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Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds Hardcover – June, 1994

by Charles Mackay (Author)
4 out of 5 stars 124 customer reviews
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Product Details

  • Hardcover: 749 pages
  • Publisher: Barnes & Noble Inc; First Edition edition (June 1994)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1566191696
  • ISBN-13: 978-1566191692
  • Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.9 x 2.3 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (124 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,057,712 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

514 of 541 people found the following review helpful
Severely abridged edition
By nothingt5 VINE VOICE on December 15, 2004
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
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...
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184 of 191 people found the following review helpful
Truly a classic!
By A Customer on August 16, 1999
Format: 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.Read more ›
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70 of 70 people found the following review helpful
The definitive book of manias
By M. Mcfarland on October 25, 2001
Format: Paperback
This is it. If you want to know how many times the world has been gripped by madness then look no farther than the reprinted edition of MacKay's classic. Written in that wonderful Olde English style of the early 19th century, MacKay takes us on a tour of the world's most horrifying manias - up to about 1840 anyway.

I particularly liked the chapter on witchcraft and witch hunts since it told me everything I'll ever need to know on why seemingly intelligent groups of people band together to banish or murder innocent members of society - just because they are different. Another engaging chapter deals with millennialism - the fear and dread that grips society at the end of each millennium. If you thought the end of the last one brought turbulence, you should read what happened a thousand years ago.

This book is often quoted by stock market pundits and talking heads as if it were a treatise on irrational behaviour in the financial markets. It isn't. It deals with irrational behaviour and mass stupidity in all walks of life. Five Stars.
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59 of 61 people found the following review helpful
An important, engaging, shrewd historical treatise.
By Midwest Book Review on April 7, 2000
Format: 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.
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35 of 35 people found the following review helpful
Social history of crowd mentality, not only about stocks
By Yaumo Gaucho on October 31, 2000
Format: Paperback
Most people know this book is a classic -- but it's unfortunate that it's thought of as a book about investments, when investments are really only a small part of the phenomena Mackay covers. We have all heard about Dutch tulips a million times over -- it is therefore much more interesting to read Mackay's chapters about popular slang expressions, or about superstitions, or about quack medicine. There are great micro-histories here about the comings and goings of fads, both those contemporary to Mackay and those that preceded him.
While Mackay's points about the irrationality of crowds are useful for the investor, these "lessons" about Dutch tulips and other financial manias are cliches today. You need not read this book to find out about them. This book's true value lies in its comprehensive history and analyses of other fads, hoaxes, and "manias," most of which have, fittingly enough, been forgotten today.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

How to not fool yourself.

It's the oldest book I know of that exposes and explores our human capacity to delude ourselves and others, and how mass hysteria can shape history and the world we live in. Read more

Published 2 months ago by Gordon W. Tobutt
Five Stars

Brilliant!!

Published 6 months ago by Ian Hughson
An important book

A great book, hard to believe it was written so long ago - it seems very contemporary!

Published 6 months ago by Jmoss
Two Stars

Some interesting stuff, but far too verbose.

Published 6 months ago by Robert hart
Four Stars

Interesting reading, interesting stuff, and another learning process.

Published 8 months ago by Amazon Customer
Witches, Y2K & Climate change

The definitive scientific work on global warming.

Published 8 months ago by J. Shrake
It was recommended by the Chairman of the Board of Merrill Lynch ...

Have read it several times. It was recommended by the Chairman of the Board of Merrill Lynch Dan Tully, when I was a broker there.. Read more

Published 9 months ago by hh
very nice hardcover book

Shipped relative fast, got the complete (first edition I suppose) book and am ecstatic about starting it. very nice hardcover book, Barnes and Noble book originally. Read more

Published 9 months ago by Eric Schneider
Five Stars

great

Published 10 months ago by thewacokid
Change is Unchanging! History repeating itself.

You can judge this book by its title. It is a classic effort detailing the follies of mass psychology. Read more

Published 11 months ago by Fyers Securities

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