Recipes for Good Luck: The Superstitions, Rituals, and Practices of Extraordinary People

By Ellen Weinstein

A visual compendium of good luck habits implemented by influential people from history.

What did Maya Angelou do to keep the words flowing? How do NASA engineers ensure a successful launch? What was Audrey Hepburn’s lucky number? How does Thom Yorke get ready for a concert? How did Björn Borg prepare for Wimbledon?

This charmingly illustrated book reveals the real-life creative processes, superstitions, curious practices, and performance routines of influential leaders from every walk of life—artists, writers, scientists, politicians, musicians, actors, and more—who forged their own path and left an indelible mark on the world. It is a celebration of all the many weird and wonderful ways we find the courage to boldly go forth. So, get out there and start making some good luck of your own!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Apr 3, 2018
• ISBN: 9781452162218

Book preview

Copyright © 2018 by Ellen Weinstein.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher.

ISBN: 978-1-4521-6221-8 (epub, mobi)

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available.

ISBN: 978-1-4521-6218-8 (hc)

Design by Kristen Hewitt

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CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

7

AGATHA CHRISTIE

10

AKIRA KUROSAWA

13

ALFRED HITCHCOCK

14

ALLYSON FELIX

17

ANNA WINTOUR

18

ANTHONY BOURDAIN

21

AUDREY HEPBURN

22

AUGUSTUS CAESAR

25

BARACK OBAMA

26

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

29

BEYONCÉ

30

BJÖRN BORG

33

CHARLES DICKENS

34

COCO CHANEL

37

DAN BROWN

38

DIANE VON FURSTENBERG

41

DR. SEUSS (THEODOR SEUSS GEISEL)

42

ELLA FITZGERALD

45

ELLEN DEGENERES

46

FLANNERY O’CONNOR

49

FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT

50

FRIDA KAHLO

53

GABRIEL GARCÍA MÁRQUEZ

54

GEORGIA O’KEEFFE

57

GERTRUDE STEIN

58

GUSTAV MAHLER

61

GUSTAVE EIFFEL

62

HARUKI MURAKAMI

65

HEIDI KLUM

66

I. M. PEI

69

ISABEL ALLENDE

70

JAMES JOYCE

73

J. K. ROWLING

74

JOAN DIDION

77

JOHN STEINBECK

78

JOHN WAYNE

81

LABORATORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA

82

LAIRD HAMILTON

85

LEONARD COHEN

86

LUCILLE BALL

89

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN

90

LUPITA NYONG’O

93

MARIE CURIE

94

MARY SHELLEY

97

MAYA ANGELOU

98

MICHAEL JORDAN

101

MISTY COPELAND

102

MITOIZUMI

105

NAPOLÉON BONAPARTE

106

NASA

109

NIELS BOHR

110

PABLO PICASSO

113

PATRICIA HIGHSMITH

114

PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY

117

ROBERT PLANT

118

SALVADOR DALÍ

121

SERENA WILLIAMS

122

SIGMUND FREUD

125

TAYLOR SWIFT

126

THOM YORKE

129

TIGER WOODS

130

VIRGINIA WOOLF

133

WADE BOGGS

134

WINSTON CHURCHILL

137

YOKO ONO

138

BIBLIOGRAPHY

140

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

144

INTRODUCTION

IN THE PARTICULAR IS CONTAINED THE UNIVERSAL. —JAMES JOYCE

A few years ago, while illustrating an article about superstitions, some of the behavior described in the piece sounded eerily familiar. In that moment of recognition, I became aware of my own quirky behavior and started to notice some similar patterns among my friends and colleagues. Prior to a canoe-paddling race, one of my teammates knelt down on the beach, grabbed a fistful of sand, and released it while adjusting her visor. I thought nothing of this until the same ritual was performed at the next race and the ones that followed. At another friend’s book release party, he shared a specific routine he followed on the day his books are published.

Although not a big baseball fan, I love to watch batters step