Fooling Houdini: Adventures in the World of Magic

"An enthralling journey into the world of magic. Alex Stone writes with a winning voice that you'll want to follow anywhere." (Joshua Foer, author of Moonwalking with Einstein)

"Bursting with energy, inventiveness, and a sense of wonder on every page." (Steven Levitt, author of Freakonomics)

"Fooling Houdini is a delight. He writes with wit and scientific sharpness and grand humour. He immerses us in a fascinating world few have entered." (Buzz Bissinger, author of Father's Day and Friday Night Lights)

"Mr. Stone’s chequered history in magicianship sets the stage for Fooling Houdini, his cheery, inquisitive book about a world where math, physics, cognitive science and pure geeky fanaticism intersect. While it nominally describes the author’s efforts to improve his sleight of hand and regain his self-respect, Fooling Houdini is more than a series of anecdotes. It’s an effort to explore the colourful subculture of magic devotees and the serious, theoretical basis for the tricks they do." (New York Times)

"In Fooling Houdini, Stone recounts with humour and humility his love affair with magic and the experience it affords him... To wrtie a captivating and charming book all about magic is a hard trick to pull off, but like all good magicians, Stone makes it seem effortless." (Catherine de Lange, New Scientist)

A PhD candidate in physics at Columbia University, Alex Stone is also part of the underground magic circuit, an exclusive community whose members convene regularly in pizza parlours and coffee shops to swap tips and develop new illusions. Determined to take his lifelong hobby to the professional level, Stone embarks on a personal quest to reach the pinnacle of this bizarre world, and become a master magician.

But he has some learning to do.

In Fooling Houdini, we journey through a strange and colourful subculture of obsessive, brilliant and dysfunctional geniuses - blind card sharps, street-hustlers and Las Vegas showmen - learning the principles and history of some of the greatest tricks ever performed. Seeking answers to broader questions about decision making, the limits of perception, and the nature of deception, Stone helps us understand what happens as we attempt to distinguish reality from illusion, and discovers the link between magic and psychology, physics and even crime.

From back-street scams to laboratories to the Magic Olympics, Fooling Houdini reveals the mysterious world of magic as never before.