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Charles Mackay's "The Unusual Illusions and Frenzy of the Crowds" book now available
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Charles Mackay's "The Unusual Illusions and Frenzy of the Crowds" book now available

created Michał SielskiJuly 9 2020

Write about her that this is a classic, nothing to write about. The most frequently reprinted book on investing, or rather speculation, is now available at the Maklerska.pl bookstore. "Extraordinary illusions and madness of crowds" describes the most famous investment madness at the turn of the century, which led to a fortune and many to huge losses and bankruptcy.

The media patron of the Polish edition is the Forex Club website.

Unusual delusions and madness of the crowds

The book deals primarily with speculative charges that took place in the XNUMXth and XNUMXth centuries in the Netherlands, France and England. However, anyone who reads it admits to having a psychological description "Inflating a balloon" has not changed for many years and regardless of time, market and industry, the pattern is repeated regularly. First, prices rise to an absurd amount, and then painful falls, which ruin not only those who invested at the top.

House fortunes are disappearing

It is with great interest that you can read the fragment on the tulip bulb price peak in the Netherlands. The description of how many are left with nothing can be applied to whatever speculative bubble we have witnessed in recent years. The effects of buying anything expensive, "because it grows all the time", are perfectly described by Charles Mackay:

Charles Mackay

Charles Mackay

“Many of those who a few months ago began to doubt that poverty could exist in this country suddenly noticed that they owned a few bulbs that no one wanted to buy, even when they offered to sell them for a quarter of the purchase price. Screams of despair were heard from everywhere, the neighbor blamed the neighbor. The handful of those who managed to get rich hid their riches from their fellow citizens by investing them in England or elsewhere. Many who for a brief moment ceased to live a modest life fell into misery again. Wealthy merchants have almost become beggars, and many aristocrats have witnessed their families' fortunes diminishing forever. "

Download a free fragment of the book (PDF)

Who buys at the top?

Many people think that they have been overvalued many times stock whether the goods are bought by not very reasonable people. This is true, but only partially. They are bought by… everyone. The author tells the story of one of the undoubtedly greatest minds of all time - Isaac Newton. He invested in the shares of the South Seas Company. Their price has increased tenfold, which also benefited the famous scientist and inventor. Sir Isaac Newton sold the shares twice as expensive as he was buying and collected a huge profit of 7. pounds. As the rate continued to rise, Newton decided to buy back the stake at a much higher price, but the speculative bubble eventually burst and lost as much as $ 20. pounds.

It was then that he would utter a famous phrase:

"I can count the movements of heavenly bodies, but not the madness of people."

Tulip Fever

Unusual delusions and madness of the crowds"Extraordinary illusions and madness of crowds" recognized by the Financial Times as the most important item in the investment literature, it deals not only with the purchase of shares in France and England. It also details the most famous and crazy history of speculation in history - the so-called tulip fever that hit Holland in the 1634th century. In the years 1637–XNUMX virtually every Dutch and many foreigners bought bulbs of rare tulips.

The effect of buying all the bulbs has become an absurd price increase, which made tulip bulbs more expensive than gold. Especially the rarest of them.

“The speculators were so eager to get them that for the Haarlem tulip someone offered, without agreeing on any additional conditions, twelve acres of building land. The Amsterdam copy was purchased for four thousand six hundred florins, a new carriage, two gray hairs and a complete team " - we read in the book.

How did it end? Of course - as always ...


Soon, the Forex Club will publish an extensive book review and ... a competition with two copies to be won.

Be cautious! 🙂


We have a discount of all for our club members -5% to buy this book. Soon, a review of the book and a competition will appear in our website, in which you'll be able to win two copies.

Join the Forex Club and take advantage of the -5% discount for shopping at the bookstore Maklerska.pl.

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About the Author
Michał Sielski
Professional journalist for over 20 years. He worked, among others, in Gazeta Wyborcza, recently associated with the largest regional portal - Trojmiasto.pl. He has been present on the financial market for 18 years, he started on the Warsaw Stock Exchange when the shares of PKN Orlen and TP SA were just being introduced to the market. Recently, his investment focus has been exclusively on the Forex market. Privately, he is a parachutist, a lover of Polish mountains and a Polish karate champion.