Obtain Experiencing The Impossible: The Science Of Magic Translated By Gustav Kuhn Document

have to admit I find magic acts rather tedious entertainment but I do enjoy trying to work out how the trick was done and then ideally finding out how it really was undertaken so I was fascinated by the idea of a book that claims to cover 'the science of magic'.
By magic, I should stress, I don't mean the fantasy sorcery version, but the very downtoearth engineered version used in magic shows, This handsome book proved to be a distinct curate's egg: there were sections I pretty much skip read as they were somewhat dull, but other parts that really captured my attention.


The reason that some sections don't work so well was the classic academic writer's problem of not realising the importance of narrative and storytelling which you'd think a practising magician like Gustav Kuhn would realise.
The book comes alive when we are told about specific tricks or people or situations, but sometimes it becomes a collection of facts, a lecture on, say, a particular psychological trait, and then it can lose the reader's attention.


It's not that the psychology parts aren't interesting and inevitably, apart from engineering, most of the 'science of magic' is about psychology and how the brain works and doesn't but they need to be presented with much more context and more tying back to the magic that they are supposed to be illustrating.
Similarly, it's not that the science is too heavy if anything, we don't get enough of it, So, for example, Kuhn introduces a theory of Bayesian misdirection which I absolutely loved as a concept, but wasn't able to read much about,

If you read the book to get the lowdown on how all the famous tricks work, you will be disappointed, Kuhn does explain a few very basic tricks, but mostly brandishes the magician's traditional veil of secrecy, This is a real shame and is another reason the book doesn't work as well as it could, You don't explain science by saying 'the researchers did an experiment, but I'm not going to tell you how it worked, just what it looked like' but that's exactly what happens here.
A great example is Kuhn's use of a Derren Brown illusion, where someone was given the choice of any toy in the huge toy store Hamleys, and Brown apparently predicted what the choice would be.
Kuhn tells us that Brown 'explained' the trick by telling us it was due to repeated suggestions but that this explanation doesn't hold up, We're then told 'Brown is one of my favourite magicians and I have no intention of revealing how his trick is done, . . ' but that's exactly what's required to make the book work, There's too much tease with no reveal,

One other thing that I was surprised wasn't covered, perhaps because of the author's obvious love for magic, is its rapid decline as a popular adult entertainment.
A couple of decades ago, magic shows were primetime TV fixtures, Now, magic tends to be much more niche, It may be that as we are so used to amazing CGI, we don't really care about illusion, Or something else. It would have been interesting to have seen a professional analysis of this,

I don't want to give the impression that this book is devoid of interesting content, I repeatedly came on sections which really grabbed my attention, primarily those built around actual magical tricks, But it could have been so much better, Magic and the science of it! The illusions, the brain wiggles and eye wiggles that track and reveal our perceptions, The hum and fun of our psyche trying desperately to make sense of everything outside and in, The author is both a magician and psychologist who takes the latest scientific research on magic to give the reader insights into the mysteries of the human mind.
Perception is one of the most interesting parts of psychology and magic is all about perception, Learning how magic works is a splendid way to make sense of our senses, our memories, our thoughts, Yes, this book does a good job of covering the subject but somehow it plodded instead of skipped through the material, I guess that means it was a bit boring, Not nearly as engaging as a good magic show but I enjoyed the book thoroughly nevertheless, How the scientific study of magic reveals intriguingand often unsettlinginsights into the mysteries of the human mind,

What do we see when we watch a magician pull a rabbit out of a hat or read a person's mind We are captivated by an illusion we applaud the fact that we have been fooled.
Why do we enjoy experiencing what seems clearly impossible, or at least beyond our powers of explanation In Experiencing the Impossible, Gustav Kuhn examines the psychological processes that underpin our experience of magic.
Kuhn, a psychologist and a magician, reveals the intriguingand often unsettlinginsights into the human mind that the scientific study of magic provides,

Magic, Kuhn explains, creates a cognitive conflict between what we believe to be true for example, a rabbit could not be in that hat and what we experience a rabbit has just come out of that hat!.
Drawing on the latest psychological, neurological, and philosophical research, he suggests that misdirection is at the heart of all magic tricks, and he offers a scientific theory of misdirection.
He explores, among other topics, our propensity for magical thinking, the malleability of our perceptual experiences, forgetting and misremembering, free will and mind control, and how magic is applied outside entertaimentthe use of illusion in humancomputer interaction, politics, warfare, and elsewhere.


We may be surprised to learn how little of the world we actually perceive, how little we can trust what we see and remember, and how little we are in charge of our thoughts and actions.
Exploring magic, Kuhn illuminates the complexand almost magicalmechanisms underlying our daily activities, This is a book about the psychology of what makes us want to see magic tricks and why we perceive them as we do, Why are we fooled and why do we want to be fooled when normally lies and trickery are something we dislike

It is an interesting subject, but the book is written in a dryer, more academic style than I was expecting, which was disappointing.
I read it after going to see the Smoke and Mirrors exhibit at The Wellcome Foundation in London, The exhibit is on the history and psychology of magic shows, The book and exhibit meshed nicely to give a rounded picture of a very interesting branch of psychology which I had not considered separately before, A new perspective is always a welcome thing,
Fascinating exploration well explained and delivered, It was OK I read this as part of his course at Goldsmiths, Not only is Gustav Kuhn a great teacher, he is also an engaging author, This book gathers the current research on psychology

of our perceptional capabilities, Using magic as an example he is also a professional magician it comes painfully clear how easily our senses can be misguided and how bloated our faith in the accuracy of them is.
I highly recommend this!

It's an absolutely captivating discussion on psychology and magic which delves into several intriguing topics such as whether we have free will, the unreliability of our memories, and how we see a little into the future.


In the book, many of the most fascinating studies in psychology are discussed, and as such I think it is a great book to inspire an interest in the discipline.
The focus is more on psychology than magic, so not every discussion about our psychology is related to a particular magic trick or principle, A very interesting book where the author analyses the boundaries between science and magic particularly psychology, He is one of a growing number of academics who are beginning to use magic in their disciplines, Anyone who knows me knows I'm a bit of a magic junkie, I love watching great magicians and love that feeling of shock and surprise when I see what I'd thought impossible happen in front of me, So when I heard the the Welcome Collection in London was doing a "Smoke and Mirrors" exhibition, looking at the science behind magic, I had to go.

Curated by Gustav Kuhn the exhibition looks at the history of magic and how it's possible to use it as a basis to understand how the mind works.
This book is a companion piece to the exhibition and goes into even greater depth about the interplay between magic, psychology and the neurosciences,
Never so complicated that it looses its audience Kuhn has written a great book and one that I will enjoy reading again and again, Gustav Kuhn is Reader in Psychology at Goldsmiths, University of London, and a member of the Magic Circle, .