Skin in the Game

Name: Skin in the Game
ISBN: 042528462X

by Nassim Nicholas Taleb · first published 2017

90mentions

30recommended by

78HN commenters

2015–2026first – last mentioned

38% recommend54% neutral8% critical

Why HN recommends it

Argues that healthy systems need decision-makers who bear the consequences of their choices. Applies the idea to executives, regulators, and corporate liability, and suits anyone wary of unaccountable risk.

Common criticism: Some find Taleb's abrasive, self-assured tone off-putting

Summarised by Claude from recommending comments

Philosophy Psychology & Behavior Politics & Society

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 complex worldview that, as Nassim Nicholas Taleb shows in this book, applies to literally all aspects of our lives. In his inimitable style, Taleb pulls on everything from Antaeus the Giant to Hammurabi to Donald Trump to Seneca to the ethics of disagreement to create a jaw-dropping tapestry for understanding our world in a brand new way. The phrase "skin in the game" means that you do not pay attention to what people say, o

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Mentions per year

What Hacker News says

paraschopra · Jul 13, 2018 · Recommends

…https://invertedpassion.com/notes-from-the-elephant-in-the-b... - Existential Cafe. History of existential thought. Excellent book. - 12 rules of life. Highly opiniated but well argued book on how to live life - Skin in the game by Nasim Taleb. - Daemon. The sci-fi book that anticipated what rouge blockchain like programs can do. Again, highly recommended
on “Ask HN: 2018 Summer Reading List?” ↗
gorilla_fight · Dec 13, 2018 · Recommends

…Consequences of Consuming “Vegetable” Oils by Thomas L. Copmann, MS, Ph.D. Fat: An Appreciation of a Misunderstood Ingredient, with Recipes by Jennifer McLagan The Case Against Sugar by Gary Taubes Skin in the Game by Nassim Nicholas Taleb 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos by Jordan B. Peterson This year I became ex-vegan and the books I read center around nutrition as such. I would recommend all of them.…
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2018?” ↗
oedmarap · Apr 8, 2020 · Recommends

Hammurabi's code is prominently featured, ruminated upon, and contextualized in Nassim Taleb's Skin In The Game. It's a profound and highly recommended read, especially considering the sheer amount of downtime that's available at the moment.
on “Code of Hammurabi” ↗
sremani · Apr 4, 2018 · Recommends

Taleb's incerto. [Anti-Fragile, Fooled by randomness, Black Swan, Skin in the game] Scott Adams' [How to fail at Almost every thing and still win big] Meditations by marcus arelius
on “Ask HN: What books do you keep on your desk?” ↗
james_niro · Dec 29, 2019 · Recommends

…Fooled by randomness- Nassim T Principle - Ray Dalio Drive - D Pink The Laws of Human Nature -R Greene Influence- Robert Cialdini 21st lessons for 21st century - Y. Harari Why we sleep -M. Walker Skin in the Game - Nassim T. Social Animal - David B. Einstein - Isaacson Steve Jobs - Isaacson Blink - malcolm gladwell Outlier - malcolm gladwell The tipping point - malcolm gladwell Game of Throne series
on “Ask HN: Best books you read in the past decade?” ↗
waihtis · Sep 11, 2020 · Recommends

If you haven't, read Nassim Taleb's Skin in the Game (and heavy recommendation on his other literature too.)
on “I built an app to fix my depression” ↗
scoofy · Oct 30, 2025 · Recommends

I would recommend Taleb's book Skin In the Game for this type of question. The best choices are highly dependent on the individual's preference for risk and whether or not they count their existing stock as "extra" or as "income." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skin_in_the_Game_(book)
on “Taking money off the table” ↗
treetalker · Nov 30, 2025 · Recommends

Follow up with a post one year from now. Tell us then how you will have acted in the world since the surgery — with regard to past, present, and future. Apropos, I recommend Taleb's Skin in the Game to both you and all others on the thread who may not have read it. (If you haven't, perhaps during your recovery.) But, as Taleb points out, talk is cheap, and so is reading and living vicariously through…
scoofy · Feb 18, 2026 · Recommends

People not liking Taleb and then dismissing him because he can be rude has always been one of the strangest things that so many people do. I remember about halfway through Skin in the Game, after being put off by most of what I'd been reading, that the gestalt shift happened and it finally clicked. It's probably one of the best texts I've ever read on a specific type of conservatism. I…
on “The Only Moat Left Is Money” ↗
raihansaputra · Sep 19, 2018 · Recommends

I don't know whether you've also read these books or not, but for others who are really interested in this, I can't recommend Anti-Fragile and Skin In The Game by Taleb that explores this view and topic. I just finished them both and I feel the book can explain it in a reasonable way, but don't get too serious on his name-calling. It gets a bit funny when you…
on “Want more policies based on evidence?” ↗
DantesKite · Feb 22, 2019 · Recommends

I thought Nassim Taleb’s books (Fooled by Randomness and Skin in the Game) were quite rigorous. What makes his book airport literature?
on “Notes from Malcolm Gladwell's Writing Masterclass” ↗
overgard · Jun 2, 2019 · Recommends

This makes me think of "Skin in the Game" by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. I think noblesse oblige arises naturally when powerful people have skin in the game, and it doesn't arise at all when they do not. Arguably, while globalism may have some upsides,…
on “Noblesse Oblige” ↗
randomvalue · Nov 9, 2016 · Recommends

I don't expect you to agree-with or understand this, now or in the near future but perhaps he/she was thinking along these valid lines: "The Intellectual Yet Idiot" from "Skin in the Game" by Nassim Taleb https://medium.com/@nntaleb/the-intellectual-yet-idiot-13211...
on “Donald Trump’s Contract with the American Voter [pdf]” ↗
Karishma1234 · May 2, 2018 · Recommends

To understand journalism and journalists please read Nissim Nicholas Taleb's book Skin in the Game. There was a time when people who had passion to bring knowledge before the world worked to achieve that and invented "journalism". That rare breed of people exists today and actually flourishes because…
on “Mark Zuckerberg Doesn’t Understand Journalism” ↗
miketek11 · May 11, 2018 · Recommends

The big ones for me: 1) Antifragile by Taleb (Skin in the Game is so far excellent as well) 2) The Border Trilogy by McCarthy 3) The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoevsky 4) East of Eden by Steinbeck 5) Slaughterhouse Five by Vonnegut
on “Ask HN: Which books have made you introspect?” ↗