Product Description

Is luck just fate, or can you change it?

A groundbreaking new scientific study of the phenomenon of luck—and the ways we can bring good luck into our lives. What is luck? A psychic gift or a question of intelligence? And what is it that lucky people have that unlucky people lack? Psychologist Dr. Richard Wiseman put luck under a scientific microscope for the very first time, examining the different ways in which lucky and unlucky people think and behave. After three years of intensive interviews and experiments with over 400 volunteers, Wiseman arrived at an astonishing conclusion: Luck is something that can be learned. It is available to anyone willing to pay attention to the Four Essential Principles:

. Creating Chance Opportunities
. Thinking Lucky
. Feeling Lucky
. Denying Fate

Readers can determine their capacity for luck as well as learn to change their luck through helpful exercises that appear throughout the book. Illustrated with anecdotes from the lives of the famous such as Harry Truman and Warren Buffett, The Luck Factor also richly portrays the lives of ordinary people who have been extraordinarily lucky or unlucky. Finally Dr. Wiseman gives us a look into "The Luck School" where he instructs unlucky people and also teaches lucky people how to further enhance their luck.

Smart, enlightening, fun to read, and easy to follow, The Luck Factor will give you revolutionary insight into the lucky mind and could, quite simply, change your life.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #500371 in Books
• Published on: 2003-04-02
• Released on: 2003-04-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 240 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Filled with real-life stories from hundreds of interviews; inspirational quotes from the likes of Benjamin Franklin and Oprah Winfrey; and graphed research data from his eight-year study of luck, Wiseman's book promises to offer "a scientifically proven way to understand, control, and increase your luck." While many believe luck is a mystical force influenced by superstitious rituals, Wiseman, psychology chair at the University of Herfordshire in England, claims lucky people simply possess four basic psychological traits unlucky people don't: the ability to maximize chance opportunities, to listen to "gut feelings," to expect good fortune and to see the bright side of bad luck. Questionnaires and exercises offer guidance on how to acquire or enhance luckiness while keeping a "luck journal" and incorporating techniques to increase intuition, stop negative self-fulfilling prophecies and learn how to effectively network. The format is marked by redundant chapter summaries, but Wiseman's upbeat, charismatic tone might persuade even skeptical readers of the transformative effect luck can have in their personal and professional lives.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
"Might persuade even skeptical readers of the transformative effect luck can have in their personal and professional lives." -- Publishers Weekly

About the Author
Dr. Richard Wiseman heads a research unit within the psychology department at the University of Herfordshire in Britain and was recently given the prestigious CSICOP Public Education in Science Award. This is his first book.

Customer Reviews

Just read it and do it! It's all in your attitude!
Having read the reviews and recently only having read the book myself, one cannot help but think that this book is a good thing. It is light reading, anecdotal and not full of all the psycho nonsense and political correctness we seem to have forced down our throats these days. To the wingers out there, of course, there is always room for further experimentation when it comes to scientific research, this is only one perspective. This is a positive book, having a good attitude can only help in times of adversity and it appeals to all people from all walks of life to lighten up and look at life in a more positive (but not dillusional) light. So what if it doesn't meet some people's scientific elitism. It satisfied me because it was direct and simple and full of common sense - something that isn't common these days.

Don't waste your time.
This is one of the most amateurish books I have ever come across. The content as well as the writing style are just bad and almost childish. A highschool student would write better than this. I was totally dismayed at such a poor treatment of the subject especially by a professional doctor.

Science Lite, or the future of self-help books?
I bought this book because I heard an interview with Dr. Wiseman on my local National Public Radio station, and I was fascinated with just the idea that luck can be looked at in a scientific study. And he came across as clever, articulate and funny. So, what's not to like, right?

Overall, it's a decent book and a quick read. Although it is written colloquially with a self-help focus, he does seem to have done real scientific studies. I was left with a few nagging doubts, however, about how statistically significant really were the differences between those self-defined as lucky and unlucky. And, in one of the early examples he gave contrasting the behavior of a lucky man and an unlucky woman, I wondered if he could account for possible confounding factors that also could explain some behavior differences (like gender).

On the plus side, I was reminded of studies done a few decades ago by Pauline Bart (See Stopping Rape: Successful Survival Strategies (Athene Series)). One of her findings was that women who successfully fought off potential rapists tended to have very proactive, problem-solving attitudes. Likewise, Wiseman found that self-described lucky folks had that same approach to solving their problems. As a self-defense instructor, I would likely consider recommending some of Wiseman's exercises for some of my students to help themselves change their attitude about "luck."