Illusions and Magic - Everything you ever wanted to know about... illusions, magic and the paranormal, episode 1

<p>Our guest Prof Richard Wiseman is a spectacularly creative scientist who started off his career as a magician before becoming a psychologist. Over the last few decades, Richard has studied the art of deception, parapsychology and the concept of good luck alongside many other aspects of the human mind.</p><p>Richard has a hugely popular YouTube channel called&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/Quirkology" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Quirkology</a>, with a mere 2.15m subscribers and has written a book called&nbsp;<em>Shoot For The Moon&nbsp;</em>(£20, Quercus), which takes a closer look at the psychology that achieved the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sciencefocus.com/tag/apollo-programme/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Moon landings</a>.</p><p>Over two quickfire, 30-minute episodes, Richard tells&nbsp;<em>BBC Science Focus</em>&nbsp;magazine editor Daniel Bennett how to make himself luckier, whether magicians make the best psychologists and why the stories we tell ourselves matter.</p><p>And if you enjoyed this episode and want to learn more, check out any of Richard’s books at&nbsp;<a href="https://richardwiseman.wordpress.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">richardwiseman.wordpress.com</a>&nbsp;or follow him on Twitter&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/RichardWiseman" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@RichardWiseman</a>.</p> &#10;&nbsp;<br /><hr><p style='color: grey; font - size: 0.75em; '>See <a style='color: grey; ' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for privacy and opt-out information.</p>