Sleights of Mind

by Stephen Macknik and Susana Martinez-Conde (with help from Sandra Blakeslee).

Another somewhat interesting book in the mould of "The body has a mind of its own", which is not surprising, as that was written by Sandra Blakeslee.

The general thesis is that conjuring uses, consciously and/or sometimes unconsciously, tricks based on how the mind works, generally based on directing human attention around like a puppet on a string. Their final statement "In a way, we've misdirected you, the reader, at every step. You may have purchased this book to read about magicians and tricks, sleights and secret methods, but all along you've really been learning the fundamental neuroscience at the center of your being", I found, was really the reverse of how I felt at the end. I was promised to learn about the mind, but in the end, it often seemed as if the authors - to me - were simply enjoying the forbidden fruit of babbling the secrets they had learned of stage conjuring.

Nevertheless, although I cant point out anything in particular, I think this book may have stored something away in my mental files that may be useful in the future. Certainly, anyone who was inspired, as I was, by "The mind has a body of its own" will find this a useful follow-up to help fix some ideas.