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The Delusions of Crowds
From the award-winning author of A Splendid Exchange, a fascinating new history of financial and religious mass manias over the past five centuries
"We are the apes who tell stories," writes William Bernstein. "And no matter how misleading the narrative, if it is compelling enough it will nearly always trump the facts." As Bernstein shows in his eloquent and persuasive new book, The Delusions of Crowds, throughout human history compelling stories have catalyzed the spread of contagious narratives through susceptible groups--with enormous, often disastrous, consequences.
Inspired by Charles Mackay's 19th-century classic Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, Bernstein engages with mass delusion with the same curiosity and passion, but armed with the latest scientific research that explains the biological, evolutionary, and psychosocial roots of human irrationality. Bernstein tells the stories of dramatic religious and financial mania in western society over the last 500 years--from the Anabaptist Madness that afflicted the Low Countries in the 1530s to the dangerous End-Times beliefs that animate ISIS and pervade today's polarized America; and from the South Sea Bubble to the Enron scandal and dot com bubbles of recent years. Through Bernstein's supple prose, the participants are as colorful as their motivation, invariably "the desire to improve one's well-being in this life or the next."
As revealing about human nature as they are historically significant, Bernstein's chronicles reveal the huge cost and alarming implications of mass mania: for example, belief in dispensationalist End-Times has over decades profoundly affected U.S. Middle East policy. Bernstein observes that if we can absorb the history and biology of mass delusion, we can recognize it more readily in our own time, and avoid its frequently dire impact.
"We are the apes who tell stories," writes William Bernstein. "And no matter how misleading the narrative, if it is compelling enough it will nearly always trump the facts." As Bernstein shows in his eloquent and persuasive new book, The Delusions of Crowds, throughout human history compelling stories have catalyzed the spread of contagious narratives through susceptible groups--with enormous, often disastrous, consequences.
Inspired by Charles Mackay's 19th-century classic Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, Bernstein engages with mass delusion with the same curiosity and passion, but armed with the latest scientific research that explains the biological, evolutionary, and psychosocial roots of human irrationality. Bernstein tells the stories of dramatic religious and financial mania in western society over the last 500 years--from the Anabaptist Madness that afflicted the Low Countries in the 1530s to the dangerous End-Times beliefs that animate ISIS and pervade today's polarized America; and from the South Sea Bubble to the Enron scandal and dot com bubbles of recent years. Through Bernstein's supple prose, the participants are as colorful as their motivation, invariably "the desire to improve one's well-being in this life or the next."
As revealing about human nature as they are historically significant, Bernstein's chronicles reveal the huge cost and alarming implications of mass mania: for example, belief in dispensationalist End-Times has over decades profoundly affected U.S. Middle East policy. Bernstein observes that if we can absorb the history and biology of mass delusion, we can recognize it more readily in our own time, and avoid its frequently dire impact.
496 pages, Hardcover
First published February 23, 2021
332 people are currently reading
2945 people want to read
About the author
William J. Bernstein
24 books465 followersWilliam J. Bernstein is an American financial theorist and neurologist. His research is in the field of modern portfolio theory and he has published books for individual investors who wish to manage their own equity portfolios. He lives in Portland, Oregon.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 122 reviews
May 12, 2022
A very disappointing book, but still possibly useful.
I am a city-dwelling American. I occasionally meet other city-dwelling Americans who said that they don't understand the often non-city-dwelling population, that is, those who support Donald Trump, refuse vaccinations, and dislike education and the educated. This book does not explain the thoughts of every member of that population, of course, but an influential sub-group are believers of, as Bernstein calls it, the "dispensationalist end-times narrative", perhaps familiar to fellow book nerds from the once-popular Left Behind series. This book explains more clearly what people in this group believe, which parts of The Bible they draw on to support their beliefs, as well as which parts they ignore because they contradict same.
Bernstein explains these beliefs clearly but with undisguised disdain. This has led certain nitwits here on Goodreads and elsewhere to say that Bernstein is anti-Christian, perhaps because, as Bernstein notes, this group often defines Christian as exclusively those who agree with their lunatic interpretations of the Book of Revelation and other texts. This book is not anti-Christian. For example, he praises theologian Reinhold Niebuhr (page 238), and I strongly suspect that the author has no quarrel with members of the Christian community who feed the hungry and heal the sick. It is anti-dispensationalist.
That's the useful part. Now I'd like to write about the disappointing part.
My Kindle tells me that this book is 415 pages long, from table of contents to acknowledgments (that is, not including notes, etc.). I think this could have been a really good 275-page book.
To make this an excellent 275-page book, the author (or his editor) could have eliminated digressions and unnecessary expressions of opinion that do not advance the author's thesis. There are many in this book, but I'd like to point out one especially clear and easily-remedied example.
Chapter 5 narrates a history of failed apocalyptic prediction in the US, especially in the "Second Great Awakening" of the 1840s, focusing on one particular failed but sympathetic prophet of doom named William Miller. It's an interesting period of history, and Miller's story is compelling. On page 142, Bernstein interrupts this story to ridicule -- for one paragraph -- Erich Von Daniken, author of a 1970s bestselling book which contended that extraterrestrials visited earth. Now, I am old enough to remember this book and the simpletons who took it seriously, so I understand the urge to subject this bilgewater to the disapproprium it richly deserves. But it just doesn't fit here. Von Daniken is not mentioned before or after in the book, and subjecting his dimwitted bestseller to a tongue-lashing, no matter how deserved, is pointless in a narrative which is, at that point, about the credulousness of mid-19th century Christians.
Lest you get the idea that this book is relentless Christian-bashing, rest assured that other recent villains also come in for a paddling, particularly stock-market bubble-makers and internet-savvy Islamic extremists, but the distracting authorial opining remains the same.
It's a shame that the writing in this book was not tighter, because I think that the author's main ideas, including the idea that we now better understand the medical basis for crowd-driven belief in the transparently false, due to recent advances in brain science, are important for people to know, and could increase understanding of why things are the way they are.
I am a city-dwelling American. I occasionally meet other city-dwelling Americans who said that they don't understand the often non-city-dwelling population, that is, those who support Donald Trump, refuse vaccinations, and dislike education and the educated. This book does not explain the thoughts of every member of that population, of course, but an influential sub-group are believers of, as Bernstein calls it, the "dispensationalist end-times narrative", perhaps familiar to fellow book nerds from the once-popular Left Behind series. This book explains more clearly what people in this group believe, which parts of The Bible they draw on to support their beliefs, as well as which parts they ignore because they contradict same.
Bernstein explains these beliefs clearly but with undisguised disdain. This has led certain nitwits here on Goodreads and elsewhere to say that Bernstein is anti-Christian, perhaps because, as Bernstein notes, this group often defines Christian as exclusively those who agree with their lunatic interpretations of the Book of Revelation and other texts. This book is not anti-Christian. For example, he praises theologian Reinhold Niebuhr (page 238), and I strongly suspect that the author has no quarrel with members of the Christian community who feed the hungry and heal the sick. It is anti-dispensationalist.
That's the useful part. Now I'd like to write about the disappointing part.
My Kindle tells me that this book is 415 pages long, from table of contents to acknowledgments (that is, not including notes, etc.). I think this could have been a really good 275-page book.
To make this an excellent 275-page book, the author (or his editor) could have eliminated digressions and unnecessary expressions of opinion that do not advance the author's thesis. There are many in this book, but I'd like to point out one especially clear and easily-remedied example.
Chapter 5 narrates a history of failed apocalyptic prediction in the US, especially in the "Second Great Awakening" of the 1840s, focusing on one particular failed but sympathetic prophet of doom named William Miller. It's an interesting period of history, and Miller's story is compelling. On page 142, Bernstein interrupts this story to ridicule -- for one paragraph -- Erich Von Daniken, author of a 1970s bestselling book which contended that extraterrestrials visited earth. Now, I am old enough to remember this book and the simpletons who took it seriously, so I understand the urge to subject this bilgewater to the disapproprium it richly deserves. But it just doesn't fit here. Von Daniken is not mentioned before or after in the book, and subjecting his dimwitted bestseller to a tongue-lashing, no matter how deserved, is pointless in a narrative which is, at that point, about the credulousness of mid-19th century Christians.
Lest you get the idea that this book is relentless Christian-bashing, rest assured that other recent villains also come in for a paddling, particularly stock-market bubble-makers and internet-savvy Islamic extremists, but the distracting authorial opining remains the same.
It's a shame that the writing in this book was not tighter, because I think that the author's main ideas, including the idea that we now better understand the medical basis for crowd-driven belief in the transparently false, due to recent advances in brain science, are important for people to know, and could increase understanding of why things are the way they are.
April 4, 2021
Overall, pretty good.
The middle section is significantly brought down by his sneering tone towards evangelical Protestants (and religious people in general).
I would have appreciated a section on "scientific" delusions, such as eugenics, polywater, N-rays, and so forth. It would have leavened his religious bigotry significantly.
The middle section is significantly brought down by his sneering tone towards evangelical Protestants (and religious people in general).
I would have appreciated a section on "scientific" delusions, such as eugenics, polywater, N-rays, and so forth. It would have leavened his religious bigotry significantly.
May 3, 2025
This book started out pretty good. Goes through some of the standard bubbles or mass delusions over history. Then, as is always the case the book at the 200 mark devolves into Marxist propaganda. He starts arguing mass group delusions mostly stem from Christianity, which is clearly not true given they happen in every culture. He uses this to say the Republican Party is driven off mob mentality and thus untrustworthy. The complete lack of any examination of Leftist mass delusions like the French Revolution, Mao or Stalin is a disgrace. This book claims to be about the science of crowds but there’s practically nothing on that. I wanted to read about the neurology or human nature but I don’t think this author even believes in human nature.
February 8, 2021
The Delusions of Crowds by William J Bernstein is in many ways an updating of Charles Mackay’s Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions. Because they resonate with people and to keep the length of the book manageable, he limited his examples to financial and religious mass manias. In other words, he avoided political, or at least overtly political, manias.
I really enjoyed learning more about these events/periods and even where I knew a little about them Bernstein's depth offered new information and insight for me. No doubt some people who believe that the end-times will be in their lifetimes will find fault with his approach to our current mass maniacs, even to the point of claiming that they are different. Well, same hard to understand book as source material and very similar mindsets, but yeah, different. If you don't believe them, they have zip ties for your hands and a gallows outside.
That particular delusional group aside, the history, psychology, and neuroscience covered in helping to explain why we, as humans, are so prone to these mass hysterias is intriguing.
The only reason I deducted a star is because at times I found myself reading the historical accounts, enjoying them, but forgetting what the point of the book was. It all came together, the details were definitely helpful, but at times I felt like I was reading a straightforward history book rather than one with a unifying theme. I don't mean to imply he left the topic, more that I just got so wrapped up in the historical account I lost sight of the purpose.
Highly recommended for readers who wonder how and why these types of things are so common. Also for those who simply enjoy reading well-written accounts of strange historical events.
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.
I really enjoyed learning more about these events/periods and even where I knew a little about them Bernstein's depth offered new information and insight for me. No doubt some people who believe that the end-times will be in their lifetimes will find fault with his approach to our current mass maniacs, even to the point of claiming that they are different. Well, same hard to understand book as source material and very similar mindsets, but yeah, different. If you don't believe them, they have zip ties for your hands and a gallows outside.
That particular delusional group aside, the history, psychology, and neuroscience covered in helping to explain why we, as humans, are so prone to these mass hysterias is intriguing.
The only reason I deducted a star is because at times I found myself reading the historical accounts, enjoying them, but forgetting what the point of the book was. It all came together, the details were definitely helpful, but at times I felt like I was reading a straightforward history book rather than one with a unifying theme. I don't mean to imply he left the topic, more that I just got so wrapped up in the historical account I lost sight of the purpose.
Highly recommended for readers who wonder how and why these types of things are so common. Also for those who simply enjoy reading well-written accounts of strange historical events.
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.
June 9, 2021
I hesitated between 3 starts and 5 on this one.
It's an incredibly insightful book full of fascinating new analytical perspectives on this mystery of why people behave so irrationally as crowds.
A few chapters were a bit too long and detailed which made it hard to follow and not engaging, especially the many chapters about dispensationalists (which the author is clearly not a fan of, with the minute level of detailed criticism and analysis of minor historical figures).
That's why I considered the 3 starts. However, there are just a few too many nuggets of valuable wisdom throughout the book that I haven't read anywhere else that justify the 5 stars.
I particularly enjoyed learning about the distinction between IQ and RQ which I haven't heard before and explains so much why so many extremely intelligent people make very stupid decisions. Intelligence and rational thinking aren't correlated (unlike what many smart people would assume).
So if you enjoy a heavy detailed read that leads to some amazing insights I highly recommend it. If you prefer your readings to be on the lighter side and less detailed about some minor historical events this might not quite be the book for you.
It's an incredibly insightful book full of fascinating new analytical perspectives on this mystery of why people behave so irrationally as crowds.
A few chapters were a bit too long and detailed which made it hard to follow and not engaging, especially the many chapters about dispensationalists (which the author is clearly not a fan of, with the minute level of detailed criticism and analysis of minor historical figures).
That's why I considered the 3 starts. However, there are just a few too many nuggets of valuable wisdom throughout the book that I haven't read anywhere else that justify the 5 stars.
I particularly enjoyed learning about the distinction between IQ and RQ which I haven't heard before and explains so much why so many extremely intelligent people make very stupid decisions. Intelligence and rational thinking aren't correlated (unlike what many smart people would assume).
So if you enjoy a heavy detailed read that leads to some amazing insights I highly recommend it. If you prefer your readings to be on the lighter side and less detailed about some minor historical events this might not quite be the book for you.
June 20, 2021
While the chapters on financial manias are somewhat entertaining as well as educative, the same cannot be said about the coverage of religious apocalyptic movements.
The author simply goes too hard too fast into the religious topics and the name and date dropping with constant side-mentions becomes fatiguing. More concise, context-aware notes would have been more useful. If I wanted a list of dry enumerations sans the scorny wording, I could have just read the Wikipedia articles on the topics.
Bernstein makes sure to dedicate half of the book to religious prozelitism, but conveniently leaves out science-backed mass blunders (such as lobotomies or eugenics). For coverage on the other side of the moon I recommend Pandora's Lab: Seven Stories of Science Gone Wrong by Paul A. Offit.
The most interesting part of Delusions of Crowds was the conclusion.
The author simply goes too hard too fast into the religious topics and the name and date dropping with constant side-mentions becomes fatiguing. More concise, context-aware notes would have been more useful. If I wanted a list of dry enumerations sans the scorny wording, I could have just read the Wikipedia articles on the topics.
Bernstein makes sure to dedicate half of the book to religious prozelitism, but conveniently leaves out science-backed mass blunders (such as lobotomies or eugenics). For coverage on the other side of the moon I recommend Pandora's Lab: Seven Stories of Science Gone Wrong by Paul A. Offit.
The most interesting part of Delusions of Crowds was the conclusion.
April 9, 2021
The author says people don’t analyze the world but tend to rationalize how the facts conform to their emotions. We respond more to narratives than to facts and data. Bernstein combines elements of neuropsychology, social psychology, evolutionary psychology, financial economics, and history. Religion and financial manias might seem to have little in common, but the underlying need is to improve one’s well-being in this life or the next. He feels the well-educated person today has little need for a theological explanation about the natural world.
“But that’s not how people behave; when we hold strong opinions on a topic, we intentionally avoid exposing ourselves to contrary data, and when disconfirming information can no longer be ignored, it can trigger the proselytization of delusional beliefs, as happened with Dorothy Martin’s flying saucer sect.” p.411
“But that’s not how people behave; when we hold strong opinions on a topic, we intentionally avoid exposing ourselves to contrary data, and when disconfirming information can no longer be ignored, it can trigger the proselytization of delusional beliefs, as happened with Dorothy Martin’s flying saucer sect.” p.411
Read
December 14, 2020I received an advance readers copy thinking that i would love it. Buuuuuuut - it was just too much. Way more depth and material than i was prepared for. I think this book would make a suitable textbook for a semester-long study on the topic, with a heavy leaning on finance. I made it through 13% when i gave up. I expect that some people will really appreciate the depth of study that obviously went into creating this work, but it’s more than i was prepared for.
August 1, 2021
so anyway this book is more of an extremely dense dissertation on a handful of ideas (money, religion, predictions of the apocalypse) with some historical examples relayed in excruciatingly thorough detail (not to mention at times downright meandering), than it is, like, a breakdown of the science of crowd induced hysteria and delusions. although it has the occasional pocket of interesting moments, this one was a slog
April 16, 2021
Anyone that sees the things that are happening now will see that they happened then and again, and again
A fly over that lets you see today , through the history of yesteryear, which repeats again and again. I find this very comforting it allows me to see the arc of much of today....
A fly over that lets you see today , through the history of yesteryear, which repeats again and again. I find this very comforting it allows me to see the arc of much of today....
June 29, 2021
This book was very well researched a lot of detail on all the mass delusions. However, it did very little explaining of WHY. "Why?" was touched upon briefly in just a few pages in the book, which is little more than a detailed view of a dozen or so examples. The examples are all of two types: financial and religious. Only in the final few pages did the author touch upon Nazism, which certainly deserved a chapter in place of one of the many sections on Zionism.
January 27, 2022
Berstein too much enjoys his personal role of how he labels humans: apes who tell stories. I have no problem with that reductive statement. The problem is, he has trouble getting to the heart of a story and rambles on for pages and pages of unnecessary historic details for his examples of the stupid things humans have done in crowds.
His examples include military, financial, religious, ghosts, witches, and UFOs with side trips to other delusions.
Basic to his process is examining four characteristics of financial delusions (and how similar they are to other delusions):
1. Financial speculation begins to dominate social interactions.
2. Otherwise sensible people quit reliable jobs to speculate in stocks.
3. Skepticism is met with vehemence.
4. Normal people begin to make (and believe) outlandish financial forecasts.
It doesn't take much to interpret these characteristics in the terms of the other mentioned delusions. This is where the story telling aspect comes in. The creation of a gripping narrative is necessary to attracting and holding the interest of suckers, er, people. Think for a moment about cult delusions, and how logic can't hope to curtain them. The current dispensationalism of US xians defies all logic other than the one imbedded in their collective delusions. Unfortunately, those idiots continue to direct American foreign policy. It will take us a long time to extract the US from the idiocy of the Trump family actions in the "Middle East."
His examples include military, financial, religious, ghosts, witches, and UFOs with side trips to other delusions.
Basic to his process is examining four characteristics of financial delusions (and how similar they are to other delusions):
1. Financial speculation begins to dominate social interactions.
2. Otherwise sensible people quit reliable jobs to speculate in stocks.
3. Skepticism is met with vehemence.
4. Normal people begin to make (and believe) outlandish financial forecasts.
It doesn't take much to interpret these characteristics in the terms of the other mentioned delusions. This is where the story telling aspect comes in. The creation of a gripping narrative is necessary to attracting and holding the interest of suckers, er, people. Think for a moment about cult delusions, and how logic can't hope to curtain them. The current dispensationalism of US xians defies all logic other than the one imbedded in their collective delusions. Unfortunately, those idiots continue to direct American foreign policy. It will take us a long time to extract the US from the idiocy of the Trump family actions in the "Middle East."
July 10, 2021
Some interesting, insightful history here but a broader scope beyond economics and religion would make for a stronger book.
June 27, 2021
Why do people go mad in crowds? Good question. Despite the subtitle, this book does not provide a succinct answer, although it does present several historical accounts of when people did succumb to irrational economic and religious beliefs. Underlying them all is the premise that humans are not rational creatures. Not predominantly, anyway. Sure, given sufficient time to examine a situation, they may make rational choices, from time to time, but for the most part, nope. Most human behavior is based on instinct, learned heuristics, cultural narratives, beliefs, habits, and emotions. That's not news. Any casual observer of human behavior will notice the same.
About half of this book (a rough, personal estimate) is devoted to apocalyptic doomsday type cults, from Anabaptist to Islamic State, and how the believers in these narratives react when their fiction hits fact like a bug on a windshield. It's a scary, even depressing topic because of the harm a small, devoted, and utterly insane group of people can cause before it ultimately fails or evolves into something a bit less extreme (like Millerites becoming Adventists). And if this kind of pathological behavior is indeed based on our evolutionary heritage, one has to wonder if we are, ironically, doomed. Will all future generations be plagued by this kind of madness? Will our species be destroyed by it? Well, maybe, and this brings up another omission I thought existed with this book. A few possible ways to mitigate such insanity are mentioned at one point. It seems that affluence has some effect on the formation of apocalyptic cults. Scientific and historical education might help. I would assume that greater equality of income, wealth, and opportunity would also tend to suppress the formation of irrational narratives, but the question is never pursued and no summation is provided.
This isn't a bad treatment of this important subject, but I felt it could be better.
About half of this book (a rough, personal estimate) is devoted to apocalyptic doomsday type cults, from Anabaptist to Islamic State, and how the believers in these narratives react when their fiction hits fact like a bug on a windshield. It's a scary, even depressing topic because of the harm a small, devoted, and utterly insane group of people can cause before it ultimately fails or evolves into something a bit less extreme (like Millerites becoming Adventists). And if this kind of pathological behavior is indeed based on our evolutionary heritage, one has to wonder if we are, ironically, doomed. Will all future generations be plagued by this kind of madness? Will our species be destroyed by it? Well, maybe, and this brings up another omission I thought existed with this book. A few possible ways to mitigate such insanity are mentioned at one point. It seems that affluence has some effect on the formation of apocalyptic cults. Scientific and historical education might help. I would assume that greater equality of income, wealth, and opportunity would also tend to suppress the formation of irrational narratives, but the question is never pursued and no summation is provided.
This isn't a bad treatment of this important subject, but I felt it could be better.
May 25, 2021
(Audiobook) I found myself liking this book more than I initially thought. Bernstein primarily focuses on trends that have religious and financial implications. Cults/religious revivals and stock market/finanical bubbles have quite a lot of similarities, in that they resonate within the masses and will drive people to act in irrational ways. Whereas people might have reservations/concerns about various movements, if something takes off and attracts a lot of attention, then people lose that reserve and find themselves caught up in the activity, always expecting a positive result, when the reality is likely going to end up far different.
Bernstein uses a combination of scientific and historic data, with various anecdotal accounts to help advance how people can allow emotions and feelings to overcome logic and evidence. While he admits that he is not focusing on political movements, the religious and financial actions he describes has political implications. Still, this is a timely, relevant work, and while aspects can be amplified by social media, the concepts in the book are timeless. Worth the read in whatever format.
Bernstein uses a combination of scientific and historic data, with various anecdotal accounts to help advance how people can allow emotions and feelings to overcome logic and evidence. While he admits that he is not focusing on political movements, the religious and financial actions he describes has political implications. Still, this is a timely, relevant work, and while aspects can be amplified by social media, the concepts in the book are timeless. Worth the read in whatever format.
August 3, 2021
This book did not reveal any new events or issues but did a great job presenting some complex issues in a very readable/approachable style. It ran out of steam for me once it hit some of the most recent events as these last few chapters just didn't seem to click as well as earlier ones.
With the current state of human affairs in the US, the history and similarities of insanity of crowds throughout history was facinating and I must admit a bit depressing. I always knew that a large percentage of any population is going to be mmmm.... stupid, ignorant, delusional, etc. etc. about certain events/issues but the similarities across nations, eras, classes etc. is quite telling.
Give it a try.
With the current state of human affairs in the US, the history and similarities of insanity of crowds throughout history was facinating and I must admit a bit depressing. I always knew that a large percentage of any population is going to be mmmm.... stupid, ignorant, delusional, etc. etc. about certain events/issues but the similarities across nations, eras, classes etc. is quite telling.
Give it a try.
January 12, 2022
I ended up DNFing this book at the 85% mark. Yes I know I was almost done. Fuck you if you think I should have forced myself to finish it.
I feel like this book was severely mis-marketed. I picked up this book assuming it would be stories about bouts of madness throughout history and an educated explanation of the events. Boy was I wrong.
Instead it's a tome of financial events throughout history, which sure, could still be interested. But it's not what I signed up for. Overall I was incredibly bored trying to care about millionaires who struggle in the economy. Sorry bud, I struggle paycheck to paycheck, so you get zero of my sympathy points.
I feel like this book was severely mis-marketed. I picked up this book assuming it would be stories about bouts of madness throughout history and an educated explanation of the events. Boy was I wrong.
Instead it's a tome of financial events throughout history, which sure, could still be interested. But it's not what I signed up for. Overall I was incredibly bored trying to care about millionaires who struggle in the economy. Sorry bud, I struggle paycheck to paycheck, so you get zero of my sympathy points.
October 2, 2021
A collection of historical religious and financial mass delusions..the book is full of information..a godown of trivia..the sub title is misleading..the book does not explain why we have these mass delusions but merely discusses all the major delusional instances..I listened to the book on Audible
December 29, 2023
The best economic history book that I have ever read, ‘A Splendid Exchange’, was written by William Bernstein. This is why when I saw another work by him which was at the very least, proximate to economics and finance, I decided to read up immediately. However, this one was frankly, meh at best. This has little to do with the contents of the book, which as the title suggests, is building off of Charles Mackay’s book by a very similar name, albeit written in the 19th century. Bernstein upgrades the contents bringing in knowledge from the 20th and 21st century, namely in cognitive biases and other illusions to show how a lot of herd behavior and individual behavior in markets and otherwise, is driven by the delusional behavior of individuals amplifying trends. However, there was not anything particularly insightful or novel for anyone who knows finance and has read anything on behavioral economics.
Behavioral finance as a subset of behavioral economics does not really seem to offer anything exceptional insightful which the parent field already has not demarcated. Furthermore as in our time as issues related to behavioral economics have become more prominent and I daresay more interesting – ranging from replication failures as well as more intellectual weaknesses (as highlighted by Ole Peters and Nassim Taleb, dealing with ergodicity and the ‘rationality’ of choice). None of these are recognized or addressed in this book, which seems to be making a case for behavioral finance without explicitly using the term, and so suffers from the weaknesses and challenges faced by behavioral economics. This makes for the book a mediocre read, which given the expectations I had from it, leads me to rate it lower than what others might have.
Rating 3 of 5
Behavioral finance as a subset of behavioral economics does not really seem to offer anything exceptional insightful which the parent field already has not demarcated. Furthermore as in our time as issues related to behavioral economics have become more prominent and I daresay more interesting – ranging from replication failures as well as more intellectual weaknesses (as highlighted by Ole Peters and Nassim Taleb, dealing with ergodicity and the ‘rationality’ of choice). None of these are recognized or addressed in this book, which seems to be making a case for behavioral finance without explicitly using the term, and so suffers from the weaknesses and challenges faced by behavioral economics. This makes for the book a mediocre read, which given the expectations I had from it, leads me to rate it lower than what others might have.
Rating 3 of 5
November 27, 2023
A dense and fascinating exploration of mass delusions, informed by evolutionary psychology and illustrated with examples from finance and religion. I found the finance examples hard going but loved the weird, lurid and wacky world of Christian End Times mythology. It is absolutely astonishing to me that any thinking human could subscribe to such nonsense, but Bernstein does a masterful job of explaining how the human psyche can embrace it so tightly.
I found myself thinking often during my reading about our current dangerous mass delusion - that the 2020 election was “stolen”. Two of Bernstein’s conditions for mass delusion help us understand this irrational belief: contagion and confirmation bias. In the epilogue, he writes “As ever more of those around us share the same delusion, the more likely we are to believe it…” and in our siloed and divided country, we are most likely to be surrounded, physically and virtually, by those who already share our biases. Bernstein deliberately chose to avoid political delusions…can we please have a second volume, please?
I found myself thinking often during my reading about our current dangerous mass delusion - that the 2020 election was “stolen”. Two of Bernstein’s conditions for mass delusion help us understand this irrational belief: contagion and confirmation bias. In the epilogue, he writes “As ever more of those around us share the same delusion, the more likely we are to believe it…” and in our siloed and divided country, we are most likely to be surrounded, physically and virtually, by those who already share our biases. Bernstein deliberately chose to avoid political delusions…can we please have a second volume, please?
December 29, 2022
well it’s certainly a history book. i really thought there’d be more analysis, the “why” advertised in the subtitle. but it was really just a back and forth narrative between premillennial dispensationalism and financial manias spanning the last few centuries. luckily i’m pretty into one of those things so i wasn’t bored to tears, and the prose was pretty good (if a bit dry). the structure just didn’t make much sense to me as a BOOK. it felt more like a really good undergraduate thesis. also one bone to pick: when he said falwell got into politics after roe v wade i actually screamed aloud because this is sooooo so deeply not true and felt like incredibly lazy scholarship to just take falwell’s word for it? you don’t have to do a lot of digging to find out that it was actually racial integration that spurred him into political action. there’s a whole npr series on it! okay done. happy 100th book to me!
August 13, 2025
3.5 rounded down. Dense, overly detailed, and somewhat repetitive but an interesting topic with a mostly engaging representation. Lots of the examples are religion based, and maybe could have been condensed with editing as it led to the repetitive feel I rounded down for. I would pick up something from this author again.
June 28, 2023
What is the dumbest thing you have believed? For how long? You start the book with: “I can’t believe people…”; you end the book thinking there should be local AA’s to share them.
June 13, 2022
It loses me during the religious sections and needs to emphasise more the lessons of its examples which tend to get lost in the extended breakdown.
November 12, 2022
Ditched this book 60% through for the following reasons:
1. Only religion manias and financial bubbles count in Bernstein's definition of "manias". Even though the first is something a group experiences and the latter is (sometimes) something a whole nation experiences. And yet other periods of insane and deadly delusions are not even considered as manias, such as whatever convinced the contestants in WW1's western fighting to escalate the conflict into a 4-year meat grinder, or Japan's WW2 military fanaticism. I mostly read about 20th century history so these two pop to mind, but I'm sure there are more such examples throughout history.
2. Bernstein keeps saying all financial bubbles are the same, but he insists on exhausingly cover every tiny detail of every bubble he can think of. We get it, greed makes people stupid.
3. The man is obsessed with Israel, like, pathologically. Evangelists keep fucking around with our history and politics but, to judge by the scant coverage of this fuckery versus the maticulous (historically inaccurate and cherry-picky to a fault) coverage of every minute of jewish history, it's heavily implied that we're to blame for it. What the fuck ever, man.
1. Only religion manias and financial bubbles count in Bernstein's definition of "manias". Even though the first is something a group experiences and the latter is (sometimes) something a whole nation experiences. And yet other periods of insane and deadly delusions are not even considered as manias, such as whatever convinced the contestants in WW1's western fighting to escalate the conflict into a 4-year meat grinder, or Japan's WW2 military fanaticism. I mostly read about 20th century history so these two pop to mind, but I'm sure there are more such examples throughout history.
2. Bernstein keeps saying all financial bubbles are the same, but he insists on exhausingly cover every tiny detail of every bubble he can think of. We get it, greed makes people stupid.
3. The man is obsessed with Israel, like, pathologically. Evangelists keep fucking around with our history and politics but, to judge by the scant coverage of this fuckery versus the maticulous (historically inaccurate and cherry-picky to a fault) coverage of every minute of jewish history, it's heavily implied that we're to blame for it. What the fuck ever, man.
May 2, 2021
Very much in the tradition of Mackay's original book "on extraordinary delusions and madness of crowds" focuses on mass delusions and folly mostly in religious apocalypticism and in financial foolishness in the corporate world and the stock trading world very much the focus of Mackay's original work. Unfortunately for us and unlike Mackay's time the stakes have gotten higher and the price that potentially we have to for the madness of crowds these days is tied up with human future survivability in the nuclear age. And the fact that this is widely known feeds into even more apocalyptic madness and doomsday behavior by some religions. Meanwhile, captains of industry and finance and government leaders at the commanding heights are just as reckless and delusional. I may be delusional myself after reading all the dangerous folly bordering on existential risk I am even more convinced of my own possible delusion that we are a surviving sliver of living worlds in host of worlds destroyed by fools or natural calamity. That is another story however.
July 25, 2021
If you want very clear opinions from an author about all the things they dislike about the world, please pick up a copy of this book. Opinions abound.
If this book had been half the length it actually is, and you were to cut out most of the dislike for, say, people in general, then this would be a much more tolerable work. I had high hopes for this, but after reading it, the best I can say, is that it isn't the worst book I have ever read. The author does have some valid points throughout the book, but unfortunately, I found him so unlikable that it is difficult to even concede those points.
Perhaps this was just not my kind of book. Personality clash. Regardless, I think if you read this you will be in one camp or the other, and not in any grey area. I wasn't thrilled.
This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher, provided through NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
If this book had been half the length it actually is, and you were to cut out most of the dislike for, say, people in general, then this would be a much more tolerable work. I had high hopes for this, but after reading it, the best I can say, is that it isn't the worst book I have ever read. The author does have some valid points throughout the book, but unfortunately, I found him so unlikable that it is difficult to even concede those points.
Perhaps this was just not my kind of book. Personality clash. Regardless, I think if you read this you will be in one camp or the other, and not in any grey area. I wasn't thrilled.
This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher, provided through NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
June 12, 2022
A fascinating history of mass hysteria and mass delusions. Taking examples from religion and historical events I enjoyed reading about this as the psychology of humans is always fascinating. The only fault i can make about this book is the authors' opinions shine through at moments that are somewhat uncomfortable.
Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for an eACR of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for an eACR of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
December 19, 2023
to him all that counts are
financial bubbles from greedy weirdos
all religious mania
I think it's just his notebook about his hobbies, his unsound believe in the Efficient Markets Hypothesis, and in his view, all financial bubbles are the same.
Though i think his Efficient Market's Hypothesis fanaticism is pretty damn irrational, and i think his investment books are in the D or F class for lousy.
As for religious mania, he just gets freaky on religious people and religion and the jews. But his only good point is a pretty overly obvious one, religion can shape the views of a large number of people.
Which pretty much triggers my own personal view that any spiritual or mystical path should have zero impact on your morality, which should have been baked in when you were already five years old by your parents, or by the time you're 10-12 years old by your parents or society, otherwise you're a loose cannon if you're haywire by that age, and likely only to get worse.
Religion should really just be a question for the meaning of life, and curious if there are any 'weird forces' at work there of non-human intelligences. But religion for the most part is a game of sheep who follow rules, and that's really just a game for the weak or unbalanced, to keep society in check when things were pretty primitive.
Heck it's pretty unhinged today with economics and morality and politics... oh and religion too...
Basically an unoriginal work on sociology or psychology or finance.
.......
Amazone
Poorly titled
2/10
The author did a fine job of researching what he believed his topic was, which was primarily how religions have shaped the actions of large populations across the centuries.
He used too many words to tell a reasonable story that did not focus adequately on the causes of mass delusions, their benefits or costs.
Carolina regular
........
Not classic Bernstein
A disappointment after a surprisingly good podcast review.
If you want a book with original Bernstein thoughts, this is not the one.
If your interest is financial manias in history there are many other books on this topic.
Secondly, if you want to learn about religious manias, Bernstein truly admits he is not the guy for that either as all his knowledge came from others.
The real problem is that much of the book is not Bernstein at all but a compilation of research by a list of people that took two pages to acknowledge.
In this modern time, we really don't need a rehash of MacKay's attack on the subjects of God and Mammon. Actually, MacKay was more of a poet than a serious writer, and for Bernstein to try and "refresh" the 1841 work really fell flat for me.
Financial Dave
October 7, 2025
What:
====
The financial writer William Bernstein (yes, that one) wrote a book about a series of historical events with groups of people acting in very irrational ways. He then explores some of the common themes across these “delusional” events.
There are effectively two books here with their chapters intermixed. One book is about financial manias and it covers some you would expect, along with a few others that might be new to you. That book is a solid “4”. The other “book” within this book are the chapters on some famous religious end-of-time manias. For my taste, the chapters that are focused on financial manias make for much better reading but all are informative. The "other" book is a “2” and a weak “2” at that.
Some High Points:
==============
His title is a call back to Charles Mackay’s book “Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds” which, among other things, gave us a rather erroneous view of the Dutch tulip bulb bubble. Even so, to see how the first writer about bubble investing (Mackay) ends up later losing a pile by investing in the UK railroad stock bubble is a delicious irony.
In general, the coverage of various financial panics and bubbles is an excellent history.
Even when he is covering events involving religious zealotry, he throws rocks equally in all directions using Jewish, Christian and Islamic examples.
Prior to this book, I had not appreciated how many Anabaptists in Europe invited some of the violent persecution they encountered based on their attempts to essentially over-throw the governments in their lands.
Reasons to Read:
==============
There are a number of clear common factors in mass delusions and Bernstein does a good job of covering them. Once again, the better story (not the more accurate story) tends to win out. Nothing really ever changes on that point.
The way humans fall into mimicry and the desire to remain “in” with their crowd plays an enormous role in continuing to fuel whatever mania has gotten underway. Our brains seem to choose “better to be wrong with my friends” over “be right but alone”.
Reasons to Skip
==============
His focus on the various religious “end of the world” prophecies (and the sometimes ugly fates of those who utterly embraced them) is not nearly as engaging or as well argued in my opinion. It's likely to offend a pretty broad range of people who follow the various Abrahamic faiths. In some cases, he paints with far too broad of brush, missing some subtle but key differences in eschatology.
From his other writing, we know he's capable of tracing through subtle issues better than he does in the religious-persons-gone-crazy chapters.
====
The financial writer William Bernstein (yes, that one) wrote a book about a series of historical events with groups of people acting in very irrational ways. He then explores some of the common themes across these “delusional” events.
There are effectively two books here with their chapters intermixed. One book is about financial manias and it covers some you would expect, along with a few others that might be new to you. That book is a solid “4”. The other “book” within this book are the chapters on some famous religious end-of-time manias. For my taste, the chapters that are focused on financial manias make for much better reading but all are informative. The "other" book is a “2” and a weak “2” at that.
Some High Points:
==============
His title is a call back to Charles Mackay’s book “Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds” which, among other things, gave us a rather erroneous view of the Dutch tulip bulb bubble. Even so, to see how the first writer about bubble investing (Mackay) ends up later losing a pile by investing in the UK railroad stock bubble is a delicious irony.
In general, the coverage of various financial panics and bubbles is an excellent history.
Even when he is covering events involving religious zealotry, he throws rocks equally in all directions using Jewish, Christian and Islamic examples.
Prior to this book, I had not appreciated how many Anabaptists in Europe invited some of the violent persecution they encountered based on their attempts to essentially over-throw the governments in their lands.
Reasons to Read:
==============
There are a number of clear common factors in mass delusions and Bernstein does a good job of covering them. Once again, the better story (not the more accurate story) tends to win out. Nothing really ever changes on that point.
The way humans fall into mimicry and the desire to remain “in” with their crowd plays an enormous role in continuing to fuel whatever mania has gotten underway. Our brains seem to choose “better to be wrong with my friends” over “be right but alone”.
Reasons to Skip
==============
His focus on the various religious “end of the world” prophecies (and the sometimes ugly fates of those who utterly embraced them) is not nearly as engaging or as well argued in my opinion. It's likely to offend a pretty broad range of people who follow the various Abrahamic faiths. In some cases, he paints with far too broad of brush, missing some subtle but key differences in eschatology.
From his other writing, we know he's capable of tracing through subtle issues better than he does in the religious-persons-gone-crazy chapters.
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