The Lucky Bugger's Casebook

What connects the discovery of America, the creation of Coca Cola and the art book bought for 50 pounds that turned out to contain original Picassos? That's right: sheer blind luck.

No matter how meticulously things are planned, time after time the most important bits of life are the product of simple, random chance. In wonderfully witty style, Daniel Smith gives us the stories of inventors, Nobel Prize winners, scientists, actresses, escapees, engineers, kings, architects, pop stars, criminals, supermodels, tennis champions, opera singers and many more who have benefited from happy serendipity.

From the Japanese trader who made fortune after a share price typo to the German novelist who lost his manuscript on a train, and ended up buying some fish wrapped in his own pages at the station, The Lucky Bugger's Casebook is a celebration of the type of unexpected good fortune we all dream of. Just ask Sir Paul McCartney, who awoke one morning with the tune to 'Yesterday' having arrived in his head overnight.

“'This endlessly fascinating collection of stories reveals people whose extraordinary luck brought them fame or fortune, and occasionally both.'”

This endlessly fascinating collection of stories reveals people whose extraordinary luck brought them fame or fortune, and occasionally both. -- Good Book Guide

Daniel M Smith worked in publishing as a researcher, writer and editor of non-fiction (including The Statesman's Yearbook, The Artist's Yearbook and The Screenwriter's Handbook) and in 2003 lived and worked in Calcutta, India. He is the author of World in Your Pocket, a factbook about the countries and cultures of the world, and the forthcoming Sherlock Holmes: An Elementary Guide. He lives in east London with his partner, Rosie, and an assortment of fish.

From Newton's apple to the underwired bra that deflected a bullet: upbeat stories of real life serendipity and good fortune. What connects the discovery of America, the creation of Coca Cola and the art book bought for 50 pounds that turned out to contain original Picassos? That's right: sheer blind luck. No matter how meticulously things are planned, time after time the most important bits of life are the product of simple, random chance. In wonderfully witty style, Daniel Smith gives us the stories of inventors, Nobel Prize winners, scientists, actresses, escapees, engineers, kings, architects, pop stars, criminals, supermodels, tennis champions, opera singers and many more who have benefited from happy serendipity. From the Japanese trader who made fortune after a share price typo to the German novelist who lost his manuscript on a train, and ended up buying some fish wrapped in his own pages at the station, The Lucky Bugger's Casebook is a celebration of the type of unexpected good fortune we all dream of. Just ask Sir Paul McCartney, who awoke one morning with the tune to 'Yesterday' having arrived in his head overnight.

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