When you watch an illusionist or a magician it seems like they can make us see the impossible but is that really just the result of how our brains work. The book The Illusionist Brain by Jordi Cami and Luis M. Martinez looks at the most recent findings in neuroscience and explains how our brains take the information received from our senses and report back.  Illusionists might not know the name for every part of the brain, but with some simple gestures they can prey on our minds to show just what they want us to see, based on how our brains process incomplete information.  The audiobook of The Illusionist brain is narrated by Gary Tiedemann, meaning if you want to give your eyes a break and let your ears take over you can enjoy the same neuroscience using a different portion of your brain. 

The Illusionist Brain is available now.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for letting me review this book.
Interesting how the authors tell you how the eye works and parts of the eye that helps us see. How the brain fills in the gaps; which is pretty interesting. I better understand the saying, “The hand is quicker than the eye.”. I like how the authors included a bit of history of past magicians. This was a good read.

My god. Thank you NetGalley for the e-arc !!

I listened to “The Illusionist Brain” every day before going to school and my my myyyy. I didn’t know ANYTHING about brains or magic, literally only from Tv contest shows. And now I feel like an expert.

Kept me hooked, entertained and satisfied.
Wonderful work !

Thanks to NetGalley for the audiobook ARC!

The Illusionist Brain is a fascinating 'behind the scenes' look at why and how magic tricks fool our brain. The writing is clear and concise, and written in a way that laymen can understand, and the narration adds to the overall polish of the production. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys nonfiction.

I really enjoyed this essay about the relationship between magic and neuroscience. As a clinician in the field of Psychology, I appreciated all the background of anatomy and history. I enjoyed the first six chapters because of the Psychology and Neuroscience pieces.

It really is interesting that most of what people think of magic is actually our own brains playing tricks on us or working the way it should from an evolutionary standpoint.

I was drawn to this book because of the authors and it didn’t disappoint. I loved how there was representation from all over the world in from the fields of science and magic.

My only draw back is that this read like a massive thesis or dissertation. I cannot really explain how this differs from other non-fiction reads but I just felt like this was a textbook almost. I am glad I was listened to it because I am not sure I could have finished it as a physical book.

Thank you to NetGalley, Princeton University Press, and Tantor Media , for an advanced copy of this book to share my humble thoughts and opinions.

Pop Science done well is an experience that is enriching , enlightening and all while having a great time reading it. (See - A short history of nearly everything/The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks/anything by Mary Roach)

This book sounded super exciting in description: How do magicians trick us into believing they do what they do? What peculiarities of the human brain do they exploit?
I expected a fun play by play with scientific breakdown, considering the topic. However, 40% in and I'm finding it very hard to stay with the book. It's felt like hours of a biology lecture with not much to break it up for the general audience.

I could not concentrate hard enough (I listened to the audiobook) and the book lost me somewhere a couple of minutes in....it just started sounding like a bunch of words to me.
They also give a disclaimer in the beginning that the audio would allude to some diagrams, figures and charts which were in the printed book. It was not clear to me how the audiobook listeners were supposed to make up for the lost information; there wasn't any description of the figures they were referring to.

All of this makes me think that maybe it's just not conducive to being an audiobook. or maybe I'm not the right audience for this.

Full props for the research that has gone into it.
Also a special mention to the narrator: He had the perfect voice for a science book and clear diction.

The Illusionist Brain was quite an interesting listen. How and why do we fall for a magician’s tricks/illusions? It’s an exploration of magic viewed through the lens of neuroscience. Authors Jordi Cami and Luis M. Martinez takes us on a deep dive in how our brains works, our sensory limitations, and how magicians are able to exploit those limitations in their tricks to appear to do the impossible. While I enjoyed the book quite a bit I must say that it is very heavy on the science side of things, it actually gave me flashbacks to some of my college classes, and I must admit that if it hadn’t been for those classes I’m not sure I’d have been able to follow along as well as I did. I’ve listened to dozens of books narrated by Gary Tiedemann, and while this is the first time I’ve heard him narrate a nonfiction book, he does an excellent job. While I can’t say I’d easily recommend this for everyone, if you already have an interest in neuroscience (and magic!) this is a fascinating book. Note that even though this is an audiobook, there are frequent references to images, which I assume will be included in a PDF file of some sort upon release. Thanks so much to Tantor Audio and NetGalley for allowing me to listen to audio ARC of The Illusionist Brain.

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-illusionist-brain-jordi-cami/1140920258?ean=2940178727829&bvnotificationId=52aaeabd-e68e-11ec-9bfc-0e73f660e6d1&bvmessageType=REVIEW_APPROVED&bvrecipientDomain=gmail.com#review/210468526

https://www.amazon.com/review/R2X859AQTP2TJE/ref=pe_1098610_137716200_cm_rv_eml_rv0_rv

Fascinating and fun, this is a great addition to most nonfiction collections in all formats. Potential crossover appeal for HS collections as well.

This book was a random topic for me but ended up being super interesting. A journey through how the mind works and how magicians and illusionists are able to pull off their tricks, This delves into the Nueroscience behind the illusions and gave a very thorough account of several different methods and principles that are commonly used. The topics of perception and attention control were particularly interesting to me and I can't wait to hear any new research about how Neuroscientists use magic as a means of research into the unconscious brain. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

Mind blowing!

The Illusionist Brain super eye opening, it gave me an inside look at how our brains work and how magicians are able to essentially use our brains against us. The book shares insight from neuroscientists who have now started looking into magic tricks and how they trick our brain into thinking that the impossible is possible.

The book was very well written and kept me interested throughout. The one thing I will mention is that there were a lot of references to diagrams in the book that were not accessible through the audiobook version – something to keep in mind.

I recommend this book to anyone that’s always wondered how magicians are able to make us see the impossible.

Thank You to Jordi Cami; Luis M. Martine and Tantor Audio, for the audio-digital ARC provided through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!

An interesting book with a great concept and narration, but unfortunately this didn't work for me specifically.

A fascinating look into our brain on magic. As long as these performances have existed, science has largely ignored them. Now, finally, neuroscientists are taking a look at magic tricks and how they fool our brain into thinking that the impossible is possible. The writing is easy to understand and even the most technical terms are explained in an approachable way. This volume discusses how our brains work, how we experience the world and make memories, and how all these processes make magic happen. There is a part devoted to the history of magic, the differences and similarities between these performances and movies, theater, music and other artistic expressions, and many fun facts from the magicians themselves, including examples from legendary performers, which was catnip to the Penn and Teller fan in me. The audiobook references some additional, printed, material, so I wasn’t sure if it would have been better to get a printed copy instead. In the end, Gary Tiedemann’s excellent narration, made the experience better. His diction is clear, and he sounds like a knowledgeable friend explaining his favorite topic with a sense of wonder. The book was originally published in Spanish and I have to say that I never knew that magic was so big in Spain (even after living there for decades myself). This book blew my mind almost as much as a magic performance.
I chose to listen to this audiobook and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, #NetGalley/#Tantor Audio!