectual yet still be an idiot. "Educated philistines" have been wrong on everything from Stalinism to Iraq to low carb diets. 
  • Beware of complicated solutions (that someone was paid to find). A simple barbell can build muscle better than expensive new machines. 
  • True religion is commitment, not just faith. How much you believe in something is manifested only by what you’re willing to risk for it.

The phrase "skin in the game" is one we have often heard but have rarely stopped to truly dissect. It is the backbone of risk management, but it's also an astonishingly rich worldview that, as Taleb shows in this book, applies to all aspects of our lives. As Taleb says, "The symmetry of skin in the game is a simple rule that's necessary for fairness and justice and the ultimate BS-buster," and "Never trust anyone who doesn't have skin in the game. Without it, fools and crooks will benefit, and their mistakes will never come back to haunt them." 

©2018 Nassim Nicholas Taleb (P)2018 Random House Audio

What listeners say about Skin in the Game

Average Customer Ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    178
  • 4 Stars
    73
  • 3 Stars
    21
  • 2 Stars
    9
  • 1 Stars
    12
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    163
  • 4 Stars
    48
  • 3 Stars
    16
  • 2 Stars
    7
  • 1 Stars
    3
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    130
  • 4 Stars
    63
  • 3 Stars
    16
  • 2 Stars
    14
  • 1 Stars
    12

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

An interesting rant

While presenting some ideas convincingly, this essay sounds like a long rant or stream-of-consciousness writing that, infuriatingly, lacks rigour in both its central claims, as well as around the edges.

If, according to the author, the only thing we can learn from, say, professors, is how to be one - does it not also follow that we've only learned how to write like the author? Broad claims are easy targets; I've only picked one at random.

12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Decent but scattershot

There are a lot of decent points but the guy seems to have no editor. He is still talking about what he's going to talk about in the book almost halfway through the book. I thought for a second I bought an ad for the book by accident instead of the actual book.

4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Bloated

I guess you have to make a book but the length was padded with a lot of insults to his peers.

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

important book

lessons for life, dense, worth every word, not what you want to hear yet what you should hear

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A great independent thinker!

Nassim's books are always a breath of fresh perspective! Well written, interesting, always a tad controversial and adversarial!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

It was ok.

Basically a collection of little snippets of thoughts and meditations on a variety of topics based on his experiences. Some were interesting and profound with others less so. A book you may just come back to to look up specific points that resonated with you. Jumps around rather quickly and not my favorite offering of his but I don't regret listening to it.

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Move forward not back.

i was not expecting a history lesson, that is my only criticism. The book did drag at some points, but again, not what I was expecting.

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

I couldn’t finish the book

This book is nothing but unfounded opinion with no backing, on topics of which Taleb is not expert, written in arrogance and inflated ego. It is too bad, because Black Swan was excellent, and I was hoping for more of the same. I skipped Antifragile, and will not read it now, and I will likely share an overall poor opinion of the author, even though I thoroughly enjoyed Black Swan. Read Black Swan instead.

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

So. Much. Ego

I can't believe how self involved this author is. some good concepts and ideas, but honestly I have no trust in him as an individual for anything he says to be valid or true. Spends most of the book going off on vendettas against intellectuals and entire fields of study.
Curiosity of how ridiculous this book could get it the sole reason I finished it.

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Only take advice from people with skin in the game

Nassim Taleb is the creator of the black swan theory, which was a very influential way of thinking about trading and investing - markets are no efficient, and they don't price in black swans - events that are unforeseen.

This book was enjoyable, it felt like it was directed at politicians, journalists, clout chasing economists & academics who criticize without having any financial stake on the outcome of their pontification or criticism.

Do not take advice from people who have no skin in the game.

Having skin in the game is the real test of getting to know someone's motivations.

This book was filled with historical examples of skin in the game, but it was also filled with a palpable vitriol and disdain for those without skin in the game.

Taleb is very opinionated and sometimes it can come across as rude, so I can imagine a lot of people without skin in the game getting turned off by this book.

I preferred Black Swan, but I'm glad I went through this one.

Some takeaways that will stick with me for a long time:

Minority Rule / Intolerant Minority ... sometimes the small minority will dictate the way things are as long as they are not infringing on the majority. The example of kosher / halal eaters make sense. Not all followers of kosher / halal diets can eat all food, but nearly everyone can eat kosher / halal food.

The minority can get their way, for a long time, even if their way doesn't make any sense, as long as it does not inconvenience the majority.

Once the majority have enough skin in the game to form an opinion, then look out, no more peanuts on flights!

This book pre-dated cancel culture, but it describes the thought process of the cancel culture that emerged online from the intolerant minority of social justice keyboard warriors.

Canceling fringe influencers is ok, as long as they don't cancel someone that the majority cares about - that's why they can cancel Alex Jones but they can't cancel Joe Rogan.

Worth a read if you are interested in investing, politics or journalism

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Jeremy
  • Jeremy
  • 2018-03-11

Brilliance smothered by Condescension and Petty Squabbling

I’ve enjoyed and applies Taleb’s insights for years, but this book was so infused with petty arguments and dismissive quips that it was difficult to pull anything useful from it. The author uncharacteristically wandered off topic so often that trying to reconstruct his arguments almost took more effort than the insight seemed worth. I think there were some pretty significant insights (“don’t confuse data for mathematical rigor” for example). But the book as a whole was so condescending and vitriolic to anyone who disagreed with the author about his past ideas, which is strange coming from someone who preaches such a stoic view of things. I think the author had some very important ideas, but it will take serious work to find them if you aren’t interested in taking the author’s side in all the flame wars he’s either started or been dragged into.

149 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Jeremy Teeter
  • Jeremy Teeter
  • 2018-03-03

The expansion pack to Antifragile

If you've never read Taleb before, pass on this book for now and go read Fooled by Randomness or The Black Swan. This book, while fascinating to long time Taleb fans, is more preaching to the choir, and so he skips a lot of he lead up and background discussions that had been part of the backbone of his other books. I valued the discussion of minority rule and the concept of an absorbing barrier applied to financial ruin, and the authors use of unreliable narratives was entertaining as always. That said, the ideas in this book are minor points compared to his other works, and I found myself wishing he had waited another year or two to continue fleshing out the ideas in this book to allow it to be up to the same standards of his other works.

120 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Scott H
  • Scott H
  • 2018-03-02

Taleb's snobbery and condescension @ all time high

For someone who rails against critics breaking his principle of charity in not using straw man arguments against his main points, he sure does it himself an awful lot. For example, he uses Richard Thaler's self deprecating story about enjoying a tie his wife bought him when he wouldn't have bought it himself as proof of what an idiot Thaler is. Thaler feels this mental accounting is irrational and Taleb does not. I'm inclined to lean toward what I take to be Taleb's argument that the term 'irrational' is overplayed and does not really describe what is happening in a lot of the behavioral economics studies but to just dismiss the whole field as bunk goes much too far. That is where his ideas about heuristics that he uses to criticize Richard Dawkins come from after all. I bet Dawkins would even concede the point that an outfielder is using heuristics rather than subconsciously doing differential equations to anticipate where to go as he originally wrote decades ago.

Taleb makes some good points but he always overplays his hand and portrays himself and a very small handful of his heroes who 'have skin in the game' as the only people in the world who have contributed anything worthwhile.

Some of the things I liked:
-His points about vocal minorites having large impact on public policy or commerce e.g., kosher foods, non-gmo foods, smoking in restaurants.
-Don't tell me what you think, tell me what's in your portfolio. All that really matters is our actions- not our opinions.

I would give this another star but I'm so turned off by his self aggrandizement and unwarranted dismissal of every scientist, school teacher, public servant, and 9-5 employee that I can't do it.

110 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for N.F.
  • N.F.
  • 2018-03-08

Parting ways with Taleb

I enjoyed previous works by Taleb like Fooled by Randomness and The Black Swan. However, I couldn't stand this one. It is so full of derision against anyone who is not exactly like him, so full of his many personal vendettas that is incoherent.
He skips from subject to subject with little logic, and covers subject rather superficially. He arrogantly dismisses scientists, doctors, economists and then goes on to peddle what are basically conspiracy theories. Then he goes on to raise on a pedestal "ancient wisdom". I almost had the feeling that he would advocate spitting at black cat like my grandmother because it is wisdom that survived, unlike taking statins which is new science.
In conclusion, if I met Taleb, I would suggest he took a nice long look at the mirror. He might recognise one of his "Intellectual Yet Idiot"s there.

57 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for SelfishWizard
  • SelfishWizard
  • 2018-03-18

All the Arrogance, Anger and Bile you can Eat!

Taleb interrupts the flow of his work (such as it is) to rant throughout against Michelin starred restaurants, "idiot intellectuals", suit and tie executives, journalists, scientists, academics, genetically modified food (go figure) and in fact pretty much all food other than pizza (made with fresh ingredients) and hamburgers.

He prefers weightlifters to professors and almost anything to Stephen Pinker. He dislikes any and all who aren't what he considers to be traders and risk takers. Gym equipment other than bar bells and sommeliers come in for his especial ire. But he likes brutish looking inarticulate doctors. The non brutish amongst us he considers to be effete and impudent snobs offering comments on matters on which they have no skin in the game. It is hard to see what "skin" Taleb actually has in this irritable list of things he doesn't like.

The book feels like it was dashed off after too many beers on the way to a barroom brawl.
But Taleb obviously delights in his angry skewering of the rest of the world. Somehow he sells this stuff "to the Swiss" (his trading term for the average faceless sucker), so more power to him for developing a business plan and finding a paying audience for his bile.

50 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Larry C
  • Larry C
  • 2018-03-14

Didn’t care for this one.

I loved the other three books but this one seemed to be mainly an opportunity to vent for the author. Way too much belittling of others and more “I”s than I think I have ever read in a book that was not an autobiography.

43 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Lukia
  • Lukia
  • 2018-02-27

Lard in the Game

According to Skin in the Game logic, Taleb produced better work when his living was at stake early on of the Incinerate book series; not anymore as a rich fat grandpa. I loved this book in a way still, if only because Taleb's disgust towards mofos is amusing.

To live according to your own values, Mr Taleb, you need to get rid of all your belongings á la Tony Stark in Iron Man® 3 when he turned the exoskeleton bots into fireworks and bourne anew in the next Scavengers® teenager films. Whether you'll pour your riches to 3rd World or my bank account (I really could use 💵), the only essential thing is that you'll torture yourself a little bit for your own sake and readers' too. Earth needs more from your best.

14 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for James lee boyd
  • James lee boyd
  • 2018-07-31

Great ideas terrible execution

This is the worst book I have listened to this year. The author raises some very insightful ideas but it is difficult to sort through all of the insults and random pop offs to get to the heart of his text. He consistently presents insightful ideas but spends little time flushing them out out completing a thought. I would only recommend this book to someone as an example of how not to write a book.

10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Hessa Al-thani
  • Hessa Al-thani
  • 2018-06-22

Better off read than heard

There's a lot in here that should be read over and mulled over to fully appreciate the author's message. I stopped half way because I'd much rather read it and carefully consider the author's conjectures rather than taking them for granted. I gave the performance a 2 because there were times when the reader added his own tone to the text.

10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Amazon Customer
  • Amazon Customer
  • 2018-03-01

Another one

Love his insights. I consider his books a 'must read' if nothing other than just hearing his point of view. Glad I found this author years ago. His are one of the few I re-read consistently.

9 people found this helpful

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for HSISSI Hicham
  • HSISSI Hicham
  • 2022-06-19

Amazing Book, a must for every entrepreneur

a very interesting point of view on people who matter, how to recognize them, and how to detect and avoid BS experts, in life, work and medias.