Join us on a literary world trip!
Add this book to bookshelf
Grey
Write a new comment Default profile 50px
Grey
Subscribe to read the full book or read the first pages for free!
I want to read the book!
All characters reduced
The Delusions of Crowds - Why People Go Mad in Groups - cover

The Delusions of Crowds - Why People Go Mad in Groups

William J. Bernstein

Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

Summary

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.
Available since: 02/23/2021.
Print length: 533 pages.

Other books that might interest you

  • Instant Study Skills - How to Study Instantly! - cover

    Instant Study Skills - How to...

    The INSTANT Series

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0 
    The Instant Series presents Instant Study Skills: How to Study Instantly!It's late at night. You're staring at the vast amount of texts that you're trying to wrap your head around. There are 10 different chapters you have to get though for two of your exams, and you have to write a term paper on top of that.The clock is ticking. With less than eight hours left to study things you should have started weeks prior — eight hours that should be used for sleeping — you're now burning the midnight oil. As you take another sip of coffee, you feel the pressure and stress of the monstrous workload. Being tired, overwhelmed, and with time scarce...you feel like throwing in the towel.Should you? Of course not! If you give up now...what does that say about how your life will go when the going gets tough? That's certainly not how you want to live life.What should you do? How about changing how you study? Start studying smarter, not harder, and especially not longer.It doesn't matter if it's for school, for work, or for other reasons...we all need to study to get by. The sad part is that most people are doing it ineffectively, taking up more time than necessary. That's why they get behind or overwhelmed.That's where effective study skills come in. Within Instant Study Skills you will learn:How to study using micromental repetitions and how to use interlinking techniques to make the material manageable and memorable.How to speed run through your studies when you're crunched for time, so you take in only the necessary, crucial stuff.How to associate images with information. When you can't recall what you've studied, trigger your memory with images to get over the information gap.How to involve your physical self in your studying. Use full-body studying to fully engage and study longer.
    Show book
  • How do you make the benefits of pre-K education last? - cover

    How do you make the benefits of...

    PBS NewsHour

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0 
    A study suggesting the benefits of pre-K may not be long-lasting has sparked debate in Tennessee, where proposals for state-funded, universal programs are an issue in this year's governor's race. What’s behind the finding, and what are the keys to quality early education? John Yang reports from Memphis.
    Show book
  • Everyday Trauma - Remapping the Brain's Response to Stress Anxiety and Painful Memories for a Better Life - cover

    Everyday Trauma - Remapping the...

    Tracey Shors PhD

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0 
    A neuroscientist explores how trauma impacts the brain, especially for women—and how we can learn to heal ourselvesEveryone experiences trauma. Whether a specific harrowing event or a series of stressful moments that culminate over time, trauma can echo and etch itself into our brain as we remember it again and again throughout our lives.In Everyday Trauma, neuroscientist Dr. Tracey Shors examines trauma with a focus on its pervasive nature—how it can happen at any time, through big or small events, and how it often reappears in the form of encoded memory. Her research reveals that when we are reminded of our trauma, reliving that tragic moment copies yet another memory of it in our brain, making it that much more difficult to forget. Dr. Shors also explores the neuroscience behind why women in particular are more vulnerable to stress and traumatic events, setting them up to be three times more likely than men to suffer PTSD.With potential long-term consequences such as addiction, anxiety, depression, and PTSD, trauma can have a lasting impact on both the brain and body. Dr. Shors illuminates the effective tools that can reduce the repetitive thoughts that reinforce our traumas, including cognitive-based therapies and trauma-informed care such as her own groundbreaking program, a combination of mental and physical training called MAP Training.By understanding how our brain responds to trauma and practicing proven techniques that can train our brains and help us let go of our tragic memories—whatever they may be—we are better equipped to leave our traumatic pasts behind and live in a brighter present.A Macmillan Audio production from Flatiron Books
    Show book
  • The Wounded Healer - The Pain and Joy of Caregiving - cover

    The Wounded Healer - The Pain...

    Omar Reda MD, Richard Mollica,...

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0 
    Finding meaning in trauma work, as a traumatized healer yourself.The act of caregiving is physically exhausting and emotionally draining, yet caregivers describe it as rewarding and gratifying. Prolonged exposure to human suffering, however, is not without risks—caregivers report high rates of burnout and poor quality of life.Many care providers believe that their feelings do not matter; that they should ignore their pain, brush off their trauma, wipe away their tears, and just "suck it up." Here, Omar Reda—a Libyan-born American psychiatrist who as an emergency physician and trauma counselor provided care for medical staff caring for victims of trauma—calls upon other healers to break free from cycles of secrecy, toxic stress, and silent suffering so they can continue to empower and inspire those in their care.Filled with poignant first-person stories and clinical case studies, this book is an impassioned plea for psychosocial trauma care that prioritizes the health of both client and healer.
    Show book
  • A Year Without "Made in China" - One Family's True Life Adventure in the Global Economy - cover

    A Year Without "Made in China" -...

    Sara Bongiorni

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0 
    Can an American family live without Chinese-made goods? “A wry look at the ingenuity it takes to shun the planet’s fastest-growing economy.” —Bloomberg News   “Journalist Bongiorni, on a post-Christmas day mired deep in plastic toys and electronics equipment, makes up her mind to live for a year without buying any products made in China, a decision spurred less by notions of idealism or fair trade—though she does note troubling statistics on job loss and trade deficits—than simply ‘to see if it can be done.’ In this more personal vein, Bongiorni tells often funny, occasionally humiliating stories centering around her difficulty procuring sneakers, sunglasses, DVD players and toys for two young children and a skeptical husband . . . Bongiorni is a graceful, self-deprecating writer, and her comic adventures in self-imposed inconvenience cast an interesting sideways glance at the personal effects of globalism.” —Publishers Weekly
    Show book
  • A Thousand Times More Fair - What Shakespeare's Plays Teach Us About Justice - cover

    A Thousand Times More Fair -...

    Kenji Yoshino

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0 
    “Fascinating....Loaded with perceptive and provocative comments on Shakespeare’s plots, characters, and contemporary analogs.”—Justice John Paul Stevens, Supreme Court of the United States“Kenji Yoshino is the face and the voice of the new civil rights.”—Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickled and DimedA Thousand Times More Fair is a highly inventive and provocative exploration of ethics and the law that uses the plays of William Shakespeare as a prism through which to view the nature of justice in our contemporary lives. Celebrated law professor and author Kenji Yoshino delves into ten of the most important works of the Immortal Bard of Avon, offering prescient and thought-provoking discussions of lawyers, property rights, vengeance (legal and otherwise), and restitution that have tremendous significance to the defining events of our times—from the O.J. Simpson trial to Abu Ghraib. Anyone fascinated by important legal and social issues—as well as fans of Shakespeare-centered bestsellers like Will in the World—will find A Thousand Times More Fair an exceptionally rewarding reading experience.
    Show book