The Luck Factor: Why Some People Are Luckier Than Others and How You Can Become One of Them

I saw Max Gunther on a late night talk show when he was prmoting the book. his informal, casual discussion highlights from his research really impressed me. I purchased the book a few days later. The kind of information in this book is whatever person in their late 20s should know. what he wrote about 25 years ago still stands today. Great stuff!

Intuition tells us (as does this book) that all things are not equal when it comes to the way that seemingly random occurences affect individuals. Some people are just luckier than others in terms of how these events appear and play out in their favor. Gunther takes an open-minded approach to the question of luck, and interviews unquestionably lucky and unlucky individuals to see what the common factors are. His analysis includes the expected (lucky people have more opportunities by virtue of their personalities), but he isn't afraid to talk about findings that don't fall nicely into a causal, classical model. Why should a person's state of mind matter in determining their luck, above and beyond how it changes their outward behavior? This book doesn't present the whole answer to that question, but it does lay a good foundation for giving the matter some serious thought.

Believe me. This is one book anybody who feels fate has give them a hard kick must have. This book will tell you why your less 'talented' friend did better than one of your apparently more talented ones. I'd read a lot of self-help books of all kind before I read this but this one ranks right there with Think and Grow Rich and How to win Friends and Influence People. It tells you exactly what luck is and how you can make it work for you. It is obvious that the author did extensive research before writing this. A unique thing in this book is the study of comparative luck-beliefs like probability. This book may not turnaround somebody's luck at once, but will be a great help in understanding luck and improving once chances in life. As a bonus, it is factually entertaining!