A lively history of ideas, this book describes with insight and wit the rise and fall of the world's most influential investing idea: the efficient markets theory. Both a New York Times bestseller and Notable Book of the Year--longlisted for the Financial Times Business Book of the Year Award and named one of Library Journal Best Business Books of the Year--it carries readers from the earliest days of Wall Street to the current financial crisis, debunking the long-held myth that the stock market is always right in the process while intelligently exploring the replacement theory of behavioral economics.