Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds and Confusiýn de Confusiones

ANNOTATION

Confusions and Delusions brings together elements of two well-known classics--the highly popular Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, published in 1841, and Confusions de Confusions, published in 1688--to create an entertaining and remarkably accurate assessment of crowd behavior, market movement, and investment psychology.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

The Dutch East India Company was the hot stock to watch in the early days of the Amsterdam stock exchange. But the price action became hard to unravel once speculation and treacherous deceit came into play. Market manipulation, it seems, was a factor even at the dawn of modern exchange trading. Joseph de la Vega's 1688 Confusion de Confusiones offered a firsthand account of seventeenth-century market complexities that rings remarkably true even today. Exploring the sometimes humorous, sometimes devastating impact of crowd behavior and trading trickery on the financial markets, this book brilliantly combines two all-time investment classics. Financial analyst and author Martin S. Fridson is your guide, and the result is an insightful new volume that is a quirky, entertaining, and thoroughly intriguing journey back through time. From the investment strategies of Bernard Baruch, to Japanese land prices, junk bonds, and the collapse of Baring Securities, the far-reaching influence of Mackay's and de la Vega's revered works remains potent and truly timeless. By juxtaposing Extraordinary Popular Delusions and Confusion de Confusiones, this unique book points up the interesting contrast in their respective conclusions. Mackay believed that "periodic outbreaks of mass hysteria" led to volatile market activity, while de la Vega saw "cunning behind the market's convulsions." Both interpretations are worth examining for their fascinating commentaries on market movement and investment psychology. Viewed from within the context of events of our own time, these classics are must reading for all those seeking a greater understanding of the stock exchange's frequently erratic behavior.

FROM THE CRITICS

Andrew Tobias

Once upon a time, there was an emperor with no clothes. For the longest time no one noticed. As you will read in this marvelous book, there have been many naked emperors since. There will doubtless be many more.

Ron Insana

This is the most important book ever written about crowd psychology and, by extension, about financial markets. A serious student of the markets and even anyone interested in the extremes of human behavior should read this book!

Kenneth L. Fisher

You will see between its staid lines (written in ye olde English and as ponderable as Buddha's navel that, despite what the media says, nothing really important has changed in the financial markets in centuries.

Greg Heberlein