Are you Fooled by Randomness?

So the latest book that has piqued my interest is Fooled by Randomness by Nicholas Nassim Taleb. I think it's a solid book with logic and wits intertwined.

However, the thing that has really caught my interest is his recommendation that instead of reading news daily (eg WSJ) its better to read a weekly publication like The Economist. According to him newspapers have way too much noise and finding good information is like searching a needle in a haystack. Not only that, newspapers also provide information that is distracting.

So, to all the people in the industry, I'd like to know your views on this point. Do you prefer reading a weekly publication or do you think reading the news every day can help you to realize the fluff and find useful information.

Also, if you do prefer weekly publication or certain blogs, could you mention what do you follow to get good signals about the conditions in the market.

 

Yeah, the newspaper is quite much at times. I prefer bigger picture / weekly or monthly.

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

My mates father was talking about something similar to this a few months ago. He said now in todays age we all want instant stimulation from stuff on our smart devices news sport social media etc and it wires our brain into always being distracted. The point he made was that he said myself and his son have the ability to do thinking and problem solving greatly and that we cut down on distractions in order to do that thinking and come up with a new product or business to sell. That wasn't a jerk off story that was something I actually completely agree with you.

 
Best Response

I prefer the synopsis method. My company provides a daily morning market distribution email that encapsulates pretty much all major topics in the world of finance currently, calendar events for the week, JOLTS, GDP numbers, international events, etc. It usually takes ~ 10 minutes to digest and then it's time to move on.

Also get WSJ and Kiplingers at home, but there are never enough hours in the day. Currently working on 2 different books as well.

I do avoid major news outlets in toto. Don't watch TV news and try to stay off of non-technical websites. Too much angst and confrontation to deal with simply to gather info.

 

I really liked that book. I read it after seeing how often Howard Marks references it in his memos.

It's an interesting concept... try to avoid reading daily news since most of it is just noise, ascribing causation where there is none, etc... but most investment professionals have to read the news if not just to stay on top of investor sentiment. There is a lesson to take from what he says but to actually exercise it would be impractical.

 

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