SoMA September Newsletter
Conference Updates, New Books, a Paper, & a Podcast
Hi all,
We are rapidly approaching our November conference, and I have two new conference updates: First, I am delighted to debut our conference poster, an original commissioned artwork from the amazing Kyla Moffatt, who we can highly recommend to anyone who’s ever in need of some magic-related art. Personally, I’m a particular fan of the imps.
Second, we have now finalized a preliminary schedule for conference that can be viewed here and all the abstracts for the presentation sessions are viewable here (now in order of appearance). It’s been really exciting to see this all come together, and I think the stage is set for this to be one of our most successful events!
Additionally, I’ve had a few people reach out to me asking if there’s any way of coordinating with other conference attendees about travel and sharing hotel accommodations, so I’ve now opened up a simple message board on our website where folks can post and hopefully connect with one another: https://scienceofmagicassoc.org/blog/2024/8/13/soma-2024-conference-travel-coordination
And aside from the conference, I also have some additional SoM-related news items to share.
Best,
Matt Tompkins
On Behalf of the SoMA Committee
Please use the buttons below to view the preliminary schedule, preview the presentation abstracts, and for travel info and a coordination message board to help connect with your attendees.
New Book from Peter Lamont
Peter Lamont is a is magician and Professor of History & Theory of Psychology at the University of Edinburgh. He’s also one of my favorite authors on the topic of the science of magic, with some excellent titles including The Rise and Fall of the Indian Rope Trick (about historical accounts of the probably mythical levitation effect), The First Psychic (a biopic on the Scottish medium D.D. Home), Extraordinary Beliefs (an excellent historical overview of psychical research and the emergent ‘psychology of error’), and he also co-authored Magic in Theory with Richard Wiseman, a book that was arguably instrumental in setting up the contemporary Science of Magic ‘Renaissance’.
Peter’s latest publication, Radical Thinking, is something a bit different, a sort of self help book (but imbued with a healthy scepticism re self help books) framed around a POV stroll through Edinburgh and themed around critical thinking, with copious references to weird science, magic, and magic history. Definitely recommended!
New Book by Helen De Cruz
Helen De Cruz is a professor of philosophy at Saint Louis University and she recently published a new book exploring the concepts of awe and wonder. The book blends philosophy, history, and psychology with quite a lot of use of magic, from sleight-of-hand performances to ‘real’ magic rituals, and there are several direct references to contemporary science of magic works. Wonder and awe are arguably relatively understudied in the context of magic and this book represents a valuable (and well referenced) contribution, in addition to being a fun an interesting read.
New Paper on Magic & Creativity
A recent publication by Tong Li, Lu Din, & Hua Zheng describes some very cool research on how magic can be used pedagogically to promote creativity and teach creative thinking principles. You can read the full paper by clicking the button below, and Tong Li will also be attending our upcoming conference to present some of his other pedagogical magic work on using magic to help teach user interface design.
Tony Barnhart on The People Who Read People psychology podcast
And last, but not least, SoMA’s Tony Barnhart recently appeared on The People Who Read People Psychology podcast where he was interviewed by host Zachary Elwood on how magicians misdirect and manipulate audiences. The full episode is embedded below