The central premise of this book is that people who consider themselves as being unlucky may change their life by changing their outlook on life. Wiseman heads a research unit at the University of Hertfordshire. Over the last 10 years he has been examining the question - do lucky people consistently lead happier lives, and can ‘lucky-ness’ be learned by ‘unlucky people’. He thinks he has found an answer - the answer is yes, and yes. The solution? A positive and happy disposition leads to recognizing good luck and good fortune. The book has a sort of ‘power of positive thinking’ feel to it. Wiseman argues that our perception of events that befall us is the key factor in determining whether we see ourselves as lucky, or unlucky.

That is a little hard to accept in my opinion. All of these instant cure, self help books suffer from the same flaw. That is, telling people to ‘buck up their ideas’ is not necessarily going to have the desired effect even if Wiseman does take 200 pages to deliver the message. This book is a slick rewriting of these other positive thinking books that are doing the rounds. At least Wiseman tries to back up his arguements with research and case studies. However, at the end of the day ‘The Luck Factor’ brings nothing new to the table. A scientific analysis of a staid over discussed topic does not make great reading. That is why I am forced to award this book a 3 (Fair) out of 5.

The luck factor by Dr. Richard Wiseman.