Rating: 
Summary: look down to see a dumb review
Review: The review under this one is really dumb. Whoever wrote it is extremely dumb. I cannot believe how dumb you are. You can't even read this book; why do you think you have the right to "review" it? No wonder foreigners say Americans are dumb. I mean, we have people with college degrees running around who cannot even read a book written in 1840 IN ENGLISH! What language DO you speak? Sad. Also, Chaucer died in 1400.
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Summary: bubble, bubble, toil and trouble
Review: The thrust of this classic can be summed up in a single quote. The South Seas bubble of England took inspiration directly from John Law's Mississippi scheme in France, and though Law crashed and burned, the directors of Seven Seas fancied themselves smarter:
"Wise in their own conceit, they imagined they could avoid his faults, carry on their schemes for ever, and stretch the cord of credit to its extremest tension, without causing it to snap asunder."
And so goes most every bubble to this day, as bankers, politicians and the investing public continue to fancy themselves smarter than their kind of yesteryear. Mackay's revered tome is as much an endorsement of Austrian Economics as it is a documentation of mob psychology. The boom and bust cycle is fueled by easy credit, let loose in hopes of keeping the party going. As the velocity of money increases, ever more disjointed arguments are trotted out to justify ever higher valuations. The frenzy intensifies to a point of unsustainability, the true believers falter, and then it all comes crashing back to earth again.
Mackay also touches on the nature of bubbles as a wealth transfer mechanism from the many to the few. As in all bubbles, a handful of individuals walk away with dubious fortunes intact, leaving the scene (and often the country) before the tide turns. Simple observation shows why the public must always lose: if a bubble is based on credit and speculation rather than real productivity and real gains, the excess valuations are not supported by any sustainable means, and the temporary wealth effect is actually just a crowd of people sending inflated sums back and forth. Like musical chairs, the only way to win this game is to stop playing before everyone else does.
There is another amusing aspect to the book: the attempt of some academics to prove Mackay's bubbles justified, to say that fundamentals supported the valuations. This incredible stretch seems more herculean than attempts to maintain respectability for the flat earth society. Whether or not a tulip bulb's DNA is sufficiently rare, regardless of the South Sea company's genuine trade prospects, only an ivory tower academic could be so willfully obtuse as to dismiss the sheer frenzy of the times. During the South Seas bubble -which touched off a number of lesser speculative schemes- a small fortune was collected (and spirited from the country) on the strength of the following prospectus: "a company for carrying on an undertaking of great advantage, but nobody to know what it is." Does that ring a dot com bell or what?
It's easy to look back and think, "How could those people be so stupid? Surely we couldn't be that stupid today?" But stupidity is not necessary for the inflating of a bubble. All you need is a positive situation with compelling fundamentals (and even the fundamentals are optional, if you have conditions that create an illusion of their existence). If the fundamentals justify rational valuation R, then the bubble inflates as multiples are notched up to R x (HC / P), where H = hype, C = credit flows and P = prudence. As greed kicks in, a good story morphs into an amazingly incredible story, rationalizations abound, and the hand is inevitably overplayed. Easy credit fuels the fire as investors play ring around the rosie. Eventually they all fall down.
Mackay's bubbles will always be with us; the necessary conditions for their forming are rooted in the human condition. New innovations and new growth stories -biotech, the rise of asia, demographic shifts etc- will change the world in the long run while inspiring cyclical frenzy in the short run. The willingness of bankers, politicians and wall streeters to provide easy money is perhaps at a high point in history, and the public, as always, shows a remarkable lack of restraint with no sign of wising up. Game on.
Rating: 
Summary: THIS ISN'T THE BOOK YOU'RE LOOKING FOR.
Review: This book is a thin, thin, flimsy 98 page excerpt of the real 778 pagesbook. Don't buy it.
It is a flimsy thin paperback. IT IS NOT A HARDCOVER. AMAZON HAS IT LISTED WRONGLY.
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Summary: The Critics are Delusional
Review: This book is simply overrated. It made a justifiably big splash when it first came out as it was the first book of its kind, but it would better be regarded as a classic than a current, practical discourse on the subject matter. The topics covered in the book are comically broad, ranging from financial bubbles to the evolving role of facial hair in society, and there is no obvious direction the reader is being led. I found the author's treatment of the subject matter to vary from an almost mockingly humerous satirical style to the historian's painful detailing of mindless minutia necessitating a quick couple page flips here and there. Yes, there is an interesting collage of bits and pieces to be found here, however the book more resembles the ramblings of a hermitic professor than something I would recommend to someone seriously seeking to expand their knowledge.
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Summary: A casebook of human folly
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: Have a good English dictionary at your side...
Review: This is a fascinating book, once you can decipher the Chaucer-like English that Mackay uses. Keep in mind this book was written 160 years ago! I'm 30 and I have a Bachelor of Science degree and still have to look up one or two words per page. Some paragraphs I had to read twice to understand. It ain't Dr. Seuss we're reading here! If you can put up with ye olde English then this book does make for a fascinating tale of how fads develop and multi-level-marketing schemes are born. The stories can teach us why chain e-mail will never die and why the "dinner parties" of 1999 sprang up.
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Summary: Having trouble sleeping?
Review: This is a great sleep aid. Too long, and he uses too many complicated words when simple ones would have worked just as well. I suggest skimming through it instead of trying to read it cover to cover. It contains some interesting information about alchemy, haunted houses, the crusades and other things, but you have to wade through his verbage and unneccessary details to get to it.
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Summary: A classic and very entertaining, a bit grim of course
Review: This is a true favorite of mine, and I just wanted to make a quick plug for it. Let me just mention that I am not usually attracted so strongly to books from the 1800s written by Englishmen. In this case, I was thrilled to see it was in fact from that time.
Mr. Charles Mackay is telling the stories of several of the more absurd moments in Western history. I think that for an Englishman to do this in the time in which he was living, well, called for an unusual character, and desire to expose the truth. I believe that Mr. Mackay was historically accurate in the episodes he was chronicling, and in my reading I have had a few confirmations of his accuracy from other sources.
In my recollection, there were richly detailed chapters dedicated to the follies concerning alchemy, witchcraft, witch burnings and persecutions, financial follies, the Crusades, and the "New Age" follies of his own time (The term "New Age" as most folks know it now was coined in Mr. Mackay's time here in the USA, although I have that from another source.)
Perhaps most enlightening or alarming, for those who don't know, is his histories of the witch burnings of Europe, England and America. It might put one the persecutions and mass murders of Jews in Europe in the 1940's, of Budhists in Tibet now, of Joseph Stalin's butchery, or of the American persecution and killing of its own aboriginals, in a more realistic light.
The chapter dedicated to the Crusades I would recommend for anybody wanting a bit more background for the how and why's of our Middle East war. I wouldn't leave it at that though, and would recommend a book or two by Karen Armstrong as well, or instead if that is your main interest.
His interest in massive financial scams and market hysteria taking place in the 18th and 19th Centuries was particularly enlightening. It is both reassuring and humbling to know that our American S&L scams and the latest stock market frauds are nothing new. Very humorous and educational.
Mr. Mackay, all in all, exposes some of the truths we were seldom encouraged to see in our school days, and to me is one of many heroes of healthy skepticism and critical thinking, and a guard against blindly following the crowd. The book is also an argument towards humility, reminding us that so many who have done terrible wrongs, were certain they were doing God's work.
Not the most cheery reading, but for anybody who has even once suspected we are living in a fiction, and the truth is "out there" somewhere; you will find relief here. Surely everybody in America has felt that at one time or another.
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Summary: The definitive book of manias
Review: This is it. If you want to know how many times the world has been gripped by madness then look no farther than the reprinted edition of MacKay's classic. Written in that wonderful Olde English style of the early 19th century, MacKay takes us on a tour of the world's most horrifying manias - up to about 1840 anyway. I particularly liked the chapter on witchcraft and witch hunts since it told me everything I'll ever need to know on why seemingly intelligent groups of people band together to banish or murder innocent members of society - just because they are different. Another engaging chapter deals with millennialism - the fear and dread that grips society at the end of each millennium. If you thought the end of the last one brought turbulence, you should read what happened a thousand years ago. This book is often quoted by stock market pundits and talking heads as if it were a treatise on irrational behaviour in the financial markets. In fact, it is much more than that. It deals with irrational behaviour and mass stupidity in all walks of life. Five Stars.
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Summary: This book is an example of a popular delusion...
Review: This was recommended by some famous people as a "must read" for serious investors. The people who rant and rave about how great this book is must have only read the inside jacket. There is 160 pages on the Alchymists alone, which like most of the book, could have been summed up in a third of the space. This book is so stretched out it's ridiculous, I'm willing to bet 90% of those who attempt to read it never finish. I'm warning you now, as an avid reader of financial books, this is one of the slowest reads you will ever encounter.......ugh.
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