The Myth of the Rational Market

Professional Reviews

Praise for the US edition:

"Do we really need yet another book about the financial crisis? Yes, we do - because this one is different ...a must-read" - Paul Krugman, New York Times Book Review

An "excellent new history ... impressively broad and richly researched." - John Authers, Financial Times

"Fascinating and entertainingly told. ... Mr Fox has written a worthy successor to Capital Ideas, the late Peter Bernstein's 1990s classic on the emergence of the rational-market myth: bang up-to-date; alas, without the happy ending." - The Economist

"Mr. Fox's book is really a lively chapter in the history of ideas ... Among much else, Mr. Fox presents lucid explanations of Portfolio Theory, the Capital Asset Pricing Model and Option Pricing Theory without the use of a single equation. And he brings the major players in his drama to life with an appealingly breezy style. ... With 'The Myth of the Rational Market' Mr. Fox has produced a valuable and highly readable history of risk and reward." - Burton G. Malkiel, The Wall Street Journal

"An engaging history of what might be called the rise and fall of the efficient market hypothesis." - Joe Nocera, The New York Times

"Fox ... spins a fascinating historical narrative. ... Fox recognizes that true believers in the market's efficiency suffered from a 'blinkered' mindset and 'tunnel vision.' Yet I think he lets them off too easily." - Roger Lowenstein, The Washington Post

A "lucid, lively and learned account." - Glenn C. Altschuler, Barron's

An "insightful book." Fox's "smart journalistic eye and fine prose keep the theoretical discussion lively." - Harvard Business Review

"A rich history world's most seductive investing idea, the efficient markets theory. The jacket copy is right to call this 'an intellectual whodunit.' " - James Pressley, Bloomberg

"An intellectual tour-de-force ... one of the two financial books I have enjoyed most this year." - Rational Man, Buttonwood's notebook, Economist.com

"[T]he rare business history that reads like a thriller. ... A must-read for anyone interested in the markets, our economy or government, this dense but spellbinding work brings modern finance and economics to life." - Publishers Weekly

"Fox's explanations of technical material are superbly accurate and readable ... Clearly the result of many years of research and reading, the book is�its epilogue on the ongoing financial crisis notwithstanding�in no sense a rush job. Rather, it is a model of what the popularization of social science can be, but too rarely is, and it will continue to be read when the current crisis is many years behind us." - Cosmo Shalizi, American Scientist

"[W]hat Fox has put together is a thoughtful, often fascinating, always illuminating history of the idea of market rationality, and the fortunes of the economists, bankers, regulators, philosophers and psychologists who've sought to explain the stormy seas of the market (and to get rich while doing it, of course)." - Cory Doctorow, boingboing

"What makes Fox's book so rewarding and so readable is his way with the telling anecdote." - Robert J. Hughes, SmartMoney

"A lucid synthesis of the ideas that went into what Fox calls the rational market." - Rob Horning, Popmatters

"Fox argues convincingly ... The style here is journalistic, with personal stories that make the book entertaining." - Library Journal

"They [Myth & Animal Spirits by Shiller] are both important books. Well worth reading." - Menzie Chinn, University of Wisconsin and Econbrowser