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Fooling Houdini
- Magicians, Mentalists, Math Geeks, and the Hidden Powers of the Mind
- Narrated by: Alex Stone
- Length: 9 hrs and 14 mins
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Publisher's summary
When Alex Stone was five years old, his father bought him a magic kit - a gift that would spark a lifelong love. Years later, while living in New York City, he discovered a vibrant underground magic scene exploding with creativity and innovation and populated by a fascinating cast of characters: from his gruff mentor, who holds court in the back of a rundown pizza shop, to one of the world's greatest card cheats, who also happens to be blind. Captivated, he plunged headlong into this mysterious world, eventually competing at the Magic Olympics and training with great magicians around the globe to perfect his craft.
From the back rooms of New York City's century-old magic societies to cutting-edge psychology labs; three-card monte on Canal Street to glossy Las Vegas casinos; Fooling Houdini recounts Stone's quest to join the ranks of master magicians. As he navigates this quirky and occasionally hilarious subculture, Stone pulls back the curtain on a community shrouded in secrecy, fueled by obsession and brilliance, and organized around a single overriding need: to prove one's worth by deceiving others.
But his journey is more than a tale of tricks, gigs, and geeks. In trying to understand how expert magicians manipulate our minds to create their astonishing illusions, Stone uncovers a wealth of insight into human nature and the nature of perception. Every turn leads to questions about how the mind perceives the world and processes everyday experiences. By investigating some of the lesser-known corners of psychology, neuroscience, physics, history, and even crime, all through the lens of trickery and illusion, Fooling Houdini arrives at a host of startling revelations about how the mind works - and why, sometimes, it doesn't.
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Factoring Humanity
- By: Robert J. Sawyer
- Narrated by: Katherine Kellgren
- Length: 9 hrs and 39 mins
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In the near future, a signal is detected coming from the Alpha Centauri system. Mysterious, unintelligible data streams in for ten years. Heather Davis, a professor in the University of Toronto psychology department, has devoted her career to deciphering the message. Her estranged husband, Kyle, is working on the development of artificial intelligence systems and new computer technology utilizing quantum effects to produce a near-infinite number of calculations simultaneously.
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Novel alien first contact
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By: Robert J. Sawyer
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Life, Animated
- A Story of Sidekicks, Heroes, and Autism
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- Narrated by: Ron Suskind
- Length: 13 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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This is the real-life story of Owen Suskind, the son of the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ron Suskind and his wife, Cornelia. An autistic boy who couldn't speak for years, Owen memorized dozens of Disney movies, turned them into a language to express love and loss, kinship, brotherhood. The family was forced to become animated characters, communicating with him in Disney dialogue and song; until they all emerge, together, revealing how, in darkness, we all literally need stories to survive.
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Life, Animated ... is Love, Animated *****
- By Tom T. Rumble on 04-12-14
By: Ron Suskind
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Waldo & Magic, Inc.
- By: Robert A. Heinlein
- Narrated by: MacLeod Andrews
- Length: 8 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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North Power Air is in trouble. Their aircraft are crashing at an alarming rate and no one can figure out the cause. Desperate for an answer, they turn to Waldo, a crippled misanthropic genius who lives in a home in orbit around Earth, where the absence of gravity means that his feeble muscle strength does not confine him helplessly in a wheelchair. But Waldo has little reason to want to help the rest of humanity - until he learns that the solution to Earth’s problems also holds the key to his own.
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I'M NEVER IN A HURRY
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 02-13-16
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It Takes Two
- Our Story
- By: Jonathan Scott, Drew Scott
- Narrated by: Drew Scott, Jonathan Scott
- Length: 6 hrs and 4 mins
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It Takes Two: Our Story shares never-before-revealed tales of the Scott brothers' childhood and rise to fame - from starting their first business at seven years old and their years modeling and acting to their first house purchase at the impressive young age of 18. They soon found their true passion in life, combining their natural gifts for entertaining with the skills they learned from buying, renovating, and selling homes.
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Not Worth the Time or $2.95
- By Sharlotte on 03-06-18
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Road Dog
- Life and Reflections from the Road as a Stand-up Comic
- By: Dov Davidoff
- Narrated by: Dov Davidoff
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Road Dog is comedian, actor, and writer, Dov Davidoff's unflinching memoir told through reflections of twelve months on the road. Davidoff travels across the country from college campuses to local theaters doing stand-up comedy and telling it like it is. He's been known to wax poetic about everything from encounters with large fake breasts, to people who have too many kids, to magnum condoms the size of CD cases. He is hilarious and relatable and will have you laughing at yourself in no time.
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dark, real, & exceptional
- By Luis F Rodriguez on 11-22-17
By: Dov Davidoff
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The Creative Habit
- Learn It and Use It for Life
- By: Twyla Tharp
- Narrated by: Lauren Fortgang
- Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins
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All it takes to make creativity a part of your life is the willingness to make it a habit. It is the product of preparation and effort, and is within reach of everyone. Whether you are a painter, musician, businessperson, or simply an individual yearning to put your creativity to use, The Creative Habit provides you with 32 practical exercises based on the lessons Twyla Tharp has learned in her remarkable 35-year career.
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A much-needed shout-out to good habits
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By: Twyla Tharp
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Ship It Holla Ballas!
- How a Bunch of 19-Year-Old College Dropouts Used the Internet to Become Poker's Loudest, Craziest, and Richest Crew
- By: Jonathan Grotenstein, Storms Reback
- Narrated by: James Patrick Cronin
- Length: 9 hrs and 56 mins
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Who were the Ship It Holla Ballas? Arguably the most successful poker crew of all time, they took advantage of the online poker boom to win tens of millions of dollars before most of them were old enough to set foot inside a casino. Then they did what any red-blooded teenagers with mountains of cash and no responsibilities would do: They partied like rock stars, transforming themselves from Internet nerds with zero life skills into legends, at least in their own minds.
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ship it
- By John on 07-23-16
By: Jonathan Grotenstein, and others
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The Coincidence Makers
- A Novel
- By: Yoav Blum
- Narrated by: Fred Berman
- Length: 7 hrs and 56 mins
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What if the drink you just spilled, the train you just missed, or the lottery ticket you just found was not just a random occurrence? What if it's all part of a bigger plan? What if there's no such thing as a chance encounter? What if there are people we don't know determining our destiny? And what if they are even planning the fate of the world? Enter the Coincidence Makers - Guy, Emily, and Eric - three seemingly ordinary people who work for a secret organization devoted to creating and carrying out coincidences. What the rest of the world sees as random occurrences, are, in fact, carefully orchestrated events.
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Amazing!
- By Gal Wolff on 07-31-18
By: Yoav Blum
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The Fire Seekers
- The Babel Trilogy, Book 1
- By: Richard Farr
- Narrated by: Scott Merriman
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An undeciphered language in Crete. A rash of mysterious disappearances, from Bolivia to Japan. An ancient warning at the ruins of Babel. And a new spiritual leader, who claims that human history as we understand it is about to come to an end.
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A fresh story!
- By AB on 02-08-15
By: Richard Farr
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The Wizard of Ads
- Turning Words into Magic and Dreamers into Millionaires
- By: Roy H. Williams
- Length: 4 hrs and 41 mins
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With the knowledge of a seasoned business consultant and the warmth and wit of a natural storyteller, the Wizard will help you to multiply the effectiveness of your advertising, understand the tug-of-war between intellect and emotion, and more.
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If you have a hard time hearing don't waste your time
- By Michelle J on 01-09-17
By: Roy H. Williams
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Elliot Allagash
- A Novel
- By: Simon Rich
- Narrated by: Richard Powers
- Length: 6 hrs and 22 mins
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Seymour is the least popular student at Glendale, a private school in Manhattan. His new nickname, “Chunk-Style”, is in danger of entering common usage. But then he meets the new transfer student: Elliot Allagash, evil heir of America’s largest fortune. Elliot’s rampant delinquency has already gotten him expelled from dozens of prep schools. But despite his best efforts, he can’t get himself thrown out of Glendale; his father has simply donated too much money. Bitter and bored, Elliot amuses himself by transforming Seymour into the most popular student in the school.
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Great book.
- By Reid Robinson on 01-29-16
By: Simon Rich
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EXTREMELY disappointed it's not Steve narrating.
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The Secret Life of Houdini
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Handcuff King. Escape Artist. International Superstar. Since his death in 1926, Harry Houdini's life has been chronicled in books, in films, and on television. Now, in this groundbreaking biography, renowned magic expert William Kalush and best-selling writer Larry Sloman team up to find the man behind the myth.
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Wait for the unabridged version
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The Secret of Mental Magic Tricks
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If you're into mental magic tricks and can't get enough of them, The Secret of Mental Magic Tricks: How To Amaze Your Friends with These Mental Magic Tricks Today will get you pretty excited. But what if you don't know much about it or are just getting started? This audiobook has you covered on that as well because it explains exactly what mental magic tricks are which includes the various rules.
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Not recommended
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Moonwalking with Einstein
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An instant best seller that is poised to become a classic, Moonwalking with Einstein recounts Joshua Foer's yearlong quest to improve his memory under the tutelage of top "mental athletes". He draws on cutting-edge research, a surprising cultural history of remembering, and venerable tricks of the mentalist's trade to transform our understanding of human memory. From the United States Memory Championship to deep within the author's own mind, this is an electrifying work of journalism that reminds us that, in every way that matters, we are the sum of our memories.
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Got the Ball Rolling
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What listeners say about Fooling Houdini
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Joe
- 11-01-12
I suppose the author thinks he's clever
God, I really wanted to like this novel. I really did. I wanted to see a thoughtful, informative examination of the magician's world. This book skims the interesting details and techniques of magicians and instead focuses on - of all things - the narrator's life as a student and an aspiring magician. I could not possibly care less. I wanted a book in the style of Mary Roach, what I got was a personal life journey. Personal details stand in place of logistical and technical details and the story of how magicians dedicate decades to their craft simply slips away. Sure, there's a few conferences and interesting characters in here, a little about psychology that I found interesting. But overall, the content is simply not there.
Moreover, the author narrates his own book here. That is almost never a good idea. He's not a compelling reader, giving pauses where they aren't needed, lacking good inflection and not punching up the audio to give the best experience. In an interview at the end he has the gall to suggest that no one else could read his book because of how personal of a story it is. It's audacious, and the book isn't that interesting to begin with. Sorry, Mr. Stone.
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7 people found this helpful
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- Jay Quintana
- 03-04-17
This is a Memoir
You'll learn a lot about Alex Stone and magicians. But very little about mentalists, math geeks, and the hidden powers of the mind. Since the subtitle is what convinced me to buy the book, I was very disappointed. If you're a budding magician, though, you'll probably enjoy this. I just wish this book about deception didn't have such a deceiving title.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Matt R
- 02-26-19
Fooling Myself: Broken and Restored Ego
I'm disappointed. This book panders to the desire of those who like to feel smart without being inconvenienced by having to gain real understanding. The author makes inaccurate assertions and repeats them in case they were missed the first time. Maybe as a result of recounting his blunders, he finally figured out that the audience is important. Or he got a good editor. Editors are undervalued.
The author seems lost as to what magic is about. His claim that he didn't know until well into his journey into magic that it isn't solely about technique but about engaging the audience is bizarre. Had he never seen anyone perform? Had he only seen disjointed tricks? Had he never read a book?
He claims to have fought back and triumphed over the SAM after his resignation from the organization had been requested. But once again it seems like he cares more about technique than about his audience. Sure, you may be able to threaten your way into not being kicked out of a group, but what does membership matter if you've made certain that everyone knows that you're unwelcome?
His gaffes include referring to the Richard Turner Bicycle cards as the Richard Turner Mandolin Backs. The Richard Turner cards are Rider Back cards. They're ubiquitous. The Mandolin Backs exist but are different. I've never seen them in the wild. This is so sloppy.
Returning to his lack of awareness, he haphazardly reveals some magic tricks seemingly out of the blue, apropos of nothing. One of the greatest things about learning magic is that interest can be sparked and lead to reading where things come from and how they were developed. The amount of source material available is effectively endless. And reading even the most essential books that the author does mention in his book allows for a change in perspective and an understanding of how techniques can be applied in broader areas. But simply giving the answers as to how some mentalism stuff is done, for example, is cheap and robs people of the chance to investigate. Teasing and provoking thought is good, but that's hard to do. Flatly laying out methods is clumsy, but that's easy.
So I'm disappointed. I feel tricked. I feel taken advantage of. The flashy title is really just clickbait. And I fell for it. I thought the book would take me on a journey. But he reveals the secrets of his experience: He's hopelessly lost, and he doesn't even know it.
Erdnase writes in the preface to his own book that no matter who reads it or how it affects its readers, "if it sells, it will accomplish the primary motive of the author, as he needs the money."
It's debatable whether or not that line was written in earnest in the case of Erdnase, but it seems very applicable to this book.
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- Shawn
- 03-31-14
Self-important drivel
Not at all impressed with this book. The author seems very full of himself. I was hoping to learn more about the works of magic but it approaches the subject like anyone who believes anything is an idiot. Actually, everyone is an idiot. I could not make a connection with this book.
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- Oriana
- 08-06-16
Way more diversity of content than I expected
This book combines personal narrative, instruction, history, moral exploration, deep thinking, and educational elements. Stone revealed a world I'd never known existed and turned many of my perceptions of the world I DO know on their heads. Magic is inextricably linked with psychology, neuroscience, mathematics, crime, much of American history, and the birth of dollar stores, among many other things! I was pleasantly surprised by the author's candidness and originality of thought. I was delighted that so many of my own questions about magic were answered! It ended too soon but has caused me to begin researching the subject for myself. I can't recommend it enough nor to too many people. The book has injected a new liveliness in my daily conversations! Magic really is a universal delight.
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- Sage Man
- 02-01-16
Great insight into the life of a magician
Those last two negative reviews don't make any sense. I don't think they were listening to the same book. The author has a lot of interesting and detailed information collected on his journey to becoming a well rounded magician. He also does a great job narrating his own book.
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- steve merzlak
- 10-01-16
enjoyable!!
inspired me to get back into magic. this book did that for me . thanks
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- Eliot McNeil
- 01-31-15
Super interesting
Hard to put down. Well narrated by the author. One of the most interesting books that I have read in awhile.
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- Red Emma
- 10-06-14
Completely enjoyable!
Any additional comments?
Alex Stone was a great narrator! You could really hear the excitement in his voice. It was educational as well as entertaining. A great read!
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- Kindle Customer
- 08-13-12
Magic?
Would you try another book from Alex Stone and/or Alex Stone?
I did not care at all for this book. The author seemed to be doing a complete turnaround from what I thought the book would be. I thought it would contain learning about magic and the history of magic. Boy did I think wrong.
If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Fooling Houdini?
I could not even finish it--I thought it was that bad. But different strokes for different folks maybe someone out there who loves math etc will like it.
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