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Title: Spellbound

Subtitle: Seven Principles of Illusion to Captivate Audiences and Unlock the Secrets of Success

Author: David Kwong

Narrator: Mike Chamberlain

Format: Unabridged

Length: 7 hrs and 38 mins

Language: English

Release date: 05-09-17

Publisher: Harper Audio

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 13 votes

Genres: Business, Career Skills

Publisher's Summary:

A professional magician and illusionist - the head magic consultant for the hit film Now You See Me - reveals how to bridge the gap between perception and reality to increase your powers of persuasion and influence.

David Kwong has astounded corporate CEOs, TED talk audiences, and thousands of other hyper-rational people, making them see, believe, and even remember what he wants them to. Illusion is an ancient art that centers on control: commanding a room, building anticipation, and appearing to work wonders. Illusion works because the human brain is wired to fill the gap between seeing and believing. Successful leaders - like Steve Jobs, Warren Buffett, and Ted Turner - are masters of control and command who understand how to sway opinions and achieve goals.

In his years of research and practice, David has discovered seven fundamental principles of illusion. With these rules anyone can learn to:

With Spellbound you'll discover a different way to sell your idea, product, or skills and make your best shot better than everyone else's.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

Members Reviews:

Interesting and useful.

Changed the way I thought about magic and business. Very useful

How to work magic in business and real life

David Kwong thinks that thinking like a magician can help us get ahead at work. He may be on to something.

A Harvard graduate in the history of magic in 2002 (while there he taught then-Harvard president Larry Summers how to produce a bouquet of flowers from his sleeve), David Kwong decided to make his way in the world as a magician. (Despite the doubts of his parents, both more staid academics.) Now with this book he moves out of performing magic to tell us the secret of how illusion can help us succeed in business and our lives.

That makes some sense. In business and in politics, illusion does often bring more success than realism. Think of Steve Jobs and his "reality distortion field". Think of Robert Kennedy's version of George Bernard Shaw's line: "Some men see things as they are and say, why; I dream things that never were and say, why not."

That kind of thinking can be taken too far, I think, but David Kwong does not do that. He ties together magic tricks and illusions with the psychological principles underlying them, and then suggests how the same principles can be used in other fields to get results.

In some cases, David Kwong trots out the same old ideas as others before him. Storytelling, for example, is powerful. I get that. But even with that, he brings a new slant to it, pointing out that the best magicians tend to tell stories in their acts. You still need good tricks to impress. Storytelling adds to good tricks, it does not make up for mediocre ones.

In other cases, David Kwong brings out some new ideas I had not thought of. Like the vital need for preparation and timing. One example: when a person goes out of a room for a moment, leaving their phone behind, David Kwong might pop off the back of the phone and put a folded-up card inside. When the person comes back, the worst thing to do is to do a trick then. Best wait a while, until the person forgets they even left the room. Even better, until someone suggests a card trick.