Making Magic

ShareShare Share on Facebook

Related Books:


Night Circus
(Erin Morgenstern)

Fooling Houdini
(Alex Stone)

Becoming Animal
(David Abram)

Shadow of Night
(Deborah Harkness)

The Magic of Reality

Related Films:


Tomorrow We Disappear
Fire at night by Dalboz17 via Flickr Commons
Fire at night by Dalboz17 via Flickr Commons
Interviewer(s): 
Jim Fleming
Steve Paulson
Anne Strainchamps
Guest(s): 
Deborah Harkness
David Abram
Erin Morgenstern
Richard Dawkins
Jim Goldblum
Adam Weber
Alex Stone
Producer(s): 
Anne Strainchamps
09.23.2012

Magic is an art, a philosophy, and a way of seeing the world.  In this hour, we learn magic tricks from a stage magician, travel to India's last magician's colony, explore shamanic magic, and talk with magical novelists Erin Morgenstern (Night Circus) and Deborah Harkness (Discovery of Witches and Shadow of Night).  

  1. Erin Morgenstern on Night Circus

    ShareShare Share on Facebook

    Novelist Erin Morgenstern has written a dark fairy tale for adults.  At the center of the novel is a magical circus.

    4.333335
    Average: 4.3 (3 votes)

  2. Alex Stone on Magic Tricks

    ShareShare Share on Facebook

    Alex Stone is a magician with a degree in physics.  He performs a magic trick over the radio and explains how it works.

     

    To hear one of Alex Stone's favorite bar tricks, listen here.

    4.666665
    Average: 4.7 (9 votes)

  3. Jim Goldblum and Adam Weber on India's last magician's colony

    ShareShare Share on Facebook

    A portrait of Kathputli, India's last remaining magician's colony.

    5
    Average: 5 (12 votes)

  4. David Abram on Magic

    ShareShare Share on Facebook

    In traditional cultures, magic can be a way of seeing the world.  Philosopher and ecologist David Abram has spent a lot of time with traditional shamans.  He talks about reclaiming animism.

    4.375
    Average: 4.4 (8 votes)

  5. Deborah Harkness on Alchemy

    ShareShare Share on Facebook

    Historian Deborah Harkness has transmuted her expertise in early alchemy and Elizabethan magic into a pair of best-selling novels, A Discovery of Witches and Shadow of Night.  We talk with her about the connections between magic and science.

    To hear an EXTENDED interview with Deborah Harkness, LISTEN HERE.

    4
    Average: 4 (3 votes)

  6. Richard Dawkins on the Magic of Reality

    ShareShare Share on Facebook

    Evolutionary biologist and outspoken atheist Richard Dawkins attempts to redefine "magic" as rational and non-supernatural.

    4
    Average: 4 (2 votes)