Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds (ISBN 051788433X) was written by Charles Mackay, published in 1843. The book chronicles and vilifies its targets in three parts: "National Delusions", "Peculiar Follies", and "Philosophical Delusions".

The book is lauded to the present day by financial names such as Andrew Tobias for its documentation of several economic bubbles. Most notably, the book is the definitive reference on the Dutch tulipomania craze of the 1600s, a national craze in which speculators from all walks of life bought and sold tulip bulbs and even futures, as some tulip bulb varieties briefly became the most expensive objects in the world, until the bubble burst in 1637.

Quotes

• "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."

External links

• Full text of the book