Sleights of Mind

What the Neuroscience of Magic Reveals About Our Everyday Deceptions

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

Narrated by: Lloyd James

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.

©2010 Stephen L. Macknik and Susana Mrtibez-Conde, with Sandra Blakeslee (P)2010 Tantor

Critic reviews

"This book doesn't just promise to change the way you think about sleight of hand and David Copperfield---it will also change the way you think about the mind." (Jonah Lehrer, author of How We Decide)

Good book, narration was ok.

What did you like best about Sleights of Mind? What did you like least?

All of my praise goes to the writing of the book. It was very Interesting to delve into what neural processes make magic work. Very informative and entertaining. The narrator missed words, and read stuff wrong. For example, there was one section about a bet and it mentioned that if you put $5000 down you could win $100,000. He read this as $10,000. Which severely dampens the point.

Would you be willing to try another one of Lloyd James’s performances?

I don't know. The narrator was not the best.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

Yes

solid-ish

solid stuff, few wild assumptions though. All in all well worth the time spent listening.

I really did like this book! I think you would li

I really did like this book! I think you would like it also. I did learn a lot!

Not a bad book, If you are into magic

What did you like best about Sleights of Mind? What did you like least?

This book is about magic tricks and illusions. I purchased the book with the assumption it had a deeper theme, but no, this book is about magic tricks. Its a good book and decently written IF you are into magic.

What was most disappointing about the authors’s story?

The theme was about magic tricks and how magicians perform them.

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

Good Narrator. Good author.

Could you see Sleights of Mind being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

NO way

Any additional comments?

I have nothing bad to say about the book or narrator. I just thought it was about more than magic tricks. My fault.

Mundus Wult Decipi, ergo decipiatur.

If you could sum up Sleights of Mind in three words, what would they be?

My favorite things.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Sleights of Mind?

The explanation of how magicians "tricks" are perfect illustrations of cognitive illusions.

Which scene was your favorite?

The description of the spoon bending performance.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

The Science of Magic.

Any additional comments?

As a graduate student in psychology and an accomplished magician I was overjoyed to see this book that combined my hobby and my future career. I have been using my insights as a student of psychology to help my performance as a magician for years and this book concisely explains to magicians exactly how to do so, while explaining to cognitive scientists how studying the art of illusion can test cognitive theory. I couldn't stop smiling as all my secrets were revealed, both as a magician and as a student of cognitive science. Look out authors, I may look you guys up in the future for post-doc work.

Should have been a documentary

Moderately interesting book, but magic tricks don't have quite the same impact (to say the least) when they're described in words as when you see them performed. This book should have been a documentary movie. The title and the description seemed very promising to me, but the book didn't really deliver (and I have a background in neuroscience).

Started out very interesting

but eventually the author kept repeating and just was boring. I tried to hold out and read the whole thing but it was just too boring.

Fascinating Read

Good read, enjoyed. Slight of hand or slight of mind? Each section made we wonder if I could do the tricks. And you can....

Very Informative

Audible carries a number of books on neuroscience, neuroplasticity and the like. I read everyone I come across and so I joined Macknik, Martinez-Conde, and Blakeslee in "Sleights of Mind". While it reveals some of the cognitive and perceptual aspects of illusions, it makes many applications to everyday life as well. This book opens the listener to the world in unexpected ways. For example, the authors point out that painting is magic on canvass. They make the point that deceptions originating in our own perceptual spheres are always readily at hand – when known and when not known. Using magic as the common thread throughout, the authors inform at every turn. If you are interested in magic this is wonderful. If you are interested in perception, it is very informative. If you have given perception, memory, and cognition dissonance little or no thought, do it now. Well written and wonderfully read by Lloyd James.

Wow! This stuff is very interesting

If you are interested in either magic and/or how the mind works, this book is for you. I've never been all that interested in magic show but reading this book has given me a greater appreciation of the art and science of it. Now I really want to go back to Las Vegas to see a top-notch magic show.