Experiencing the Impossible: The Science of Magic by GUSTAV KUHN

NO THIS ISN’T ANOTHER OF those books dedicated to revealing the mechanics behind the sleights of hand central to the conjuror’s trade. Well, only a bit, anyway.

Author Gustav Kuhn is in a perfect position to explore the enduring the popularity of magicians and magic in the materialist 21st century. He is a reader in psychology at the University of London in the UK, and a practising, professional magician.

He is also not averse to collaborating with scientists in other disciplines, conducting magicthemed experiments, and writing up the results in a range of peer-reviewed journals.

The product of all this work is largely summarised in this book. His chief interest is in how humans happily express feelings of wonder and amazement at seeing magic tricks, even though they know full well that they are watching a deception.

He explores the well-known techniques of misdirection and sleight of hand (giving away only a couple of secrets in the process) and ties these

to the hard science of cognition and the softer paradigms of psychology.

As individuals, we inherently believe that what we “see” is a true and complete representation of the world around us, he notes, but both cognitive scientists and conjurors know that this is far from the case.

There are gaps in perception, auto-filled bits in our consciousness, and it is through these holes that magicians sneak.

Interestingly, though, Kuhn maintains, this is only possible because we as audience-members let them through.

We are at ease with, and even eager for, the disjunction between the unforgiving laws of physics and a touch of supernatural pizazz.

Magic tricks need “magic stuff”, he writes – a gesture, a wand, an incantation. Without it, the effect is less fun. (And he has the research to prove it.)