Fooling Houdini

Magicians, Mentalists, Math Geeks, and the Hidden Powers of the Mind

By: Alex Stone

Narrated by: Alex Stone

Length: 9 hrs and 14 mins

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.

©2012 Alex Stone (P)2012 HarperCollins Publishers

Witty, fun, interesting.

What did you love best about Fooling Houdini?

If you identify with coming of age stories about geeks, outcasts, and nerds, this is worth your credit. Witty with interesting connections to science and magic lore. Great narration.

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!

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.

fun book to explore

really enjoy the journey with the writer it was fun and entertaining. would love to hear more from him.

Magic for the Mind

Where does Fooling Houdini rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I think Fooling Houdini ranks pretty high in the books I've listened to.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Fooling Houdini?

I enjoyed the clown class description.

Have you listened to any of Alex Stone’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No, I haven't. I thought Alex Stone's narration was very professional and fit the tone of the book.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Alex's failure at the IBM in the beginning. Anyone who has bombed on stage can relate and

Amazing look at a fascinating world

This is one of the rare books that I both read in print and listened to on audio. So insightful, smart and funny. I learned a lot about the world of magic. Thank you! Waiting for a part two. :0)

Super interesting

Hard to put down. Well narrated by the author. One of the most interesting books that I have read in awhile.

A tour of a unique world that builds to...nothing

This book was a fascinating tours of the unique and heretofore unknown to me world of magic in the modern age. It was told with both an underlying story (the evolution of the author/reader in this world) and regular side jaunts into other subsets of the world or interesting studies or research. It seems like that should be jarring but the author did a fairly good job of blending it all together in a way that was interesting and thought provoking. That said, the underlying story that helped tie the book together so well kind of went...nowhere. I kept waiting for a resolution or for something to bring it all together, but you end up walking away feeling like the author told a coming of age story before having finished coming of age.

I'd still recommend the book as interesting and fun, but I'd do so with the caveat that you should lower your expectations for the ending to be meaningful or conclusive in any way.

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.

loved it

it was great and it helped me under stand what magic is to me as a person.