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.

Magic is everywhere, from the big spectacle celebrity of David Copperfield and Siegfried and Roy to the quirky Penn and Teller to the spooky David Blaine and Criss Angel to the endless material on YouTube. But until now, learning it has never been easy—that's all about to change with Magic, a book that does for close-up magic what How to Grill does for barbecue. Written by charismatic young magician Joshua Jay, Magic combines expertise, photographs, step-by-step directions showing how to perform 100 tricks, and a DVD that demonstrates 35 of them. Joshua Jay took home the top prize at the World Magic Seminar (the Olympics of magic) when he was just 16 years old. Ten years later, he continues to perform magic, write about magic, eat, sleep, and breathe magic. Here, he brings all his passion and knowledge to teaching magic. Each trick is broken down into the Effect, the Secret, the Set-up, and, most important, the Performance, with lessons on what to say, how to direct the audience's attention, where to keep your hands, and so on. (In other words, how to be smart about the things your audience is surprisingly clueless about.) Here are the Ten Greatest Card Tricks; tricks to dazzle a dinner date; tricks to perform for the boss (poke a hole through his shirt, then magically mend it); tricks especially for kids; and even tricks for an audience in another state—with "Australian Self-Help," you can find a participant's chosen card over the phone. It's the Aha! book for a subject whose time has come.

Magical Mathematics reveals the secrets of amazing, fun-to-perform card tricks--and the profound mathematical ideas behind them--that will astound even the most accomplished magician. Persi Diaconis and Ron Graham provide easy, step-by-step instructions for each trick, explaining how to set up the effect and offering tips on what to say and do while performing it. Each card trick introduces a new mathematical idea, and varying the tricks in turn takes readers to the very threshold of today's mathematical knowledge. For example, the Gilbreath Principle--a fantastic effect where the cards remain in control despite being shuffled--is found to share an intimate connection with the Mandelbrot set. Other card tricks link to the mathematical secrets of combinatorics, graph theory, number theory, topology, the Riemann hypothesis, and even Fermat's last theorem. Diaconis and Graham are mathematicians as well as skilled performers with decades of professional experience between them. In this book they share a wealth of conjuring lore, including some closely guarded secrets of legendary magicians. Magical Mathematics covers the mathematics of juggling and shows how the I Ching connects to the history of probability and magic tricks both old and new. It tells the stories--and reveals the best tricks--of the eccentric and brilliant inventors of mathematical magic. Magical Mathematics exposes old gambling secrets through the mathematics of shuffling cards, explains the classic street-gambling scam of three-card monte, traces the history of mathematical magic back to the thirteenth century and the oldest mathematical trick--and much more.

Stephen Macknik and Susana Martinez-Conde, the founders of the exciting new discipline of neuromagic, have convinced some of the world’s greatest magicians to allow scientists to study their techniques for tricking the brain. The implications of neuromagic go beyond illuminating our behavior; early research points to new approaches for everything from the diagnosis of autism to marketing techniques and education. Fun and accessible, Sleights of Mind is "a tour through consciousness, attention, and deception via the marriage of professional magic and cognitive neuroscience" (Vanessa Schipani, The Scientist).  

The most complete treatise on sleight-of-hand coin conjuring, including best traditional methods and modern innovations. Guides you systematically from basic techniques, through integrated tricks to complete routined acts, 18 in all. 510 clear illustrations by Nelson C. Hahne. The best manual for amateurs, an encyclopedic source for professionals.

With this easy-to-understand and much-illustrated book you'll learn the classic repertoire of first-rate card tricks. Whether you're a beginner or professional, this is a must-read. Before long, you'll be doing card magic that will astound everyone.

Finally, here's how to do all those showy tricks and flourishes that card players are dying to know: how to send a deck cascading from one hand to the other. How to snap open two flawless fans. How to cut a deck with one hand. Choose four aces seemingly at random. Flick a card accurately across the room.The clearest, easiest-to-follow book of step-by-step directions, The Amazing Book of Cards will show anyone how to do 52 amazing things with a deck of cards. Written by Joshua Jay, the award-winning close-up magician and card-obsessed author of Magic: The Complete Course, The Amazing Book of Cards combines friendly, concise text and full-color photos with a full-length DVD that teaches the lessons and shows the subtleties of performance. Here are simple, killer tricks, like "Presto Prediction," which performs the impossible task of knowing someone's choice before she even makes it. Nine different shuffles, including the Faro Shuffle, the one most often used by pros, which helps you perfectly weave a split deck together in seconds. How to perform fans, flips, and flourishes, including Ribbon Spread&Flip and Catch-a-Deck. Tricks you can't lose—go ahead, take the bet to throw a card in a hat. How to memorize a deck in less than ten seconds, how to put a deck of cards into a glass bottle, build a card castle, and more. Filling out this labor of love is a whole world of card trivia, including the origins of Kings: King of Spades is modeled after King David, the King of Diamonds is Julius Caesar, Hearts is Charlemagne, and Clubs, Alexander the Great.

It?s the hip-hop of hocus-pocus. Forget about David Copperfield, cruise ship illusionists, and birthday party magicians. They?re so twentieth century. Think cutting-edge magickers like David Blaine and Criss Angel. People starting out in magic today want something edgier, grittier, quick, visual, and maybe a little dangerous. This guide will teach you how to do it! What makes The Complete Idiot?s Guide® to Street Magic different from other books is the type of tricks and the thematic presentations that readers will actually learn. Out of the literally thousands of tricks that could have been included, only those that have the greatest impact, both visually and psychologically, appear in this book. It includes: ?75 to 100 tricks ?200 illustrations, from how-to shots to photos of street magicians at work ?Contains something for all levels, from easy-to-accomplish tricks for complete beginners to more challenging sleight-of-hand for those who seriously want to pursue the art of legerdemain

Now in paperback comes Jim Steinmeyer's astonishing chronicle of half a century of illusionary innovation, backstage chicanery, and keen competition within the world of magicians. Lauded by today's finest magicians and critics, Hiding the Elephant is a cultural history of the efforts among legendary conjurers to make things materialize, levitate, and disappear. Steinmeyer unveils the secrets and life stories of the fascinating personalities behind optical marvels such as floating ghosts interacting with live actors, disembodied heads, and vanishing ladies. He demystifies Pepper's Ghost, Harry Kellar's Levitation of Princess Karnak, Charles Morritt's Disappearing Donkey, and Houdini's landmark vanishing of Jennie the elephant in 1918. The dramatic mix of science and history, with revealing diagrams, photographs and magicians' portraits by William Stout, provides a glimpse behind the curtain at the backstage story of magic.

Tricks To Pick Up Chicks is the ultimate secret weapon to meeting girls and entertaining friends. You're about to learn a variety of magic tricks, bets and scams to break the ice in no time flat. You'll also get the secrets of body language and how to use your friends to get the attention of any girl. Chapter 1 - Quickies Tricks, ice-breakers and lines that can be done to instantly get the attention of any dream-girl. Chapter 2 - One Night Stands Full blown magic tricks, bets and scams to impress girls, make you stand out and make them want more. Chapter 3 - Threesomes Gain an advantage by secretly using your "wingman" to trick, scam or set-up your target! Chapter 4 - Body Language Learn how to read body language, gestures and expressions so you know exactly what she is really thinking! Chapter 5 - Rules of the Game Become aware of the rules that separate the men from the boys. Learn the do's and don'ts of the dating game. You'll get 88 photos and expert instruction sharing 26 magic tricks to break the ice, over 100 of the best Lines for every situation, over a dozen top quality Card Tricks, 5 Tricks with Money, 7 mind-blowing Mind Reading Tricks, 22 Tricks with Everyday Objects to use anytime anywhere, 24 of the best Bet's ever created, 15 Scams to get a girls attention, 8 Magic Tricks using your Wingman, 5 Scams with your Wingman and 6 sure-fire way to get your Wingman to Set Up your girl! Plus 45 secrets to reading a girl like a book with important photos you've got to see. From micro-expressions, body language, psychology, gestures to expressions, we have it covered. The final chapter shares the top 60 ways to play the game right! The hundreds of tricks, bets, scams, lines and tips are taught by world class magician Rich Ferguson, TheIceBreaker.comIntroduction by Chuck 'The Iceman Liddell', Champion FighterGet your copy now and buy others for that perfect gift! You'll be happy you did!