Fooling Houdini: Magicians, Mentalists, Math Geeks, and the Hidden Powers of the Mind

By Alex Stone

An exploration of the world of magic that teaches the reader many tricks--including how better to understand the real world.
 
Alex Stone--journalist and part-time conjurer--is here to amaze you. But first he had to amaze his fellow magicians. Fooling Houdini is his fascinating, revealing, and nailbiting account of his attempt to win the 23rd World Championships of Magic, the "Magic Olympics," the largest and most prestigious competition of its kind.
 
Alex Stone managed to qualify for entry and began preparing to astonish people who astonish others for a living. It didn't help his nerves that he was placed on the bill straight after Canadian magician Shawn Farquhar, winner of more magic competitions than anyone in history. Stone's preparations and participation provide his readers with in-depth exploration of the world of magic, and magic's meaning.
 
He spills many professional secrets, arguing that what is important is to ask questions about what lies behind the tricks: how the mind perceives the world and parses everyday experience, about how the mind works--and why sometimes it doesn't, about why people need to believe.
 
As we become more attuned to the limits of our own perception, we become better at distinguishing reality from illusion, at reading the angles and decoding the fine print, he says. We gain intuition and understanding into how people behave. We even learn ways to influence this behavior. This makes us less susceptible to all manner of deception.
 
It is to gain and maintain this sixth sense that Alex Stone--a schoolboy prestidigitator--has continued performing magic well into adulthood. In Fooling Houdini he takes us into that other world, populated by truly astounding characters, and leaves us with a heightened sense of awareness about the supposedly real world.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Jun 19, 2012
• ISBN: 9780307368218

Alex Stone

Alex Stone has written for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Discover, Harper's, and The New Republic. He lives in New York City.

Reviews for Fooling Houdini

[john1park_2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A great read.

[shadowbarbara · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

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 oneÂs 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.

[bensdad00 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Light and entertaining. Not an in-depth exploration of any of the subjects mentioned in the subtitle, this is more of a personal memoir than a scientific overview.

[parthurbook · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A mix of memoir, cultural history and psychology, 'FD' follows a rather poor amateur conjourer (and PhD physics student) as he practices his craft, meets some of today's great performers, and explains how 'sleight of hand' is really 'sleight of mind'. Filled with insightful portraits of obsessives dedicated to the most arcane skills (including the blind card sharp who performs entirely through touch), it's an affectionate and study of a sub-culture that taps into a deep well in the human psyche - the desire to be astonished.

[martinbodek · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

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?

[ktp50 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

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 basketball against a team full of dwarfs).

[knightlight777 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

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 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.