Extraordinary Popular Delusions [Paperback]

Charles Mackay (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 27, 2003

Classic survey of crowd psychology takes an illuminating, entertaining look at three historic swindles: "The Mississippi Scheme," "The South-Sea Bubble," and "Tulipomania." Fired by greed and fed by naïveté, these stratagems gone awry offer essential reading for investors as well as students of history, psychology, and human nature.

Product Details

• Paperback: 112 pages
• Publisher: Dover Publications (August 27, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0486432238
• ISBN-13: 978-0486432236
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.1 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (90 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,065,608 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

344 of 360 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Severely abridged edition, December 15, 2004

By 

nothingt5 - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds (Hardcover)

Be aware that the edition published by Harriman House ONLY contains the chapters relating to economics, so you only get probably 1/7 of the original book...

154 of 159 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Truly a classic!, August 16, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Extraordinary Popular Delusions & the Madness of Crowds (Paperback)

If you're into investing, sooner or later an investment columnist will mention Extraordinary Delusions as required reading. It's that and more...

Charles Mackay first details France's Mississippi Scheme & England's South Sea Bubble (from the early 1700's). Then he covers the famous Dutch "tulipomania" of the 1600's. These are all enjoyable reports of financial manias and their aftermaths (though the South Sea Bubble chapter dragged on a bit). But the financial reader will be surprised when she realizes she's still only 100 pages into a 700 page book! Mackay proceeds to cover:

Alchemy - 150 pages of exhaustive (& exhausting) detail of hobbyists & serious investors who were convinced they could turn base metals into gold, if only they could find the right ancient recipe & stoke their workshop cauldrons just a little bit hotter.

The Crusades - 100 pages that prove that modern Islamic fundamentalists did not invent the idea of a "holy war". I had no idea the Crusades came out of official harassment of Y1K religious pilgrims! Remember this: If your country is being inundated with religious pilgrims, just try to think of them as a tourist opportunity. You don't want to get them angry!

The Witch Mania - 100pp. This section was unexpectedly chilling. As I read about European witch trials of the 1400s-1600s, I kept thinking of our recent satanic child abuse trials. It's all been done before: The wild unprovable accusations, including eating dead babies; trusting unreliable witnesses specifically BECAUSE of the severity of the charges; False Memory Syndrome. At least the rack & Trial by Ordeal are no longer recognized as valid forensic techniques.

The Slow Poisoners - Murder isn't really murder if you poison the victim slowly enough, is it?

Also covered: Animal Magnetism, Prophecies, Fortune-Telling, Hair & beard fashions in men, catch phrases & slang, Relics, Duels & Ordeals, Haunted Houses, & Popular Admiration of Great Thieves.

At times the book dragged, especially in the chapters I wasn't interested in. (But hey, that's what skimming is for.) So with that caveat, go ahead & get the book. It'll be a great investment of 12 bucks!

41 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An important, engaging, shrewd historical treatise., April 7, 2000

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds (Paperback)

Charles Mackay's highly recommended Extraordinary Popular Delusions And The Madness Of Crowds was first published in 1841 and studies the psychology of crowds and mass mania throughout history. Mackay included accounts of classic scams, grand-scale madness, and deceptions. Some of these include the Mississippi scheme that swept France in 1720, the South Sea bubble that ruined thousands in England at the same time, and the tulip mania of Holland when fortunes were made and lost on single tulip bulbs. Other chapters deal with fads and delusions that often sprang from valid ideas and causes -- many of which still have their followers today: alchemy and the philosopher's stone, the prophecies of Nostradamus, the coming of comets and judgment day, the Rosicrucians, and astrology. Extraordinary Popular Delusions And The Madness Of Crowds is an important historical treatise that modern readers will find fascinating, engaging, and shrewd as they see how history repeats itself, but that disastrous pitfalls can be avoided by understanding the cycles and patterns of greed based ignorance plays in promoting and perpetuating group hysteria in the fields of business and finance, politics and superstitions.