Synopses & Reviews
"Whole communities suddenly fix their minds upon one object, and go mad in its pursuit; millions of people become simultaneously impressed with one delusion, and run after it
" Charles Mackay, author of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds In a story beginning with a seventeenth-century financial crash in Holland where family fortunes were squandered to buy a single tulip bulb, and ending somewhere in the future, Bernice Cohen weaves a fascinating and anecdotal tale that blends finance, history and science. Through her account of the history of the financial markets, populist explanations of chaos science, investment ideas and practice, Bernice Cohen captures the investors morbid fascination with the worlds stock markets and money. The 1720 bubbles in the Mississippi and South Sea Companies, and the great global crashes of the twentieth century provide illuminating examples of the severe social and monetary hardships in the fall-out from these financial fiascos. The Edge of Chaos takes us on a journey into the unknown where chaos theory offers profound insights into how the markets work and provides us with a strategy for surviving the next great crash.
Synopsis
Spanning two centuries and across three continents (Europe, America and Asia), the author provides a fascinating history on some famous and not so famous financial events. Beginning with the 1720s Mississippi and South Sea Companies to the great global crashes of 1929 and 1987, Bernice Cohen provides us with a strategy for tracking market trends and cycles, and protecting our investments against the next financial crash.
Synopsis
The Edge of Chaos Financial Booms, Bubbles, Crashes and Chaos Bernice Cohen "Mrs Cohen visits the scenes of the notorious crashes in the financial markets. Her investigation can help us learn to become safer investors and traders." Dr Alexander Elder, author of Trading for a Living Written by a well-known financial commentator and columnist, this is a fascinating and anecdotal guide to the history of financial crashes. Chaos, the madness of crowds, the history of risk, financial cycles and crash indicators are all drawn together in a controversial, entertaining and educational work to offer profound insights into how the markets work. The concept of chaos can be difficult to grasp, but by illuminating her work with actual historical examples, from the 1720s Mississippi and South Sea Companies to the great global crashes of 1929 and 1987, Bernice Cohen provides us with a strategy for tracking market trends and cycles, and protecting our investments against the next financial crash.
About the Author
Bernice Cohen became a serious investor as recently as April 1990, and since then has quadrupled her initial capital. The author is a regular columnist for the Financial Mail on Sunday, and the presenter of a Channel 4 series on personal finance and money. She has also been featured by John Authers for the Financial Times Quarterly Review of Personal Finance where she discussed her research on chaos in the markets.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements.
Preface.
Introduction.
Crashes in Context.
PART I: SETTING THE SCENE.
A Cascade of Crashes.
The Search for the Irrational Investor.
Chaos Rules.
Profitable Chaos.
The Chaos Route to Profits.
PART II: THE BUBBLES OF 1720.
The Build-Up to the Bubbles.
Mississippi Madness.
The South Sea Fiasco.
The Aftermath.
PAART III: MODERN BUBBLES AND CRASHES.
1929 and All That.
1987 - The Global Crash.
Japanese Bubbles.
Bonds, Bears and Butterflies.
An Alphabet Alert.
Bibliography.
Index.