Have you ever wondered how a magician saws a woman in half? Or makes coins materialize out of thin air? Or reads your mind? Magic tricks work because humans have a hardwired process of attention and awareness that is hackable. A good magician uses your mind's intrinsic properties against you, in a form of mental jujitsu, to feel you every time, even when you know full well that you are being tricked. Now Stephen Macknik and Susana Martinez-Conde, the founders of the new discipline of neuromagic, have convinced some of the world's greatest magicians to allow scientists to study their techniques for tricking the brain. This book is the result of the authors' multiyear, world-wide exploration of magic and how its principles apply to our behavior using the latest discoveries of cognitive neuroscience. The secrets behind magic tricks reveal how your brain works not just when watching a magic show but in everyday situations. For instance, if you've ever bought an expensive item you'd sworn you'd never buy, the salesperson was probably a master at creating the "illusion of choice," a core technique of magic. If you ever invested money with someone like Bernie Madoff, you fell prey to the "illusion of trust." 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. By popping the hood on your brain as you are suckered in by sleights of hand, Macknik and Martinez-Conde unveil the key connections between magic and the mind and along the way make neuroscience more exciting and accessible than ever before.

The woman in the chameleon dress: visual illusions and magic -- The secret of the bending spoon: why magicians watch their angles -- The brother who fake a dome : visual illusions in art and science -- Welcome to the show but please leave on your blinders: cognitive illusions -- The gorilla in your midst: more cognitive illusions -- The ventriloquist's secret: multisensory illusions -- The Indian rope trick: memory illusions -- Expectation and assumption: how magicians make ASSes of U and ME -- May the force be with you: the illusion of choice -- Why magic wands work: illusory correlations, superstition, hypnosis, and flimflam -- The magic castle -- Will the magic go away? -- Epilogue.