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government bailouts etc) where we will look back and say how crazy things are. I read the book crash proof 2.0 by the economist Peter Schiff who explains we are currently living through one of those periods (ie. If you read this book and his book it will send shivers down your spine. People take for granted where we are in the span of time and become lackadaisical about life and think things are going to be great for life and that we've learned everything from history so nothing bad or crazy can happen again. This book shows you that throughout time crazy things happen and when you look back on them you think it's silly, but the funny thing is they keep happening.
This book is a game changer. At other times they explode into a world wide craze. He lists some of histories greatest episodes of total stupidity. The lessons of any financial mania are timeless, as we all witnessed in the Dot Com bubble.Humans will always be drawn to manias and silly trends.
Gee, I almost forgot about that one.And of course the current Global Warming religious movement, is a truly world wild mania. MacKay lists some of the bigger manias, and outlines clear lessons to be learned. How about running out of oil, wheat, rice, and everything, in the 1970s. It really is fun to laugh at these sort of events.Mackay`s writing style is very old and rather boring. Acid rain killing the planet, back in the 1980s. MacKay attempts to explain to people that human beings are inclined towards silly manias.
MacKay stresses that the group will whip itself into a frenzy, and only the individual has the brain power to identify the madness.Once the reader is able to identify a wild craze, looking at world events will never be the same.Do you remember hearing about the return of the Ice Age, in the late 1960s and early 70s. However, the message he delivers will live forever. The financial manias of the South Sea Bubble, The Tulip Mania, and The Mississippi Scheme, are a must read for any would be investor. Sometimes these trends stay small and localized.
It's fueled by human beings' inate desire to do what everybody else seems to be doing. Charles MacKay's Old English treatise on how seemingly rational individuals somehow manage to turn into totally irrational crowds is a maddenly fascinating piece of work. Hindsight will always be 20-20; those who are able to anticipate our delusional behavior before the fun begins will stand a chance of thriving in society better than the average lemming. This phenomenom is frequently called the "Bandwagon effect"; and once this wagon gets rolling, it's hard to stop.Trying to understand the madness is a difficult task; usually, it's best performed after the movement or fad has ceased to exist. It's safe to say mankind hasn't progressed all that much in dealing with hype & hysteria since this was first published in the 1840s.From Hitler mania in Nazi Germany to the perplexing disco fever in the '70s, society---or certain segments of society---continues to behave in strange & most bewildering ways; and I suppose it always will.The conclusion I've drawn from all this is, people are easily drawn to beliefs or ideologies based on momentum. Momentum pays little or no attention to common sense or justice.
- Mariusz Skonieczny, author of Why Are We So Clueless about the Stock Market. This book is fabulous and I found it very interesting. And unfortunately, we do not learn very well from history.
And I learned that if you think that the current financial crisis is an extraordinary event and our government will place proper regulations to prevent this from happening again, then you can keep on dreaming, or read this book instead. I found it amazing that we are no different from people 300 years ago. I wanted to read this book to learn more about our current financial crisis.
We are greedy and irrational and looking for quick ways to get rich. Learn how to invest your money, how to pick stocks, and how to make money in the stock market You will learn that manias such as what we experienced in the housing market and during the internet bubble are nothing new.
In this book, the author takes readers through the history all types of manias such as The Mississippi Scheme, The South Sea Bubble, and The Tulipomania.
From ancient alchemy, to the crusades at the turn of the first century, witch-hunts during the 1400s to 1600s, tulip mania in 1624, and the Mississippi scheme and South Sea bubble of the 1700s, Mackay provides insights into human behavior which help explain the Great Crash of 1929, the Dot-Com bubble of the 1990s, and the recent global economic meltdown."Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one.", Charles Mackay. Why do otherwise intelligent individuals form seething masses of idiocy when they engage in collective action.First published in 1841, this Informative and entertaining book is the definitive history of manias.
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