The Random Factor

How Chance and Luck Profoundly Shape Our Lives and the World Around Us

By: Mark Robert Rank

Narrated by: Donald Corren

UNCOVERS HOW TRULY RANDOM THE WORLD IS BY CHALLENGING NOTIONS OF PREDICTABILITY AND RUGGED INDIVIDUALISM

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.

This book traverses luck from macro to micro, from events like the Cuban Missile Crisis to our personal encounters and relationships. Rank also delves into the class and race dynamics of chance, emphasizing the stark disparities it brings to light.

This transformative book prompts a new understanding of the twists and turns in our daily lives and encourages readers to fully appreciate the surprising world of randomness in which we live.

©2024 Mark Robert Rank (P)2024 Recorded Books

Critic reviews

“A fantastic read. Mark Robert Rank deftly brings together insights from a wide range of studies and everyday experiences to show the underappreciated role that randomness plays in all aspects of social life. Accessible and entertaining, the book provides a valuable new perspective on contemporary inequality.”—Michael Sauder, Professor and Chair, Department of Sociology and Criminology, University of Iowa

A view of reality

This is an excellent survey of the part that chance plays in our lives. The book intelligently explains something that I have known for a long time, that "rugged individualism" is a myth as well as the idea of a self made man.