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A comment on Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds (1852).

Re:Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madnes... by scyclow on Tuesday June 30, 2026 @11:06AM (#48733773)
This is a fun book, but it famously embellishes, exaggerates, and sensationalizes the tulip bubble [1]. The efficient markets people obviously don't like the story, but there doesn't seem to be much evidence that it happened on the same scale that Mackay portrays it.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulip_mania#Modern_views

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Re:Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madnes... by zeafoamrun on Tuesday June 30, 2026 @11:07AM (#48733803)
Yes a lot of it was based on anti tulip propaganda pamphlets that circulated at the time, and survived more because they were more interesting due to the exaggerated stories.
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Re:Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madnes... by fasterik on Tuesday June 30, 2026 @12:51PM (#48735503)
>Peter Garber argues that the trade in common bulbs "was no more than a meaningless winter drinking game, played by a plague-ridden population that made use of the vibrant tulip market."

So basically, it was the GameStop of the 1630s. Humans never change.

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