Magic is a foreign world to me, but through acquaintances I had the pleasure of getting to know a close-up magician named Armando Lucero, who (I'm told) is cons

Magic is a foreign world to me, but through acquaintances I had the pleasure of getting to know a close-up magician named Armando Lucero, who (I'm told) is considered one of the best in the world. I was invited to see him at the Magic Castle and it blew me away. It really was a childlike experience. But one of the most amazing tricks was a time some years later when I was traveling in another city, rented a car and drove around aimlessly till I found myself at a strip mall coffeehouse, and sat down with some coffee. At some point I turned around and sitting at the table behind me was Armando, wearing black, by himself with a coffee, a strip of felt and a deck of cards on the table. Practicing. It was an incredible coincidence. And I got a personal show. The thing that really strikes me about this article is how the magician's philosophy of his art is so similar to what I've heard Armando wax poetic about: He studies neuroscience and psychology, has contributed to brain imaging studies, and seems irrepressibly fascinated with learning about complex subjects... not so much in the service of magic as out of a staggering intellectual curiosity. Magic is just his ideal vehicle for synthesizing that knowledge. It's unbelievably impressive, like watching someone who's thinking in the Assembly Language of the human brain.