Alex Stone (2)

Fooling Houdini reveals as much about how the brain works and how weakness in perception and attention can be exploited as it does about magic, and while reading it I kept annoying and then intriguing the people around me by interrupting their activities with fascinating bits of information. Like it takes a full seven shuffles to truly randomize a regular deck of cards, any less than that will give a shrewd magician, gambler or con-artist inside information that can make them look like they show more have supernatural powers. And research subjects intent on counting the number of times a basketball is passed back and forth won’t notice when a women in a gorilla suit beating her chest runs past. To pull off their illusions magicians need to learn a lot about the mind and the physical world, which is why magic has always appealed to scientists and mathematicians, including Newton though the Royal Society tried to hush it up.

After a humiliating loss at the Magic Olympics, author Alex Stone decides to stage a comeback by consulting legendary illusionists, along with physicists, psychologists, mathematicians, street swindlers and memory expert Joshua Foer, author of Moonwalking With Einstein, in order to develop a grand set of tricks, all good enough to fool other magicians. His graduate degree in physics at Columbia is put on hold as Stone follows his dream, and his all-consuming obsession causes his original girlfriend to dump him. Fortunately, his next girlfriend is an actress who can help him with the timing and delivery of his newly developed act, now ready for its big competition debut.

Fooling Houdini is a worthy addition to the nerdy subculture genre, sitting on that shelf alongside Word Freak, Countdown, Spellbound, Word Play and Moonwalking with Einstein. show less

This excellent book is more than just a book about magic. It's a mashup of topics and styles, each of which make for fascinating reading. It's a coming-of-age story, a phoenix-rising story, a marvelously in-depth multi-disciplinary discussion (the gorilla experiment showed up yet again in yet another book that interests me!), an excellent exercise in immersive journalism (my favorite genre of all), and, well, magic. What's not to love?

I think having a general interest in magic would help a person appreciate this book. It was well written and the cast of characters was interesting. I also liked how the author explains some of the common scams such as 3 cards monte and fortune tellers. It is a worthwhile read but I wouldn't go out of my way to fit it into a busy schedule. More like something to read if you are trapped in an airport and have a sudden urge to know more about the magic olympics (or what it is like to play show more basketball against a team full of dwarfs). show less

I got wind of this book from the CBS "Face the Nation" presentation of authors singled out for there work. Bob Scheiffer the host went on and on praising Alex Stone and how funny and entertaining his book was. It sounded interesting but I did not quite connect in the same way.

Essentially the book is about how Alex a then student working on an advanced degree in physics decided to put his schooling on hold to further his first love performing magic acts and card tricks. He started out by show more getting 86'd at the Magic Olympics for a sub par performance. The real mystery was how he got there in the first place, never really explained. After this incident he embarks on a journey of seeking what he lacked from other accomplished and legendary performers and other experiences.

Though at times the book had its moments overall I was quite disappointed with the monotony of the delivery. I am thinking amateur magicians would be more of the audience for the book and really did not see much point in it. show less