Alex Stone (2)

In this book, author Alex Stone describes his love affair with magic and how magic is tied with human perception and cognition. Along the way, he tries to compete in this magic competition and craft the perfect trick. It's pretty interesting, but I don't really know about reading it more than once. Personally, I thought the author was a bit of an odd duck, which I guess happens when you obsess over something as much as this guy does. Not that I am any more normal or anything, but I don't know if I would drop my course load at Columbia just to pursue magic. Then again...if it was something else, like anime or computers or something I would probably be in the same boat, but I don't really know.… (plus d'informations)

From the back rooms of New York City age-old magic societies to cutting-edge psychology labs, three-card monte games on Canal Street to glossy Las Vegas casinos, Fooling Houdini recounts Alex Stone'’s quest to join the ranks of master magicians. As he navigates this quirky and occasionally hilarious subculture populated by brilliant eccentrics, Stone pulls back the curtain on a community shrouded in secrecy, fueled by obsession and brilliance, and organized around one overriding need: to prove one’s worth by deceiving others. But his journey is more than a tale of tricks, gigs, and geeks. By investing 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.… (plus d'informations)