"Body Magic" by John Fisher. London: Hodder & Stoughton, (1979). First edition. Art by Derek Lucas
From the blurb on the dust jacket:
The human body is a physical miracle we all take for granted. Now John Fisher unveils the body as a self-contained magic show, with the brain directing the performance and the senses and powers of imagination exhibiting their enormous capacity to amaze, deceive, instruct and entertain. He strips away some of the mystique and pretension from the world of magical arts and the paranormal, and in a fully illustrated series of fascinating tricks shows how easily we can realise our body potential and perform all kinds of seeming miracles that hypnotists, magicians and illusionists have practised and exploited for centuries.
Mirror-writing, table-tilting, mind reading, the "law of reversed effort" which allows matches to walk along a knife-blade -- this is an absorbing book of entertainment, and more -- "Body Magic" opens up a vital new awareness of our miraculous human mechanism and in exploring our positive body functions and defining the general principles of psychology, acoustics, optics and mnemonics pinpoints the source and potential of our own and others "body magic." This highly original view of the human body as a treasure-house of illusion offers an enlightening entree to an apparent magical expertise which will both baffle and entertain.
"Body Magic" by John Fisher. London: Hodder & Stoughton, (1979). First edition. Art by Derek Lucas
From the blurb on the dust jacket:
The human body is a physical miracle we all take for granted. Now John Fisher unveils the body as a self-contained magic show, with the brain directing the performance and the senses and powers of imagination exhibiting their enormous capacity to amaze, deceive, instruct and entertain. He strips away some of the mystique and pretension from the world of magical arts and the paranormal, and in a fully illustrated series of fascinating tricks shows how easily we can realise our body potential and perform all kinds of seeming miracles that hypnotists, magicians and illusionists have practised and exploited for centuries.
Mirror-writing, table-tilting, mind reading, the "law of reversed effort" which allows matches to walk along a knife-blade -- this is an absorbing book of entertainment, and more -- "Body Magic" opens up a vital new awareness of our miraculous human mechanism and in exploring our positive body functions and defining the general principles of psychology, acoustics, optics and mnemonics pinpoints the source and potential of our own and others "body magic." This highly original view of the human body as a treasure-house of illusion offers an enlightening entree to an apparent magical expertise which will both baffle and entertain.