Sleights of Mind, Sandra Blakeslee
Sleights of Mind, Sandra Blakeslee
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Sleights of Mind
What the Neuroscience of Magic Reveals About Our Everyday Deceptions

Author: Sandra Blakeslee, Stephen L. Macknik, Susana Martinez-Conde

Narrator: Lloyd James

Unabridged: 10 hr 6 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 11/09/2010

Synopsis

Have you ever wondered how a magician saws a woman in half? Or makes coins materialize out of thin air? Or reads your mind? Magic tricks work because humans have a hardwired process of attention and awareness that is hackable. A good magician uses your mind's intrinsic properties against you in a form of mental jujitsu, to fool you every time, even when you know full well that you are being tricked.

Now Stephen L. Macknik and Susana Martinez-Conde, the founders of the exciting new discipline of neuromagic, have convinced some of the world's greatest magicians to reveal their techniques for tricking the brain. This fascinating book is the result of the authors' worldwide exploration of magic and how its ancient principles can now be explained using the latest discoveries of cognitive neuroscience.

The secrets behind magic tricks reveal how your brain works not just when watching a magic show but in everyday situations. For instance, if you've ever found yourself paying for an expensive item you'd sworn you'd never buy, the salesperson was probably a master at creating the "illusion of choice," a core technique of magic. By popping the hood on your brain as you are suckered in by sleights of hand, Macknik and Martinez-Conde unveil the key connections between magic and the mind, and along the way make neuroscience more exciting and accessible than ever before.

About Sandra Blakeslee

Sandra Blakeslee is a science correspondent at the New York Times who specializes in the brain sciences. She has witnessed firsthand the major developments and discoveries in neuroscience, both in the United States and abroad, for well over twenty years. She has cowritten many books, including the bestselling Second Chances with Judith Wallerstein. She is the third generation in a family of science writers.

Reviews

Goodreads review by ☘Misericordia☘ on February 23, 2022

Q: Chronic multitaskers “are suckers for irrelevancy,” says Stanford communications professor Clifford Nass. “Everything distracts them.” They can’t ignore things, can’t remember as well, and have weaker self-control. (c) Too true!......more

Goodreads review by Jason on February 19, 2012

I really enjoyed this book. It was a combination of two interests that I've had for a long time, but haven't really focused on: Magic and neuroscience. My degree is in cognitive science, which is really what this book focuses on. I'm fascinated to see many of the concepts that I studied in school ill......more

Goodreads review by Vonia on October 01, 2019

This book was awesome, amazing, fantastical, & magical! Magicology? Yes, please! Neuromagic? Yes, please? The husband & wife team of authors essentially explain in scientific facts the secrets behind the magic we see everyday. Appearing coins, a psychic, the magician whom can predict whichever card......more

Goodreads review by Emma on November 10, 2019

An enjoyable non-fiction book that explains the neuroscience behind magic tricks. It is entertaining but did get a little repetitive as a lot of the tricks seemed to be variations on a theme. The author seemed to keep switching between first and third person too which wound me up.......more

Goodreads review by Nickdepenpan123 on November 03, 2017

As far as popular science books go, this is way light, the authors are neuroscientists, but the book could be easily written by an amateur. OK, theoretically one could say that about most books for non-specialists, but there's something in many popular science books, perhaps the clarity of language......more

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