Showing results for "Luck" in Sociology

Freakonomics showed how economic calculations can explain seemingly counterintuitive decision-making. Thinking, Fast and Slow helped listeners 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.

How important is luck in economic success? No question more reliably divides conservatives from liberals. As conservatives correctly observe, people who amass great fortunes are almost always talented and hardworking. But liberals are also correct to note that countless others have those same qualities yet never earn much. In recent years, social scientists have discovered that chance plays a much larger role in important life outcomes than most people imagine.

Sucesso no Brasil, com mais de 100 mil exemplares vendidos, Ryan Holiday traz em seu novo livro um verdadeiro tratado sobre a coragem, uma virtude celebrada ao longo dos séculos, mas que parece estar em perigo de extinção. Nada é possível sem ela. Nada que valha a pena se alcança sendo covarde. Então por que a bravura é tão escassa? Numa época em que muitos de nossos políticos, líderes e artistas parecem incapazes de defender o que é certo ou mesmo falar a verdade, a coragem se faz ainda mais necessária, e o futuro depende da nossa decisão.

2021 Prose Award Finalist A long-overdue and sober examination of President Ronald Reagan’s racist politics that continue to harm communities today and helped shape the modern conservative movement. Ronald Reagan is hailed as a transformative president and an American icon, but within his...

It’s comforting to think that we can be successful because we work hard, climb ladders, and get what we deserve, but each of us has been profoundly touched by randomness. Chance is shown to play a crucial role in shaping outcomes across history, throughout the natural world, and in our everyday lives. In The Random Factor, Mark Robert Rank draws from a wealth of evidence, including interviews and research, to explain how luck and chance play out and reveals how we can use these lessons to guide our personal lives and public policies.