Excerpt from Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions, Vol. 2 A forest huge of spears and thronging helms Appear'd, and serried shields, in thick array. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
This “disturbing yet fascinating” exploration of mass mania through the ages explains the biological and psychological roots of irrationality (Kirkus Reviews). From time immemorial, contagious narratives have spread through susceptible groups—with enormous, often disastrous, consequences. Inspired by Charles Mackay’s nineteenth-century classic Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, neurologist and author William Bernstein examines mass delusion through the lens of current scientific research in The Delusions of Crowds. Bernstein tells the stories of dramatic religious and financial mania in western society over the last five hundred years—from the Anabaptist Madness of the 1530s to the dangerous End-Times beliefs that pervade today’s polarized America; and from the South Sea Bubble to the Enron scandal and dot com bubbles. Through Bernstein’s supple prose, the participants are as colorful as their “desire to improve one’s well-being in this life or the next.” Bernstein’s chronicles reveal the huge cost and alarming implications of mass mania. He observes that if we can absorb the history and biology of this all-too-human phenomenon, we can recognize it more readily in our own time, and avoid its frequently dire impact.
This is the full unabridged edition that includes all three volumes. In this book, Charles Mackay discusses the irrational behaviors of crowds in the economy, war and magic. He gives several different examples of market bubbles such as the Mississippi Scheme and the infamous Tulip Mania in the Netherlands. Ever since it was written, Investors have used it as a guide to help identify boom and bust cycles. Extraordinary Popular Delusions and The Madness of Crowds has had an important influence on economists in understanding of crowd psychology and feedback loops.
The author offers a look at depression in which he draws on his own battle with the illness and interviews with fellow sufferers, researchers, doctors, and others to assess the complexities of the disease, its causes and symptoms, and available therapies. This book examines depression in personal, cultural, and scientific terms. He confronts the challenge of defining the illness and describes the vast range of available medications, the efficacy of alternative treatments, and the impact the malady has on various demographic populations, around the world and throughout history. He also explores the thorny patch of moral and ethical questions posed by emerging biological explanations for mental illness. He takes readers on a journey into the most pervasive of family secrets and contributes to our understanding not only of mental illness but also of the human condition.
Confessions of a Government Man is filled with astute, often hilarious memoirs of Alan Greenberg's thirty-nine year career with the U.S. General Services Administration. His real-life tales of deception and sleight-of-hand maneuvers in high government places include a cast of characters worthy of Hollywood. A few of his stories are a bit risque and some show that incisive philosophical advice sometimes comes from the most unlikely sources. Throughout we see plenty of salty New York culture. At various times Greenberg was threatened with arrest and contempt of court, detained at gunpoint by a judge, had an off-the-cuff wisecrack end up on national television, and even had a curse put on him by a spiritual leader. Through it all he maintained his sense of humor. Greenberg gives us a true insider's vantage point. With contracting authority for a stack of taxpayer money, which went into the billions and had the potential for providing a lot of lifetime meal tickets, it was little wonder that Greenberg was very popular with the construction industry and any politician with an eye for publicity. Many of his stories give the reader insight into realities that media coverage somehow missed. Reporters, in their zeal to dig up dirt, often followed minutia while the true stories went unreported. One example was the $10 million "savings" to a project, which was actually a $40 million addition. Amazingly, nobody was the wiser. Experience is the best teacher, and during his many years on the job, Alan Greenberg knew what it was like to be under siege by the media, the Congress, the White House and concerned citizens. He developed rules of survival that enabled him to be a success in the large, complex bureaucracy of our government. He shares these years with us, happily turning them into a delightful and entertaining romp. * * * "Professor Parkinson would be proud. This book should be required reading in every business school. Solid lessons in business and life told in a most unique manner. Read the chapters in any sequence and the result is still the same - sound business logic with unforgettable memory joggers." - Barry Becher, Ginsu Knife Creator + co-author of The Wisdom of Ginsu "Mr. Greenberg's keen insight and humor make this an indispensable guide for anyone trying to survive and flourish in a large organization." - Len Fried, Director of Manufacturing Excellence (Retired), IBM Microelectronics "As our 'big-ass suit' author states...'they woke up on third base and thought they hit a triple.' Mr. Greenberg hit a home run with this most entertaining book. Well done, kid from Brooklyn, and CONGRATULATIONS for allowing us plain folk to see what really goes on behind the scenes in our government with its Damon Runyonesque cast of characters." - Lew Duberman, CFO (Retired), Helene Curtis Industries, Inc.
Financial crises happen time and again in post-industrial economies—and they are extraordinarily damaging. Building on insights gleaned from many years of work in the banking industry and drawing on a vast trove of data, Richard Vague argues that such crises follow a pattern that makes them both predictable and avoidable. A Brief History of Doom examines a series of major crises over the past 200 years in the United States, Great Britain, Germany, France, Japan, and China—including the Great Depression and the economic meltdown of 2008. Vague demonstrates that the over-accumulation of private debt does a better job than any other variable of explaining and predicting financial crises. In a series of clear and gripping chapters, he shows that in each case the rapid growth of loans produced widespread overcapacity, which then led to the spread of bad loans and bank failures. This cycle, according to Vague, is the essence of financial crises and the script they invariably follow. The story of financial crisis is fundamentally the story of private debt and runaway lending. Convinced that we have it within our power to break the cycle, Vague provides the tools to enable politicians, bankers, and private citizens to recognize and respond to the danger signs before it begins again.
Female Erasure is an anthology that celebrate female embodiment while exposing the current trend of gender-identity politics as a continuation of female erasure and silencing as old as patriarchy itself.
