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Daniel B. Botkin

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Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds

April 20, 2007 By Daniel Botkin 1 Comment

This is the title of a book published first in 1841 by Charles Mackay. 

This is a fascinating book, a classic, still in print, but little known. It has influenced many famous people. Of this book, Bernard Baruch wrote that his study of it saved him millions.

Andrew Tobias wrote, in his preface to a recent edition, that "As with any true classic, once it is read it is had to imagine not having read it."

Mackay writes in his own preface that his object is "to collect the most remarkable instances of those moral epidemics which have been excited, sometimes by one cause and sometimes by another, and to show how easily the masses have been led astray, and how imitative and gregarious men are, even in their infatuations and crimes. . . . Popular delusions began so early, spread so widely, and have lasted so long, that instead of two or three volumes, fifty would scarcely sufficient to detail their history. We find that whole communities suddenly fix their minds upon one object, and go mad in its pursuit; that millions of people become simultaneously impressed with one delusion, and run after it, till their attention is caught by some new folly more captivating than the first. . . 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."

One of the chapters is about Alchemists, in which Mackay writes "Three causes especially have excited the discontent of mankind; and, by impelling up to seek for remedies for the irremediable, have bewildered us in a maze of madness and error. These are death, toil, and ignorance of the future," and of the last, he writes about our "craving curiosity to pierce the secrets of the days to come."

This is a beautiful written classic, well worth exploring, if not reading in its entirety.

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Filed Under: Interesting readings by others, People & Nature

Comments

  1. Lichanos says

    August 13, 2009 at 10:39 am

    I read this book in junior high. I found the stuff on alchemy tedious then, but I gained a life-long fascination with speculative bubbles from it! Would that the lessons of the Mississipi venture, Tulipomania, and the South Sea Bubble were always with us!

    I liked your book, Renegade Naturalist, but I’m not quite sure why you see yourself as a renegade. Is being thoughtful and open-minded that outré in the academic/ecology world? Too bad, if so.

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From Daniel B. Botkin, Ph.D

Daniel Botkin
I believe we are mostly on the wrong track in the way we try to deal with the environment. Everything I do, study, learn, and advise about the environment is different from the status quo. Throughout my career, I have tried to understand how nature works and use that understanding to figure out how we can solve our most pressing environmental problems.

My process over the past 45 years has been to look carefully at the facts, make simple calculations from them (sometimes simple computer models) and then tell people what I have learned. It’s surprising how rarely people bother to look at the facts. This has surprised me every time I’ve started a new ecology research project or work on an environmental issue.

In the course of my work and studies, I have learned many things and I want to tell you about them. That is the purpose of this website.

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The Moon in the Nautilus Shell  Strange Encounters
Powering the Future  No Man's Garden
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This forest model, used around the world, was developed first in 1970 by Daniel B. Botkin, James F. Janak and James R. Wallis

JABOWA remains the most completely detailed and well validated forest growth model available, accounting for 95% or more of the variation in real forests where it has been tested.

The book Forest Dynamics: An Ecological Model (available as an eBook) provides a complete description of the model and the rationales behind its development.

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