Extraordinary popular delusions and the madness of gullibility

Here is a good condensed article at eskeptic by Stephen Greenspan on the psychology of the Ponzi scheme (as well as schemes in general, like the nortorious Nigerian 419 scam). It’s based on Greenspan’s recent book “Annals of Gullibility”, which I guess it would be fair to say is a modern version of that famous 19th century book  “Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds” (one of my favorites). Like the older book many types of incredible schemes , along with what we can call their gullibilty factors, are written of. It’s utterly amazing what otherwise rational human beings have fallen for over the centuries, including the author, who recently suffered a big ouch: he was one of Bernard Madoff’s victims.