Investment Books Reviews #3: - Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds

This book was chosen by the Financial Times as onespeculation - wherever it occurs.
of the ten best books ever written on investment -When the next stock market bubble comes along,
and with good reason - it’s a timeless classic!(and it will) investors are advised to recall the fate of
A Classic Insight into Crowd Psychologyinvestors of an earlier time - and avoid their
First published in 1841, Extraordinary Popular Delusionsmisfortunes.
and the Madness of Crowds is often cited, as theReally, all investors should read this book - and critical
best book ever written about market psychology.acclaim for it is almost universal - and here are just a
Today, it is one of the most widely read books tocouple of comments:
warn investors of stock market bubbles and busts.This is the most important book ever written about
The version published by Wiley also includes Josephcrowd psychology and, by extension, about financial
de la Vega’s 1688 classic, Confusion demarkets. A serious student of the markets and even
Confusions - along the same subject lines.anyone interested in the extremes of human
Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness ofbehavior should read this book! - Ron Insana, CNBC.
Crowds, explores the sometimes hilarious - andYou will see between its staid lines (written in ye olde
sometimes devastating impact of crowd behavior-English and as ponderable as Buddha's navel) that,
and trading greed and fear on financial markets.despite what the media says, nothing really important
This book clearly shows us how crowd psychologyhas changed in the financial markets in centuries. -
has never changed - and how greed and fear areKenneth L. Fisher, Forbes.
always present.Destructive Emotions
This book gives us three great examples - such as:Markets are still driven by the emotions of greed and
. The tulip mania of 1634 - when tulips actually tradedfear today - just as they were in yesteryear - and
at a higher price than gold!this book graphically illustrates the point.
. The South Sea bubble.This book covers much more than just the financial
. The Mississippi madness.markets - it covers a whole gambit of situations,
These three examples confirm that greed and fearwhere the crowd makes stupid investments - based
have always been the driving forces of financialon their emotions, rather than logic.
markets - and furthermore, that being sensible andWhile this is not a book that tells you how to trade -
clever is no defense against the allure of a popularit does illustrate more clearly than any other book,
scheme, when big money is being made.how stupid investors are - when they submit to their
Think we don’t make the same mistakes today?emotions.
- Think again!Stand Away from the Crowd for Financial Success!
Just think back to the huge interest in, and the priceThis book is essentially a lesson in trading discipline -
rises and falls during the Dot Com frenzy ofand how standing aside from the crowd, will make
speculation in the 1990’s.you a successful investor.
Lessons to be learnedRead it - and absorb its timeless wisdom!
The moral of popular manias is - beware of frenzied