Lucky People: A breezy neuroscience take that misses wider realities

Does luck fall equally on everyone? You might not think so, but Japanese neuroscientist Nobuko Nakano argues that this is the case

Lucky People: A Neuroscientist’s Guide to Attracting Luck, Cultivating Success and Leading a Happier Life

By Nobuko Nakano

Published by Simon & Schuster

180 pages ₹499 

Japanese neuroscientist Nobuko Nakano’s latest book, Lucky People,  promises a scientific approach to cultivating luck, or to put it more accurately, developing a mindset that attracts luck in everyday life. The prologue (“What Kind of Person is Lucky?”) sets up this premise well, with an anecdote of how Panasonic founder Kōnosuke Matsushita only hired people who answered “yes” when asked if they were lucky — a belief that “luck” is not preordained, but rather a product of thinking and behaviour.

 

Ms Nakano then goes on to break down the statistics behind being lucky: Because of the law of probability, we are as likely to be lucky as we are to be unlucky but we are more likely to dwell on the times we were “unlucky”. It is this negative thinking that the author wants us to eliminate, and develop an outlook that sounds like a self-fulfilling prophecy: “People who are considerate of themselves will be treated similarly by others, whereas people who are careless of themselves end up also being treated that way by others.”

 

In its initial pages, the book reads like a beginner’s guide to neuroscience, with paragraphs on the balance between serotonin, dopamine and other neurotransmitters and how that influences “individuality”. This is followed by an explanation of how the hackneyed phrase “just be yourself!” is actually a great way of attracting and sustaining luck — by developing a deepened sense of self-awareness, one is more likely to move towards those things that make them happy and better suited to take on life’s challenges.

 

However, the effect is undercut by Ms Nakano citing Nadine de Rothschild as an example of how treating oneself well leads to “success”. Not only that, the author even quotes Ms de Rothschild’s memoir to illustrate her point that because she prioritised herself constantly, she was able to marry into the famously wealthy family. Surely a better example could have been found to show how self-care leads to “good luck” in other spheres of life!

 

In chapter 3 , titled “Lucky People Try to Live in Harmony with Others”, Ms Nakano talks about how being “better” and not “best” is optimal for survival, which she has equated with luck earlier in the book. This philosophy is clearly inspired by the “middle way”, a foundational concept of Buddhism; however, the author never refers to the philosophy directly.

 

Additionally, Ms Nakano says things like “This is why we should choose the path that allows for more than one winner, and does not lead to excessive victory — the path where everybody gets to survive, rather than the one where the winners care only about their own survival and nobody else’s”. But there is no reference to the large wealth gap that persists in modern society, or how one section is clearly “lucky” enough to survive whatever disasters come its way, often at the expense of the other “unlucky” section.

 

In fact, even though the book makes it clear that its aim is to focus on the scientific aspect of “luck”, one can’t help but notice how it completely side-steps any questions of sociology, politics or history. The sheer lack of acknowledgment that the “luck” of being born in a certain country, in a certain family, in a certain era even, plays a big role in an individual’s life came off as absurd, especially when measured against the fact that the last chapter of the book is dedicated to praying. Even a tiny paragraph thrown somewhere in this slim volume would have sufficed. What the reader gets instead is 180 pages of “if you train your brain to feel good, you’ll be lucky”. Sorry for the spoiler! Ms Nakano also cites British novelist J K Rowling’s rags-to-riches story as an example of how “never giving up” and “believing in yourself” leads to unbelievable luck. However, what she misses out on is that Ms Rowling relied on government assistance for a major part of her struggle — her “luck”, then, is not just individual grit, it’s a combination of that and the welfare measures provided by a developed nation.

 

The pages in the book that highlight one quote — examples include “Lucky people have the ability to capitalise on a greater share of the good luck that falls equally on everyone” and “It is good to reflect on your mistakes, but you should also be able to show yourself unlimited tolerance” — appear to be designed keeping the book’s potential virality in mind. One can easily imagine these quotes popping up on Instagram posts.

 

To sum up, Lucky People is a light, breezy read for summer 2026; a non-fiction “beach read”, if you will.