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Title: Extraordinary Popular Delusions & the Madness of Crowds by Charles Mackay, Norman Stone ISBN: 1-85326-349-4 Publisher: Wordsworth Editions Ltd Pub. Date: December, 1999 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.16 (32 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: This book saved me thousands of dollars and much pain...
Comment: While this book is somewhat difficult reading, being written in Dickensian Olde English (and you certainly don't have to read all of it to get the point) it should be required reading for every college student. Enron employees, who sunk their entire life savings' into one stock, would've also benefited from a thorough reading of this. Luckily, if you're young and you haven't read this yet, you don't have to join the ranks of the 401k-less ninnies who bought into all the hype of the late nineties.
If you are like most of us, you probably had a cube-mate who fashioned him/herself as a "Wall Street wizard" at some point in 1998; you probably had a good laugh as you watched an E*Trade commercial from around that era where the TV-addled couch potato chooses his stock picks based on what's being marketed to him on TV. Personally, I recall one example where a co-worker invested the entire contents of his children's college fund on a single stock purchase, bragging about his profits from said transaction to everyone! Never mind the fact that he could have very well left Johnny and Jenny putting themselves through the local community college and living at home; this was 1998, after all - the "New Economy" was going to transcend all of the limits that 'unprogressive' thinkers had ascribed to all earlier versions of the economy. The question is: are you going to believe the mucky-muck hack/establishment economist at _Barron's_, or learn lessons from history? This book is for those who prefer the latter.
This book is really a classic in critical thinking. Having read this around age 19, I couldn't help but think that the "New Economy" was mostly a bunch of balderdash and that nothing can permanently transcend fundamental economic principles. In fact, the .com boom - undoubtedly epitomized by this very bookstore, (which at one time was worth about eight times the GNP of Norway - at least on paper), is far from the first example of various manias that have swept through the popular mind in the last few centuries.
This book (or at least the chapter on Dutch tulip mania) should be required reading for everyone who thinks that they are going to take a weekend seminar and get a _Wall Street Journal_ subscription and somehow "beat the market." Anyone can learn how to read bar charts and the like, but this will teach you something much more important: human psychology. When you understand generally recurring historical patterns, you'll understand a lot. Perhaps it's at least refreshing to know that the silliness of the .com boom isn't without historical precedent.
Also recommended: "The Alchemy of Finance" by George Soros (for those who think that the market "must always go back up", even as they are oblivious to say, the fact that businesses are eventually judged by their liquid worth at some point) and "The Crowd" by Gustave le Bon, another book on mass psychology written in an entertaining style.
Rating: 3
Summary: For history buffs
Comment: An interesting book for history buffs.
For those interested in the history of financial manias, only the first three chapters are of interest. If you are not a history buff, even these chapters are much too detailed.
Rating: 5
Summary: A casebook of human folly
Comment: This is a famed work. The reprint comes with a forward by Bernard Baruch.
John Law was born in 1671. At the zenith of Law's prosperity the highest and lowest classes of Paris were alike filled with a vision of boundless wealth through the buying and selling of stock. An unworthy avarice had infected the whole society.
While confidence lasted there was an impetus to trade. The system flourished until 1720. The higher the price of Indian and Mississippi stock, the more bank notes were issued. Precious metals were conveyed to Holland and England.
In February 1720 an edict was published which contrary to intent destroyed the credit of paper currency. The edict sought to forbid the amassing of coin, jewelry, plate, and precious stones. The value of the shares in the Mississippi and Louisiana stock fell rapidly.
The regent installed an ex-chancellor to aid in the restoration of credit. On June first the old law was abolished and everyone was permitted to possess as much specie as he or she pleased. New notes were printed and the old ones withdrawn.
Law was in physical danger and had to take refuge in the apartments of the regent. In one instance his coachman was attacked by a mob. The nation awakened to its folly.
The prince granted Law permission to withdraws from Paris and leave the country. He traveled to Brussels and Venice. He had invested all of his gains in landed property in France. After his departure his estates and personal property were confiscated.
The regent died in 1723. Law was reduced to his former life of gambling. He died in 1729 in Venice in embarassed circumstances.
The South Sea Bubble originated in 1711. There was an idea there were immense riches on the eastern coast of South America. At the time of the South Sea Bubble the term for any joint stock company came to be known as a bubble. The author compiled a list of 86 undertakings, bubbles.
During the progress of the famous bubble England presented a singular spectacle. The hope of boundless wealth made people heedless and extravagant. In the aftermath public meetings were held to condemn the directors. No one blamed the credulity and avarice of the people.
Parliament was not more reasonable. Sir John Blunt was the most active manager of the South Sea Company. He was questioned by the House of Commons and the House of Lords. After a session before the latter he expired suddenly. The fatal result was not anticipated.
After the punishment of the directors, the legislature had to consider how to restore public credit. In times of great commercial prosperity there is a tendancy toward over-speculation. Until 1634 the tulip annually increased in reputation. The book gives the amusing story of the tulip craze where special exchanges were created to facititate trade in the bulbs.
Albertus Magnus and his student, Thomas Aquinas, were considered men who could work wonders in alchemy. Paracelsus was born near Zurich in 1493. John Dee was born in London in 1527. His assistant was Edward Kelly. A book about John Dee and the spirits was published by Dr. Meric Casaubon. Robert Fludd was the father of the English Rosicrucians. He was born in 1574 in Kent.
Cagliostro born in Palermo in 1743 was the archquack of his age. In Paris he was involved in the affair of the queen's necklace. The career of Anton Mesmer is recounted. Each age has its particular folly. One of the follies was the Crusades.
The belief that disembodied spirits may be permitted to revisit this world gave rise to the witch mania. The early annals of France abound with instances of supposed sorcery. Matthew Hopkins was a famous witch finder. In Scotland and England the delusion was gradually extinguished. The horse shoe, the grand preservative against witchcraft, was nailed againt the door.
The book comes supplied with an index. One is left with a very curious view of human nature.
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Title: Manias, Panics, and Crashes: A History of Financial Crises (Wiley Investment Classics) by Charles P. Kindleberger ISBN: 0471389455 Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Pub. Date: 12 January, 2001 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Reminiscences of a Stock Operator by Edwin Lefèvre, Marketplace Books ISBN: 0471059706 Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Pub. Date: 11 May, 1994 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk by Peter L. Bernstein ISBN: 0471295639 Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Pub. Date: 31 August, 1998 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Money Game by ADAM SMITH ISBN: 0394721039 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 12 August, 1976 List Price(USD): $10.00 |
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Title: Devil Take the Hindmost: A History of Financial Speculation by Edward Chancellor ISBN: 0452281806 Publisher: Plume Pub. Date: 05 June, 2000 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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