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Mohrbooks Literary Agency
Sebastian Ritscher
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English
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CAN YOU LEARN TO BE LUCKY?

Karla Starr

Why Some People Seem to Win More Often Than Others

A talented journalist reveals the hidden patterns behind what we call "luck" - and shows us how we can all improve outcomes that only appear to be random.
"Do you believe in luck?" is a polarizing question, one you might ask on a first date. Some of us believe that we make our own luck. Others see inequality everywhere and believe luck is the only possible explanation. Karla Starr has third answer: "random" outcomes have predictable causes; we call them lucky because their traces are so faint.

In this groundbreaking book, Starr traces wealth, health, and happiness back to subconscious neurological processes, blind cultural assumptions, and tiny details you're in the habit of overlooking. Each chapter blasts open the hardware behind an outcome you thought was random and shows how to hack it. For instance:

- You can beat the 10,000 hour rule if you pick the right skill at the right time, and have the right resources to train.
- Your resume can't override the gut-level assumptions a potential employer makes about you based on the last employee who happens to look similar.
- People make assumptions about your intelligence, kindness, and trustworthiness based on cues that have nothing to do with these traits.

Starr ends each chapter with two liberating possibilities: Either harness the world's invisible biases to work to your advantage, or recruit your personal strengths to overcome these external factors. By ending the guessing game about how luck works, Starr allows you to improve your fortunes while expending minimal effort.


Karla Starr has written for O, The Atlantic, Slate, Popular Science, The Guardian, and The Los Angeles Times. The recipient of a Best Science/Health award from the Society of Professional Journalists, she lives in New York. This is her first book.
Available products
Book

Published 2018-08-14 by Portfolio

Book

Published 2018-08-14 by Portfolio

Comments

Getting lucky is not about luck. It's about being prepared and having the right attitude. Based on years of research and decades of hard-won experience, Karla Starr reveals how to navigate social judgment, find your own hidden talents, and "kick ass" at life - all with wisdom and humor.

It's a time-honored truth that we make ourselves miserable trying to change things we can't. But as Karla Starr shows, many of the things we don't bother trying to control - because we assume they're a matter of luck are actually subject to strategy. Luckily for you, this insightful and frequently hilarious book is the perfect guide to understanding how.

Karla Starr's Can You Learn to be Lucky is a rollicking journey through the land of luck - an entertaining and insightful tour of stories and science that explores the origins of luck, why some people are luckier than others, and how we can all raise our chances of become luckier by design. A wonderful book that manages to be fun, smart, and important all at once.

This Is What it Takes to Change Bad Luck - Here's why some people seem to win more than others. Read more...

5 Great New Business Books to Read This Summer. Read more...

This book is a triple threat: laden with research, immediately practical, and laugh-out-loud funny. You will feel deliciously frustrated by the hidden injustices of luck lurking in our midst, then revved up to use the simple, life-changing "luck hacks" in every chapter. I gotta say, I feel luckier already.

I don't know when I've been so wowed by a new author. Karla Starr explains how "lucky" can be learned using credible social science and captivating stories, leavened with keen humor that had me laughing on a plane (apologies to the guy in 6A!).

Korean: Chungrim ; Portuguese (Brazil): Sextante ; Chinese (complex): CommonWealth Magazine Co

A clever, captivating read on how seemingly random events sometimes have predictable patterns behind them. If you believe chance favors the prepared mind, this is the book to prepare your mind.

Luck seems elusive, a force well out of our control. But in this fun and persuasive book, Karla Starr explains how the choices we make that shape our fate - and offers smart, science-based advice for making luck break our way.

Unfortunately, the answer to this book's title is not "Yes, and here's how" but rather another question: "How are you perpetuating your own unluckiness, and what can you do to stop it?" In Can You Learn To Be Lucky?, Starr argues that "random" unlucky events influence our behavior in incredibly predictable ways. So maybe you can't control what happens to you, but you can certainly control your response and create your own "luck" in the process. Read more...

Karla's charming wisdom offers lessons for improving nearly every aspect of life. If you can't find a leprechaun, buy this book!