Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds (Barnes & Noble Library of Essential Reading)

extraordinary Popular Delusions And The Madness Of Crowds Is A Landmark Study Of Crowd Psychology And Mass Mania And A Singular Casebook Of Human Folly Throughout The Ages. Chronicled Here Are Accounts Of Swindles, Schemes, And Scams On A Grand Scale. Other Chapters Deal With Fads And Delusions That Have Sprung From Ideas, Beliefs, And Causes That Still Have Champions Today: The Prophecies Of Nostradamus, The Coming Of Comets And Judgment Day, The Rosicrucians, And Astrology. The Book Also Surveys Controversial People And Movements Of The Past: Necromancy, Father Hell And Magnetism, Anthony Mesmer And Mesmerism, The Crusades, Sorcery And The Burning Of Witches, Not To Mention The Popularity Of Murder By Slow Poisoning. about The Author: Charles Mackay (1814-1889) Was A Scots Journalist, Author, And Songwriter Who Was Born In Perth And Educated In London And Brussels. He Published A dictionary Of Lowland Scotch And Several Volumes Of Verse, And Also Wrote Several Hit Songs, Including One (the Good Time Coming) That Sold 400,000 Copies In 1846. Mackay Also Held A Doctorate In Literature And Had An Extensive Career As A Journalist. Today, as in the time of the South Sea Bubble, human nature is drawn like a moth to flame by the speculative fads of the marketplace. The excitement of new glamour issues in electronics or medical technology, the general euphoria over a rising market; these lure even many experienced investors. Their optimism overcomes their better judgment. They abandon critical analysis of the investment's fundamental value. Like gamblers in a casino they play against the odds, paying inflated prices and dreaming of quick profit.? ? from the foreword by John Marks Templeton Mackay's classic, first published in 1841, studies the psychology of crowds and mass mania throughout history, including 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 spring from valid ideas of 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. Time and again we can avoid disastrous pitfalls and learn to profit by seeing the ways that history repeats itself. Fascinating, mesmerizing, strikingly strange, and amazingly shrewd, this book will never be forgotten and cannot be ignored