Mike Dash has told the story of the first Market Crash in modern history, in which the commodity was not stocks or currencies but... tulips! Smuggled from the Ottoman Empire in the 16th Century, the tulip quickly became one of the most coveted flowers and botanists were able to produce wild varieties with unbelievable colors. It would be only in the 19th century that this erratic behaviour of tulips to suddenly display wild colors was finally discovered to be due to the mosaic virus.

In the 17th century, the demand for rare tulips grew so high that the so-called "tulipomania" happened within just two months: December 1636 and January 1637. Tulips started to change hands with frenzy and the price of a rare tulip could grow ten-fold within days. This crazy boom was brought to a halt when buyers started defaulting and the whole market crashed.

Mike Dash has narrated the history of the tulip, the events leading to the tulipomania and the aftermath in a flowing narrative. He's compiled a wealth of references for his book and seems to have covered all aspects of the crisis.

The book is interesting for history buffs and those who would like to understand irrational economical behaviour.