An excerpt from Poker, Sex and Dying

David L. Caplan in The New Option Secret: Volatility (review on the way) described Poker, Sex and Dying as “one of the most influential of all the works” he had read. He quoted its closing paragraphs. I want to share one of them as something of a follow-up to yesterday’s post.

“When we are dealing with a subject as explosive or difficult as human personality traits caution becomes necessary. There are no absolutes. All individuals are unique. Every opponent is particularly dangerous. We can, with a certain degree of accuracy, predict actions and reactions, however we can not definitively define how any human being will react 100% of the time. In many respects, insight, knowledge and understanding creates a pandora’s box. The more knowledge we acquire, and the more understanding we gain often only serves to highlight the knowledge and understanding that we don’t have. The more we learn simply teaches us that we are always on the tip of the iceberg and ironically, may never be able to move beyond that point. Expertise, be it given, or solicited, is like a jagged piece of glass in that it is best handled with care.”