Sleights of Mind

Sleights of Mind: What the Neuroscience of Magic Reveals about Our Everyday Deceptions
First edition
AuthorStephen Macknik, Susana Martinez-Conde and Sandra Blakeslee
SubjectNeuroscience, Magic, Neuromagic
GenreNon-fiction
PublisherHenry Holt and Co.
Publication date
November 9, 2010
Pages291 pp.
ISBN978-0312611675

Sleights of Mind: What the Neuroscience of Magic Reveals about Our Everyday Deceptions is a 2010 popular science book, written by neuroscientists Stephen Macknik and Susana Martinez-Conde, with science writer Sandra Blakeslee.[1] Working alongside several magicians, Macknik and Martinez-Conde studied how conjuring techniques trick the brain. Sleights of Mind considers the greater implications of magic and misdirection for clinical conditions such as autism, and for everyday life situations, including choice and trust in personal and business relationships.

Sleights of Mind introduces Neuromagic as a new area of scientific endeavor, a discipline aimed to uncover the interaction between brain science and the art of magic. Macknik and Martinez-Conde propose that understanding how the mind perceives magic and illusion will provide a greater understanding of perception and cognition at large.

  1. ^ World Archipelago. "Sleights of Mind". Macmillan.