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

192 Pages·2005·3.396 MB·English

by  Peter Lamont, Richard Wiseman

MAGIC IN THEORY
An introduction to the
theoretical and psychological
elements of conjuring
by Peter Lamont and Richard Wiseman
University of Hertfordshire Press
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The Authors
Dr Peter Lamont is the main author and a Research
Fellow at the Koestler Parapsychology Unit, University of
Edinburgh. He has performed as a magician and psychic
and is a former President of the Edinburgh Magic Circle.
He is the author of the critically acclaimed The Rise of the
Indian Rope Trick.
Professor Richard Wiseman is the bestselling author
of The Luck Factor and heads a psychology research unit
at the University of Hertfordshire. He too is a former
professional magician and a member of the Magic Circle.
Dedicated to the memory of
Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin,
Nevil Maskelyne,
and all those in magic since
who have taught not only how but why.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge their debt to the
Institut fur Grenzgebiete der Psychologie und Psycho-
hygiene, Freiburg, Germany, which provided funding for
this project.
Many thanks also to Professor Bob Morris, Helen Sims and
the staff of the Koestler Parapsychology Unit, University of
Edinburgh, for their provision of facilities and their helpful
comments and contributions throughout the year.
Several prominent magicians kindly agreed to be inter-
viewed as part of the research during preparation of this
book. These magicians are all internationally recognised
within the magic fraternity and most have written on the
topic of conjuring theory. The magicians were: JerryAndrus,
Lance Burton, John Carney,Andrew Galloway, Mac King,
Gary Kurtz, Max Maven, Darwin Ortiz, Juan Tamariz,
Michael Weber, and Tommy Wonder. The authors appreciate
the time and thought they gave to these interviews, and PL
would like to add his personal thanks for the honesty and
openness with which the interviews were given and for the
hospitality he received. He would also like to thank Paul
Harris, Mac and Jennifer King, Richard McDougall, and
Guy Hollingworth for a variety of reasons too complicated to
go into and that have little to do with the content of this
book but which nevertheless matter.
Several magicians gave feedback throughout the
production of the book. The authors would like to thank
Douglas Cameron, Gary Kurtz, Paul Pacitti, Juan
Tamariz, Roy Walton, R. Paul Wilson, and Tommy Wonder
for their input. We would also particularly like to thank
Peter Duffie, George P. Hansen, Max Maven, Stephen
Minch, Matthew D. Smith, and Marcello Truzzi for their
detailed written comments on earlier versions of parts
of the book.
Many magicians were helpful in lending books and articles
to the authors during the period of compilation. Thanks to
Vic Connors, Douglas Cameron, Bill Millar, Paul Pacitti,
Marcello Truzzi, and R. Paul Wilson for supplying
necessary material.
The illustrations of PL performing the coin vanish in
Chapter 2 were drawn by R. Paul Wilson, from
photographs taken by Roy Welensky of the Department of
Psychology, University of Edinburgh. Thanks lads.
The bibliography is an extension of one compiled by
Marcello Truzzi. Further thanks to him for his generosity
in supplying a list that saved a great deal of time.
If all these individuals happen to find themselves in a
hotel or bar at the same time, the authors will be glad to
buy the first round of drinks.
Contents
Introduction ix
Chapter 1
Magic tricks and how they are done 1
Chapter 2
Misdirection 28
Chapter 3
Reconstruction 82
Chapter 4
What's the difference between a magician
and a pseudo-psychic? 102
Chapter 5
Conjuring theory in perspective 135
Chapter 6
Bibliography 152
Appendix:
Methodological devices for conjuring effects 169

Introduction
Parapsychologists, psychologists and magicians have all
written about the stratagems that lie behind successful
conjuring. Each has approached the topic from somewhat
different viewpoints.
Parapsychologists are aware that many individuals
claiming to be psychic use magic tricks to fabricate
paranormal phenomena. Failure to detect such fraud can
lead to serious consequences, including loss of funding and
negative publicity. For this reason some parapsychologists
have examined the psychology used by such ‘pseudo-
psychics’to prevent researchers being fooled during
their investigations.
Psychologists have long recognised that they may have
much to learn from the techniques used by magicians to
fool their audiences. Magicians are able to persuade an
audience to look in a certain direction, misperceive actions
and objects, and misremember key aspects of a perform-
ance.As such, magic has proved of interest to psychologists
researching attention, perception and memory, as well as
those with a more general interest in deception.
On a more practical level, some magicians have examined
the theory of magic in the hope of improving their own
performances and the performances of other magicians.
ix