Fooling Houdini: Magicians, Mentalists, Math Geeks, and the Hidden Powers of the Mind, (Paperback)

from bensdad00

Light and entertaining. Not an in-depth exploration of any of the subjects mentioned in the subtitle, this is more of a personal memoir than a scientific overview.

from ktp50

I think having a general interest in magic would help a person appreciate this book. It was well written and the cast of characters was interesting. I also liked how the author explains some of the common scams such as 3 cards monte and fortune tellers. It is a worthwhile read but I wouldn't go o...

from Parthurbook

A mix of memoir, cultural history and psychology, 'FD' follows a rather poor amateur conjourer (and PhD physics student) as he practices his craft, meets some of today's great performers, and explains how 'sleight of hand' is really 'sleight of mind'. Filled with insightful portraits of obsessive...

from MartinBodek

This excellent book is more than just a book about magic. It's a mashup of topics and styles, each of which make for fascinating reading. It's a coming-of-age story, a phoenix-rising story, a marvelously in-depth multi-disciplinary discussion (the gorilla experiment showed up yet again in yet ano...

from knightlight777

I got wind of this book from the CBS "Face the Nation" presentation of authors singled out for there work. Bob Scheiffer the host went on and on praising Alex Stone and how funny and entertaining his book was. It sounded interesting but I did not quite connect in the same way. Essentially the boo...