The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind

De: Gustave Le Bon

Narrado por: Joseph Gomez

The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind is a seminal work on crowd psychology by Gustave Le Bon (1841-1931), a French social psychologist. He observes that a crowd forms when an influential idea unites a number of individuals and prompts them to act towards a common goal. In a crowd, the conscious personality of the individual is submerged and dominated by the collective mind. Furthermore, every sentiment becomes contagious to a degree that individuals readily sacrifice their personal interest to the collective. Le Bon discusses the general characteristics, ideas, reasoning power, imagination, morality and mental unity of the crowd, including the behavior of criminal juries and parliamentary assemblies. Crowds often act in an immoral manner because mankind’s primitive instincts that lie dormant in the isolated individual, are unleashed by the dynamics of the crowd. Le Bon’s fascinating work also examines the ways in which a nation’s generally accepted beliefs influence the processes of history.

Public Domain (P)2019 Museum Audiobooks

Interesting but hard to listen, better to read.

The reader keeps saying "exetera" instead of "et cetera". Small detail but hurts my ears.

Oftentimes feels like a mouthful

The content of this book is the first thing that stands out, but deciphering that content might take a little rereading. Solid messages, references, descriptions, all to say it could stand to be a bit clearer. Reader did a great job, I think I may have just had trouble with his specific voice.

The Mobs

How to interpret the crowd’s reactions. Very helpful and goes with the current events. A must to understand the recent behavior in the United States.

The performance is terrible

Sadly this great book is done a great disservice by the pathetic performance on the recording. It would be beneficial to rather read the book or, if you cannot do that for some reason, have someone read it to you.

The only criticism on the actual book is that the storyline is weak but since it is a research book that is not a train smash.

Crowds never change

Very interesting book, especially for being over 125 years old. While the political musings of Le Bon are up for debate, the inherent psychology of the crowd is not, for it has never changed, and likely never will.

Now one of the most quotable books in my collection. Highly recommended, but be aware of the nuances of the time and place this was originally written. The fundamentals are all there, however, for the defense of crowd manipulation at the individual level as well as for the manipulation of the crowd from the perspective of power.

4.5 / 5