Levitation: Physics and Psychology in the Service of Deception

Levitation: Physics and Psychology in the Service of Deception
  • ISBN: 978-0-9788037-0-4
  • Retail Price: US$12.95
  • Page count: 72 pages
  • Publication date: July, 2007

Hypnotic gestures.
Fancy clothes.
Lovely assistants.

These things may make the magician, but science makes the magic.

Levitation tells the amazing true story of the most dazzling illusion ever performed on stage, and features a cast of characters that seems too good to be true -- The Scientist: John Neville Maskelyne, the oh-so-proper British magician and the trick's inventor. The American: Harry Kellar couldn't buy the illusion, so he found another way to get it. The Inventor: Guy Jarrett, the rough-and-tumble engineer who perfected the illusion. The Heir: Howard Thurston, the handsome and charismatic performer who inherited the act from Kellar and then, according to Kellar, ruined it.

Or did he? Join us on stage and behind it and learn not only how to defy gravity, but why people believed you could.

Levitation and its companion release Wire Mothers: Harry Harlow and the Science of Love are the first in a series of books on the science of the unscientific from G.T. Labs.

About the storytellers: Janine Johnston began her comics career over 10 years ago as an artist for Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi. She went on to adapt and paint for the Elfquest series "Blood of Ten Chiefs" and currently works as a painter, muralist, and on numerous projects in both the comics and gaming industry. All of Jim Ottaviani's books have been nominated for multiple awards, including Eisners & ALA Popular Paperback of the Year, and they also receive critical praise in publications ranging from The Comics Journal to Physics World to Entertainment Weekly to Discover Magazine, and get national broadcast attention in outlets such as NPR's Morning Edition and the CBS Morning Show.

Press

"There's a surprising amount of scientific knowledge needed to make impressive illusions work, and this book shows you how some of them accomplish their tricks. A good show requires experimentation ahead of time to make improvements and work out the bugs." - Comics Worth Reading

 

...and elsewhere: Washington Post Express | Publishers Weekly | Panels and Pixels | Eye on Comics | an interview at The Comics Reporter | an interview at Newsarama | an interview at Comic Book Resources

Preview

Read an excerpt from the book.

Extra! Web Exclusives

For teachers: We've prepared a study guide (pdf) to assist you in using the book in your classroom. If you have suggestions for improvements or would like to share your ideas, please let us know.