![Mobs, Messiahs, and Markets : Surviving the Public Spectacle in Finance and](https://d3525k1ryd2155.cloudfront.net/h/170/467/1184467170.0.m.jpg)
Mobs, Messiahs, and Markets : Surviving the Public Spectacle in Finance and Politics Hardcover - 2007
by Will Bonner; Lila Rajiva
- Used
- very good
- Hardcover
Bonner and Rajiva use literary economics to offer broad insights into mass behavior and its devastating effects on society. To understand such behavior, the authors weave a light-hearted journey through history, politics, and finance to show group mentality at work in an improbable array of instances.
Description
Details
- Title Mobs, Messiahs, and Markets : Surviving the Public Spectacle in Finance and Politics
- Author Will Bonner; Lila Rajiva
- Binding Hardcover
- Edition First Edition
- Condition Used - Very Good
- Pages 432
- Volumes 1
- Language ENG
- Publisher Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, John, Hoboken, N.J
- Date 2007
- Features Bibliography, Dust Cover, Index, Price on Product - Canadian, Table of Contents
- Bookseller's Inventory # G0470112328I4N00
- ISBN 9780470112328 / 0470112328
- Weight 1.39 lbs (0.63 kg)
- Dimensions 9.01 x 6.37 x 1.42 in (22.89 x 16.18 x 3.61 cm)
- Library of Congress subjects Political corruption, Collective behavior
- Library of Congress Catalog Number 2007012349
- Dewey Decimal Code 658.473
About ThriftBooks Washington, United States
From the largest selection of used titles, we put quality, affordable books into the hands of readers
From the jacket flap
Collectively, people think and act in ways that are different from how they think and act as individuals. Understanding these differences, says William (Bill) Bonner--a longtime maverick observer of the financial world and the vagaries of the investing public--is vital to preserving your wealth and personal dignity. From the witch hunts of the early modern world to the war on terror, from the dot-com mania to the real estate bubble, people have always been caught up in frauds, conceits, and wild guesses--often with devastating results. In Mobs, Messiahs, and Markets, Bonner and coauthor Lila Rajiva show groupthink at work in an improbable array of instances throughout history and reveal why swimming against the current pays. They explain why people so often abandon good sense and good behavior to "follow the crowd" and show you how to avoid getting caught up in the public spectacles around you.
If an investor merely recognizes the way mob sentiment works, the authors point out, he is far ahead of most others. Ordinary people, for example, turn over billions of dollars' worth of their hard-earned money to brokers and mutual fund managers every day--immediate, tangible, personal money--believing that strangers will give them back even more. Whatever would make them think so?
Mobs, Messiahs, and Markets demonstrates that investors are in fact caught between a rock and a soft place--between the private world they can understand and master and the misleading public spectacle of the markets. "The further away you get from your investments, and the less you suffer the consequences if they go bad, the worse your performance will be," say Bonner and Rajiva. "That's why 'collective' investments like index-linked funds, mutual funds, hedge funds, insurance funds, and pension funds are usually so bad. The investors are too far from the facts--and the managers are too far from the consequences."
The authors' cautionary tale of the current bubble economy warns that the gush of credit let loose by Alan Greenspan is fraught with perils for the unwary--but their thoughtful and always entertaining approach also offers some sound investing principles for avoiding the pitfalls of the public spectacle, thinking for yourself, and protecting your money, your sanity, and your soul.
Categories
Media reviews
Citations
- Reference and Research Bk News, 11/01/2007, Page 132