Magic in Theory: An Introduction to the Theoretical and Psychological Elements of Conjuring

There is a growing scientific literature on the psychological principles behind magicians' performances and an already large professional literature on the theory of performing magic. From the title and subtitle of this book, I expected to read a semi-scholarly (yet accessible to a wide audience) summary of this literature. That's not really what this book is about, though. Rather, it's a layman's introduction to how magicians think about their art and a few of the psychological principles of misdirection.Little attention is paid to the actual psychological literature, and the discussions of magic theory will be old news to anyone who has given the art even a cursory study. However, if you're a curious audience member who wants a "peek behind the curtain" into how magicians think, this book would serve you well. The authors mostly preserve the magicians' code of secrecy, revealing only a couple of sleight of hand maneuvers in order to illustrate their points.I think the book's best work can be found in its fourth chapter concerning the differences between magicians and pseudo-psychic performers. While this chapter is comparatively short, it provides a useful introduction to an ethical discussion that, though certainly not new to magicians, needs to be more widely and more thoughtfully considered. I don't fully agree with all of the authors' conclusions, but I respect their effort to begin a scholarly discussion of the issue.Consider this a good introduction to magic theory if you're a neophyte. If you're well-versed in magic, and particularly if you're aware of the psychology of magic, you'll find more information in other sources.

I was tempted to only give this book 4 stars, but I did enjoy it. It was a breeze reading through it and I suggest that anyone interested in the theoretical aspects of conjuring purchase this (and read it). As Lamont and Wiseman state, this book will not necessarily teach you how to detect the "modus operandi" in tricks always and there is no substitute for real life practice in the methods of deception (using mentalist techniques, magic/conjuring, pseudo-psychic approaches, etc) to really "grasping" these concepts. I do think that if a student of conjuring learns to apply these principles in his/her practice, they will find that, altogether, they develop into far better magicians. A few simple tricks are mentioned throughout the book (nothing really impressive, so if you're looking for a list of tricks, look elsewhere) and the elements involved in theoretical conjuring (how we use misdirection to influence the perceptions of the "victim" and the reconstruction process) are discussed in moderate depth. It did get a tad repetitive at some points (hence my referenced temptation), but it was very efficient at giving guidelines for people interested in furthering themselves as magicians. I took something from it myself.Highly recommended.

A bit impenitrable, requiring more than one read, but it's short enough that that is not unreasonable. It's very interesting to read about magic and misdirection from a more psychological and scientific point of view. And when I mean "psychological", I don't mean the standard arm chair psychology offered by most, even some of the very best, magicians, but truly psychological from a dedicated and formally trained professional.

This book, Magic in Theory by Lamont and Wiseman, is a competent book but is not inspiring. There are good discussions on most topics related to the subject matter but the style is dry and clinical. Strong Magic by Ortiz is better. The books by Tamariz are much better and the very recent book by Schneider, titled "Theory and Practice of Magic Deception" is head over shoulders superior. You might want to consult my review of the latter book.

A new book that arrived on time, in good condition and at a fair price

The book covers some great historical data that can be very difficult to dig up on your own. It misses the mark on some of the basic principles of human neuroscience - the subtle details of body language and neurolingusitics.

I hace read better books.

Good insight into misdirection and some other psychological aspects of Magic. Some magicians contribute their understanding of these topics also.

Il s'agit d'une oeuvre précoce de Richard Wiseman.Le parcours de celui-ci est unique : prestidigitateur professionnel, il étudie la psychologie, se passionne pour les phénomènes d'illusion. Devenu docteur en psychologie, il mène des recherches sur des sujets inattendus : la chance (lire le fabuleux "The Luck Factor"), l'histoire la plus drôle du monde (lire le désopilant "Quirkology"), etc. Son blog ([...]) est plein d'humour et de découvertes.Dans "Magic in Theory", il réussit le tour de force d'expliquer précisément les mécanismes psychologiques de l'illusion... sans dévoiler aucun tour de magie !Il s'agit naturellement d'un livre assez technique, pour un public très ciblé : soit les passionnés de prestidigitation (dont je ne suis pas)... soit les fans de Wiseman, dont je suis !

It is a very academic attempt at writing a framework for describing magic. I doubt it will ever be used as it isn't intuitive or very rich in terminology. The book might do well in some circles but among magicians I think it will fail. The thing that gives it two stars is its very concise and elegant description of misdirection, that chapter I will read over and over again... thinking about it I might as well tear those pages out and throw away the rest of the book.

I found this book in a bibliography of a recent thriller that had some elements of magic within it and ordered this to chase up the theme and learn more about it. Perhaps I should have thought more about it but from the title you could be forgiven for thinking it would be interesting. The fact is its not. The talk about misdirection is really just common sense things and makes you feel that the standard of writing is really quite amateurish. If you're interested in pursuing magic you won't find more than a couple of well described tricks which would be unimpressive even if it all went to plan. It says most books on magical theory are for magicians... ok... why would someone not interested on the insider's perspective want such a book? Well they wouldn't.Steer clear of this book. If you want to learn magic there are many many better books. If you want to learn the psychology, ideas about misdirection, then it might be best to pick that up from the other books as you go along. Don't waste your money on this.

I recommend it for anyone going into magic. It explains you theories in depth that you wron't find in other magic books