Luck touches us all. "Why me?" we complain when things go wrong—though seldom when things go right. But although luck has a firm hold on all our lives, we seldom reflect on it in a cogent, concerted way. In Luck, one of our most eminent philosophers offers a realistic view of the nature and operation of luck to help us come to sensible terms with life in a chaotic world. Differentiating luck from fate (inexorable destiny) and fortune (mere chance), Nicholas Rescher weaves a colorful tapestry of historical examples, from the use of lots in the Old and New Testaments to Thomas Gataker’s treatise of 1619 on the great English lottery of 1612, from casino gambling to playing the stock market. Because we are creatures of limited knowledge who do and must make decisions in the light of incomplete information, Rescher argues, we are inevitably at the mercy of luck. It behooves us to learn more about it.

Is luck just fate, or can you change it? A groundbreaking new scientific study of the phenomenon of luckand 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.

IS LUCK REAL? Why do some people lead happy successful lives whilst other face repeated failure and sadness? Why do some find their perfect partner whilst others stagger from one broken relationship to the next? What enables some people to have successful careers whilst others find themselves trapped in jobs they detest? And can unlucky people do anything to improve their luck - and lives? Ten years ago, Professor Richard Wiseman decided to search for the elusive luck factor by investigating the actual beliefs and experiences of lucky and unlucky people. The results reveal a radical new way of looking at luck: in many important ways, we make our own luck. If you think you're unlucky, that bad luck may be the direct result of you believing you're unlucky. Wiseman identifies the four simple behavioural techniques that have been scientifically proven to help you attract good fortune. He then shows how you can use these methods to revolutionise every area of your life - including your relationships, personal finances and career.

We underestimate the importance of luck in our lives. We think too highly of the golfer who wins the British Open and, if he loses the next tournament, we speculate that he slacked off. Although the winner is surely an excellent golfer, good luck in how the ball bounced and how it rolled afterwards outside of the golfer's control also played an important role. An insufficient appreciation of chance can wreak all kinds of mischief not only in sports, but also education, medicine, business, politics and elsewhere. Perfectly natural, random variation can lead us to attach meaning to the meaningless. Freakonomics showed how economic calculations can explain seemingly counter-intuitive decision-making. Thinking, Fast and Slow, helped readers identify a host of small cognitive errors that can lead to miscalculations and irrational thought. In What the Luck? statistician and author, Gary Smith, sets himself a similar goal, and explains - in clear, understandable, and witty prose - how a statistical understanding of luck can change the way we see just about every aspect of our lives.

Have you ever noticed that you talk about luck every day of your life? Luck is your silent companion, sometimes bringing awesome parking spaces, a chance meeting with a new love interest, or a small windfall. Most of the time you probably don’t even pay attention to luck. Chances are, you only really think about luck when you buy a lottery ticket or participate in a contest. Luck is so much more than that. If you take steps to live longer by eating right and exercising, why wouldn’t you also take similar steps to improve your good fortune? Barrie Dolnick and Anthony Davidson asked themselves this very question, and set out to study luck and decipher how it works. In this insightful and engaging book, they share the secrets they’ve uncovered so you can use luck more effectively in your day-to-day life. Where does luck originate? Does one need to be “born lucky” in order to be lucky? Answering these and many other pressing questions, Dolnick and Davidson investigate both ancient and scientific approaches to luck. From early man to famous rationalists, luck has been prayed for, played with, and courted. You’ll learn how ancient practices such as the I Ching, astrology, tarot, and numerology have been used to understand luck, and how great mathematicians studied luck–some guided by their own interest in gambling. Every- one wants to be lucky. Once you know the fundamentals of luck, the authors take you through your own Personal Luck Profile so that you can use this wisdom and try your luck. People do a lot of weird things to improve their luck–and now you can make smart choices and informed decisions about how to play with yours.

Max Gunther's classic text with a new foreword by Gautam Baid. Luck. We can't see it, or touch it, but we can feel it. We all know it when we experience it. But does it go deeper than this? And if it goes deeper, does it do so in any way which we can harness to our own and others' advantage? Taking us on a fascinating tour through the more popular theories and histories of luck - from pseudoscience to paganism, mathematicians to magicians - Max Gunther arrives at a careful set of scientific conclusions as to the true nature of luck, and the possibility of managing it. Drawing out the logical truths hidden in some examples of outrageous fortune (and some of the seemingly absurd theories of its origins), he presents readers with the concise formulae that make up what he calls the 'Luck Factor' - the five traits that lucky people have in common - and shows how anyone can improve their luck.

What is good luck and how can you attract it into your life? Bestselling author Richard Webster demystifies this age-old concept and shares 365 easy ideas anyone can use to increase their good fortune in every area of life. From acting on your hunches to using lucky charms, from carrying a badger’s tooth to random acts of kindness, the techniques presented in this entertaining and informative book are sure to tip the odds in your favor. With tried-and-true advice, unexpected tips, and everything you need to know about lucky days, numbers, months, and more, this easy-to-use guide is brimming with wise counsel for increasing your good luck.

Share good fortune with this lucky book. Whether you are giving this book to someone to wish them well or just desire a little bit of luck for yourself, this positive, entertaining and informative title is a perfect gift. Discover miraculous stories of people who seemed to be blessed with good fortune and learn what you can do to make your life more receptive to good events in life, love, and work. Packed with interesting anecdotes, The Lucky Book features facts on lucky symbols and legends about luck and "lucky people" throughout history. Fun to read at any spare moment, or read aloud and share with family and friends. After all, who wouldn’t want a little extra bit of luck?