The Luck Factor: The Scientific Study of the Lucky Mind Kindle Edition

This is perhaps one of the best GENUINE self-help books that you'll ever read, and I say that as someone who tried several different books by people I now recognise to be charlatans. For a period I had been seeing a personal guru who introduced me to the concept of the Law of Attraction, and for a period I swallowed it hook, line and sinker. Needless to say it caused me a lot of unneeded suffering and misery, for the very reason that the various books teachings were centered around a supernatural concept. Additionally the notion is that should you encounter bad luck or suffering it is all your own fault due to negative thinking and other equally ridiculous logical fallacies.

Like Richard Wiseman's '59 Seconds', this book is based on foundations of legitimate psychology, but here you will not be bogged down by anything you won't understand. Instead the book, to its great credit, is presented on layman's terms. It explains how it is that though the majority of people will encounter equal amounts of both good and bad luck, but it is their manner in which they handle situations where they have a change of mentality. A person who perceives themselves as 'Lucky' for example is more likely to take advantage of opportunities, or will spot opportunities far easier than a person who encounters 'bad' luck. Indeed the two sides could even interpret a car crash differently, with a person with a 'Lucky' mentality interpreting it as "At least I'm still alive". The difference with a "Unlucky" person would be their interpretation of "Just my luck, I WOULD have to get into a car accident wouldn't I!"

This is what makes this book so wonderful, and indeed can help it SEEM like there really is a 'Law of Attraction'. But instead of basing its conclusions on notions centered around the supernatural, we are given rational explanations as to why certain people in life appear to do better than the rest of us. Having a good mentality about life also draws more people to you as well, therefore increasing your own social circle.

As a sort of companion piece, I would also highly recommend that you read Danny Wallace's 'Yes Man'. I know some 'Law of Attraction' bloggers have cited it as the book to kick start the 'LOA' in your life, but if you're a rational human being, you'll see how silly that is. However the two books together will certainly make it FEEL as if such a thing does exist. However it is far healthier to have a change of mentality rather than an abandonment of sanity.

A very interesting book - informative and useful - about scientific research into whether some people are lucky and others unlucky, and if so why. It turns out that this 'luck' is strong and is down to a bunch of attitudes and behaviours (many of which you can change). E.g. lucky people network more with friends & strangers and hence encounter opportunities (e.g. for work) more often than unlucky people. Also, lucky people try doing things and persist with them, whereas unlucky people give up too easily or don't even bother trying.

The book turns this into a list of techniques you can apply to make yourself luckier. Unluck most self-help books, their basis in scientific research makes these well worth trying.

My only criticism of the book is its repetitiveness, bordering on padding: points are made, summarized, re-stated and re-summarized over and over, quite unnecessarily.

Richard Wiseman has done some really interesting research into areas of psychology that have been somewhat overlooked. When you read this book, you'll wonder why on earth no-one tried to find out about luck before! It is a great mixture of humorous "self-help" book, including exercises to do to help improve your own luck, and fascinating case studies of lucky and unlucky people. I found I identified incredibly strongly with some of the stories within the book and found it fascinating to look at luck in a scientific way. Worth a read!

As with any of these type of books, you have to read or listen, take notes and act upon the information.
It's the same with this and it is a very good publication. Excellent points and very easy to follow. Again, if you do what the publication points out, you will find changes starting in your life.
We make our own luck but it really depends on how you think.

Intresting book about the concept of luck or lack of it - shows you that luck can be a lot about attitude and how you can increase yours.

Vert interesting read. Takes a while getting to the point, but when it does, it makes you stop and think. Not for long, but it does make you pause for a few moments.

A great book exploring why some people are lucky and some not as well as what to do to increase your chances of luck

It took a little longer than expected to arrive but that was ok. The book is interesting but not sue I agree with its findings.