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The Spectacle of Illusion: Magic, the paranormal & the complicity of the mind
'A spectacular treasury of treats. Page after page of utter joy: I can't tear my eyes away' - Derren Brown
In The Spectacle of Illusion, professional magician-turned experimental psychologist Dr. Matthew L. Tompkins investigates the arts of deception as practised and popularised by mesmerists, magicians and psychics since the early 18th century. Organised thematically within a broadly chronological trajectory, this compelling book explores how illusions perpetuated by magicians and fraudulent mystics can not only deceive our senses but also teach us about the inner workings of our minds. Indeed, modern scientists are increasingly turning to magic tricks to develop new techniques to examine human perception, memory and belief.
Beginning by discussing mesmerism and spiritualism, the book moves on to consider how professional magicians such as John Nevil Maskelyne and Harry Houdini engaged with these movements - particularly how they set out to challenge and debunk paranormal claims. It also relates the interactions between magicians, mystics and scientists over the past 200 years, and reveals how the researchers who attempted to investigate magical and paranormal phenomena were themselves deceived, and what this can teach us about deception.
Highly illustrated throughout with entertaining and bizarre drawings, double-exposure spirit photographs and photographs of spoon-bending from hitherto inaccessible and un-mined archives, including the Wellcome Collection, the Harry Price Library, the Society for Physical Research, and last but not least, the Magic Circle's closely guarded collection, the book also features newly commissioned photography of planchettes, rapping boards, tilting tables, ectoplasm, automata and illusion boxes. Concluding with a modern-day analysis of the science of magic and illusion, analysing surprisingly weird phenomena such as ideomotor action, sleep paralysis, choice blindness and the psychology of misdirection, this unnerving volume highlights how unreliable our minds can be, and how complicit they can be in the perpetuation of illusions.
In The Spectacle of Illusion, professional magician-turned experimental psychologist Dr. Matthew L. Tompkins investigates the arts of deception as practised and popularised by mesmerists, magicians and psychics since the early 18th century. Organised thematically within a broadly chronological trajectory, this compelling book explores how illusions perpetuated by magicians and fraudulent mystics can not only deceive our senses but also teach us about the inner workings of our minds. Indeed, modern scientists are increasingly turning to magic tricks to develop new techniques to examine human perception, memory and belief.
Beginning by discussing mesmerism and spiritualism, the book moves on to consider how professional magicians such as John Nevil Maskelyne and Harry Houdini engaged with these movements - particularly how they set out to challenge and debunk paranormal claims. It also relates the interactions between magicians, mystics and scientists over the past 200 years, and reveals how the researchers who attempted to investigate magical and paranormal phenomena were themselves deceived, and what this can teach us about deception.
Highly illustrated throughout with entertaining and bizarre drawings, double-exposure spirit photographs and photographs of spoon-bending from hitherto inaccessible and un-mined archives, including the Wellcome Collection, the Harry Price Library, the Society for Physical Research, and last but not least, the Magic Circle's closely guarded collection, the book also features newly commissioned photography of planchettes, rapping boards, tilting tables, ectoplasm, automata and illusion boxes. Concluding with a modern-day analysis of the science of magic and illusion, analysing surprisingly weird phenomena such as ideomotor action, sleep paralysis, choice blindness and the psychology of misdirection, this unnerving volume highlights how unreliable our minds can be, and how complicit they can be in the perpetuation of illusions.
224 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
September 11, 2019
An absolutely gorgeous book and a fascinating read.
June 30, 2019
This book was published to accompany an exhibition at the Wellcome Foundation in London 'Smoke & Mirrors: the Psychology of Magic" held from 11th April to 15th September 2019. It is a very interesting and well illustrated volume examining the concept of illusion (as did the exhibition) through the contexts of early mesmerism and spiritualistic phenomena, the work of the master magicians, the psychical researchers and parapsychology investigators and the psychology of illusion. It is a recent example of the growing interest in cognitive psychologists to use magic as means to explore their field. (see also the book by Gustav Khun recently reviewed). The author is an American magician turned experimental psychologist.
December 27, 2019
5 spectacular starz because this book represents a beautiful and concise introduction to the topics of magic and paranormal, their history during the eighteenth-twentieth centuries and their implications for the human psyche.
Mediums, charlatans and "honest" magicians, "ectoplasm ejaculations" (keyword> cheesecloth xD) and spirit photography, this book has it all. The Fox sisters, Robert-Houdin and Houdini, even Uri Geller and his spoons. The author writes about them with much care and objectivity. But magic (and later on the "paranormal"), as it turns out, tells us less about the world of the dead and the supernatural than it does about the way our brains work, about the particular quirks of our attention and perception. Inattentional blindness, change blindness (and change blindness blindness xD), the impact of misdirection and suggestion and the effect of our previous beliefs... sooo much to research and magic tricks are such an interesting object of study.
The photographs are stunning. Some magical contraptions may seem hilarious for our day and age, but they made use nonetheless of the same mechanisms of the human mind that have helped us survive throughout the eons. Perhaps that is why magic still is so popular even today.
PS> That gorilla study by Chabris and Simons (winners of an Ig Nobel Prize) has appeared in maybe 10 books that I've read this year and keeps appearing in the most unusual places xD Maybe I haven't even noticed it every time that it popped up :D
Mediums, charlatans and "honest" magicians, "ectoplasm ejaculations" (keyword> cheesecloth xD) and spirit photography, this book has it all. The Fox sisters, Robert-Houdin and Houdini, even Uri Geller and his spoons. The author writes about them with much care and objectivity. But magic (and later on the "paranormal"), as it turns out, tells us less about the world of the dead and the supernatural than it does about the way our brains work, about the particular quirks of our attention and perception. Inattentional blindness, change blindness (and change blindness blindness xD), the impact of misdirection and suggestion and the effect of our previous beliefs... sooo much to research and magic tricks are such an interesting object of study.
The photographs are stunning. Some magical contraptions may seem hilarious for our day and age, but they made use nonetheless of the same mechanisms of the human mind that have helped us survive throughout the eons. Perhaps that is why magic still is so popular even today.
PS> That gorilla study by Chabris and Simons (winners of an Ig Nobel Prize) has appeared in maybe 10 books that I've read this year and keeps appearing in the most unusual places xD Maybe I haven't even noticed it every time that it popped up :D
December 30, 2019
I LOVED this book. I feel like it is the contemporary companion to Houdini's A Magician among Spirits. Great book for lovers of history and paranormal enthusiasts alike. The artwork included is grand, even down to the quality of the paper it is printed on. It really feels like you are reading something special. As I am from Australia, I was unable to attend the exhibition at the museum which the book accompanied so this meant I was able to still get the historical context and see the items. I will be referring this book to many people and I will be referring to it often myself! Thankyou for an amazing book it is my new favourite!
December 31, 2023
A very inspiring book with many (even to me) unknown instruments, objects and documents from parapsychological studies, magicians and spiritism. I read all essays with curiosity and delight, learning new stories of seances, mediums, magicians and scientific experiments. A sweet and well thought through (and designed) compendium of curiosities, a hidden gem for all those who are in love with the supernatural and - the manmade magic.
July 10, 2021
The deception is on you if you think this is going to be more about how illusions are achieved and not more about the debunking of spiritualism. Reading the afterword reveals it was published in conjunction with an exhibition at the Wellcome Collection. Lavishly illustrated though with wonderful paraphernalia from the golden ages of magic.
March 26, 2021
This entertaining read scours the history of magic and mediums. Profusely illustrated. If you're like me, you'll want to own all the posters and equipment shown in the old-timey photos.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews