ISBN: Ostalo
Godina izdanja: -
Jezik: Engleski
Autor: Strani

Nova knjiga,
Necitana.
Na 3-4 mesta pecati bivseg vlasnika.

Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds is an early study of crowd psychology by Scottish journalist Charles Mackay, first published in 1841 under the title Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions.[1] The book was published in three volumes: `National Delusions`, `Peculiar Follies`, and `Philosophical Delusions`.[2] A second edition appeared in 1852, reorganizing the three volumes into two and adding numerous engravings.[3] Mackay was an accomplished teller of stories, though he wrote in a journalistic and somewhat sensational style.

The subjects of Mackay`s debunking include alchemy, crusades, duels, economic bubbles, fortune-telling, haunted houses, the Drummer of Tedworth, the influence of politics and religion on the shapes of beards and hair, magnetisers (influence of imagination in curing disease), murder through poisoning, prophecies, popular admiration of great thieves, popular follies of great cities, and relics. Present-day writers on economics, such as Michael Lewis and Andrew Tobias, laud the three chapters on economic bubbles.[4]

In later editions, Mackay added a footnote referencing the Railway Mania of the 1840s as another `popular delusion` which was at least as important as the South Sea Bubble. In the 21st century, the mathematician Andrew Odlyzko pointed out, in a published lecture, that Mackay himself played a role in this economic bubble; as a leader writer in The Glasgow Argus, Mackay wrote on 2 October 1845: `There is no reason whatever to fear a crash`.[5][6]

The book remains in print, and writers continue to discuss its influence, particularly the section on financial bubbles. (See Goldsmith and Lewis, below.)

Financier Bernard Baruch credited the lessons he learned from Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds with his decision to sell all of his stock ahead of the Wall Street crash of 1929.[10]
Kurt Vonnegut`s Slaughterhouse-Five references the book.[11]
The book was the initial inspiration for Richard Condie`s National Film Board of Canada animated short film John Law and the Mississippi Bubble (1978).[12]
Forbes magazine compared Mackay`s descriptions of financial bubbles to the Chinese stock bubble of 2007, claiming that the `emotional feedback loop` that drove the Chinese market was very similar to what Mackay described.[13]
Neil Gaiman borrows from the title in an issue of his popular comic series, The Sandman, in a story featuring a writer whose novel is titled `... And the Madness of Crowds`.[14]
Author and executive coach Marshall Goldsmith discussed the book in depth in BusinessWeek, drawing extensive parallels between the financial bubbles Mackay wrote about and financial bubbles today.[15] Other writers also frequently point to the book to explain recent financial bubbles.[16][17][18]
Financial writer Michael Lewis includes the financial mania chapters in his book The Real Price of Everything: Rediscovering the Six Classics of Economics as one of the six great works of economics, along with writings by Adam Smith, Thomas Robert Malthus, David Ricardo, Thorstein Veblen, and John Maynard Keynes.[4]
Author and journalist Will Self writes a column for New Statesman, `Madness of Crowds`, which takes its title from Mackay`s book.[19]
James Surowiecki, in The Wisdom of Crowds (2004), takes a different view of crowd behavior, saying that under certain circumstances, crowds or groups may have better information and make better decisions than even the best-informed individual.[20]
Canadian author Louise Penny used MacKay as an inspiration for her 2021 novel The Madness of Crowds.[21]
American synthpop band Information Society released a song titled after the book in 2021.[22] Its vocals are mostly samples of cult leader Jim Jones.