48-51 Broad Street
Blackwell’s are delighted to be hosting a special event with Dr Matthew L. Tompkins on his fantastic book, The Spectacle of Illusion.
Professional magician-turned experimental psychologist Dr. Matthew L. Tompkins investigates the arts of deception as practiced and popularized by mesmerists, magicians, and psychics throughout history.
Matt, the author of The Spectacle of Illusion: Magic, the paranormal and the complicity of the mind, will discuss 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, and how modern scientists are increasingly turning to magic as a tool for exploring human perception, memory, and belief.
Join Matt as he mixes historical stories with magical scientific demonstrations to reveal how our everyday cognitive processes can be much weirder than we imagine – and how complicit our own minds can be in the success of illusions. This talk will feature true stories of ghost rapping, mind reading, lethal autopsies, full-body-cavity ghost hunts, death defying stunts, and death…obeying stunts (i.e., stunts where the performers accidentally died for real, so literally the opposite of ‘death defying’).
Matt Tompkins is a freelance writer, speaker and consultant with a doctorate from the University of Oxford’s Department of Experimental Psychology. Before his academic studies he worked as a professional magician and has combined both these passions in his latest publication.
This is a free event, but please do register if you plan on attending. For more information contact our Customer Service Department on 01865 333 623 or email us at [email protected].