THE LUCK ILLUSION

In times of political, economic and technological disturbances deemed historical even by contemporaries, luck becomes a key concept. It is the defining feature between success and failure. Every culture, religion and social and political system has given its own answer for what defines "good" from "bad luck": grit, hard work, virtues, agency, bravery, inventiveness.

But, Martin Signorin argues in his debut book, The Luck Illusion, none of these truly predict who is going to become a successful entrepreneur, scientist, family person, etc. What we call luck, the author argues, is the result of a complex system that often works silently in the background, strongly affecting our educational outcome, partner selection, life, work and business choices. This complex system is rooted in factors such as society, economic climate, networking possibilities, status and many more.

The Luck Illusion is not a self-help book and is not a populist text that promotes drivel such as "positive thinking." Despite its slim length of 149 pages, it draws on established work across psychology, systems thinking, sociology and philosophy, including Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky, Ellen Langer, Donella Meadows, Robert K. Merton and Albert Camus. Eschewing the heavy language of science, the book fluently explains all the important concepts and understandings that underlie our very own definition of luck. It does this through an imaginary case study, the story of industrious, talented and entrepreneurial Walsdos, whose life seems an endless cycle of hard work, hopes for future happiness and ruined plans due to what we would automatically label "chronically bad luck."

Martin Signorin © photography by Galina Petkova

By dissecting Walsdos' story, Martin Signorin explains all the delusions that we have about luck. He demonstrates how different families' economic situation affects the children's future, and how having or lacking sufficient funding may define the outcome for a business's recovery. With ample examples and simple words, the author explains complex discoveries in fields such as psychology and statistics, and allows us to see Walsdos's story – and our own narratives – with new eyes.

The underlying, although not specifically outlined, message, is that society, status and economy are more important factors in one's success than personal qualities, grit, talent and determination. A quiet critique of today's world? Possibly.

The author's ideas were strongly affected by both his career in early education in the UK and his life in Yambol, Bulgaria, where he settled in 2005. Experiencing life-shattering circumstances, including cancer treatment by the Bulgarian healthcare system and meeting Bulgarians suffering from the outcomes of the collapse of Communism and the advance of free markets, has given Martin Signorin an important insight into the idea of how we use the concepts of "bad luck" and "good luck" as a cover for a more complex and hard to swallow truth about life.

"My aim was to encourage readers to look beyond the final outcome and consider the conditions, circumstances and causal processes that contributed to it," the author told us. We can say he has succeeded.

You can order The Luck Illusion (ISBN: 978-619-93912-0-4) as a Kindle edition or paperback from Amazon