Sleights of Mind Quotes

“Chronic multitaskers “are suckers for irrelevancy,” says Stanford communications professor Clifford Nass. “Everything distracts them.” They can’t ignore things, can’t remember as well, and have weaker self-control.”
― Stephen L. Macknik, Sleights of Mind: What the neuroscience of magic reveals about our brains

“Magicians are well aware of these little brain foibles, and they pump them like a lab rat on a cocaine lever.”
― Stephen L. Macknik, Sleights of Mind: What the Neuroscience of Magic Reveals About Our Everyday Deceptions

“This stereo type turned lethal in 1999 when a twenty-three-year-old African student, Amadou Diallo, was killed in New York City because he reached for his wallet when police ordered him to halt. In his country of Guinea, you are supposed to take out your wallet when approached by police. Diallo was shot at forty-one times and hit nineteen times. The cops claimed they saw a gun, not a wallet, and were acquitted, resulting in riots.”
― Stephen L. Macknik, Sleights of Mind: What the Neuroscience of Magic Reveals About Our Everyday Deceptions

“Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; but remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.”
― Stephen L. Macknik, Sleights of Mind: What the Neuroscience of Magic Reveals About Our Everyday Deceptions

“For best performance, do one thing at a time.”
― Stephen L. Macknik, Sleights of Mind: What the neuroscience of magic reveals about our brains

“We’re really built to focus. And when we force ourselves to multitask, we’re driving ourselves to perhaps be less efficient in the long run even though it sometimes feels like we’re being more efficient.”
― Stephen L. Macknik, Sleights of Mind: What the neuroscience of magic reveals about our brains

“A decade of research clearly shows that multitasking—the ability to do several things at once, efficiently and well—is a myth. Your brain is not designed to attend to two or three things at a time. It is configured to respond to one thing at a time.”
― Stephen L. Macknik, Sleights of Mind: What the neuroscience of magic reveals about our brains

“What you see, hear, feel, and think is based on what you expect to see, hear, feel, and think. In turn, your expectations are based on all your prior experiences and memories. What you see in the here and now is what proved useful to you in the past.”
― Stephen L. Macknik, Sleights of Mind: What the neuroscience of magic reveals about our brains

“Magic tricks work because humans have a hardwired process of attention and awareness that is hackable.”
― Stephen L. Macknik, Sleights of Mind: What the neuroscience of magic reveals about our brains

“Now, because it is relevant, and witchcraft so apparently accomplished through the art of sleight of hand, I thought it would be worthwhile to explain it. I am sorry to be the one to do this, and regret”
― Stephen L. Macknik, Sleights of Mind: What the Neuroscience of Magic Reveals About Our Everyday Deceptions

“people who talk on cell phones while driving a car have the same attentional focus as people who are legally drunk.”
― Stephen L. Macknik, Sleights of Mind: What the Neuroscience of Magic Reveals About Our Everyday Deceptions

“A lasting human foible, Lamont says, is that people will believe hoaxes and rumors to be true despite all evidence to the contrary, including denials by their originators, if assertions of truth are repeated often enough.”
― Stephen L. Macknik, Sleights of Mind: What the Neuroscience of Magic Reveals About Our Everyday Deceptions

“Las Vegas is every bit as blisteringly hot in June as Phoenix, and if you take the lap dancing, gambling, and showgirls into account it is probably several degrees hotter due to friction.”
― Stephen L. Macknik, Sleights of Mind: What the Neuroscience of Magic Reveals About Our Everyday Deceptions

“CLARKE’S THIRD LAW: “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” NIVEN’S LAW: “Any sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology.” AGATHA HETERODYNE (“GIRL GENIUS”) PARAPHRASE OF NIVEN’S LAW: “Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science!”
― Stephen L. Macknik, Sleights of Mind: What the Neuroscience of Magic Reveals About Our Everyday Deceptions