Ever since Malcolm Gladwell wrote the "Tipping Point", group thinking and social epidemic has been a topic of interest , not only among the academics , but also amonginvestors and entrepreneurs. The success of social networking websites and wikipedia are all can be traced all the way down to the so called "follow the crowd" syndrome. But William Bonner and Lila Rajiva have come up the with a brilliant idea to explore the flip side of social epidemic and the ripple effects it has on those who simply follow the crowd.
Investors wanted to follow the stocks "Warren Buffett" was buying. Guess what? It was too late. Home buyers wanted to buy houses with a crowd. Guess what? Most of them were late in the game and over-paid. Every college undergrad thought an IT degree would be the best. Guess what? There were too many programmers, and not many civil engineers and nurses. A large group of investors thought every brick-and-mortar business could be replaced with a dot.com. Guess what? Companies like WebVan.com were able to convince venture capitalists that vegetables can be sold online!! Banks jumped on the sub-prime mortgage bandwagon. Guess what???
"Mobs, Messiahs, and Markets: Surviving the Public Spectacle in Finance and Politics" is a welcome addition to this ever interesting topic of "follow the crowd" syndrome. What makes this book click is the witty presentation and the practical approach of the authors.Bonner and Rajiva have done a fantastic job of presenting the nuances of "public spectacle' in a manner that is light-hearted as well as thought provoking. They have done a truly amazing job of striking at the center of conventional wisdom to explain why swimming against the current pays rather than following the crowd.
Their best advice: "When the higher math and the greater greed come together, watch out below!"
Go read this book. It's funny, brilliant, thought provoking and often offensive, too!!
N.Sivakumar
Author of:
America Misunderstood: What a Second Bush Victory Meant to the Rest of the World
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