Showing results by author "Richard Wiseman" in All Categories

Victorian philosopher William James had a theory about emotion and behavior: It isn’t that our feelings guide our actions (feel happy and you will laugh). On the contrary, it is our actions that guide our emotions (laugh and you will feel happy). This led James to a remarkable conclusion: "If you want a quality, act as if you already have it." Roused by James’s astonishing discovery, renowned psychologist and best-selling author Richard Wiseman confirms James’s principle and shows how the self-help genre has for too long put the cart before the horse in trying to help us take control of our lives.

In this personal journey through a unique performing art, David Copperfield profiles some of the world’s most groundbreaking magicians. From the 16th-century magistrate who wrote an early book on conjuring, to the Roaring Twenties and the man who fooled Houdini, to the woman who levitated, vanished, and caught bullets in her bare hands, David Copperfield’s History of Magic takes you on a wild journey through the remarkable feats of some of the greatest magicians in history.

A psychologist and best-selling author gives us a myth-busting response to the self-help movement, with tips and tricks to improve your life that come straight from the scientific community. Richard Wiseman has been troubled by the realization that the self-help industry often promotes exercises that destroy motivation, damage relationships, and reduce creativity: The opposite of everything it promises. Now, in 59 Seconds, he fights back, bringing together the diverse scientific advice that can help you change your life in under a minute.

Why do some people lead happy, successful lives whilst others face repeated failure and sadness? Why do some find their perfect partners whilst others stagger from one broken relationship to the next? What enables some people to have successful careers whilst others find themselves trapped in jobs they detest? And can unlucky people do anything to improve their luck - and lives?

Using academic, comprehensive, logical, and, at times, mathematical approaches, The Science of Weird Shit convincingly debunks ESP, communicating with the dead, and alien abduction claims, among other phenomena. All the while, however, French maintains that our belief in such phenomena is neither ridiculous nor trivial; if anything, such claims can tell us a great deal about the human mind if we pay them the attention they are due.

While other scientists beaver away on obvious problems, Professor Richard Wiseman has dedicated his time to examining the more unconventional questions plaguing our everyday lives: the secret ingredients of charisma, how our personalities are shaped by when we are born and why people usually miss the obvious signs of their partner's infidelity. Using scientific methods to investigate offbeat topics, Quirkology brings a new understanding to the backwaters of the human mind and takes us to places where mainstream scientists fear to tread.

Most people would like to be more creative, more persuasive and more attractive. For years gurus and life coaches have urged people to improve their lives by changing the way they think and behave, but scientific research has revealed that many of their techniques, from group brainstorming to visualization, are ineffective. Fortunately, in 59 Seconds, psychologist Richard Wiseman is on hand to provide fast-acting, myth-busting scientific answers to a huge range of everyday problems.

A collection of political blog entries, satirical and serious, reflecting UK politics and news from March to August 2012.

This is a story of prejudices; the intellectual, class, gender and race prejudices of 1981 are presented through the lives of young and old people in one town over one summer. It's the story of three week-ends in a fictional north of London commuter town during the summer of 1981. Against the back drop of unemployment and riots in Britain an unwilling young working class hero comes of age politically. Rob Clenton is part of the skinhead scene and halfheartedly assists a local National front thug, soon finding, though, that National Front politics don't suit him. Involved in local crime and ...

Hired by the parents of a missing computer genius to track him down and bring him home Jonah Parish succeeds only to see the young man assassinated right in front of him. Jonah sets out on a personal quest to track down the people that killed the boy and to find out why? Assisted by Jack, Lori and an Interpol assassin hunter Jonah tracks the killers from England to France from France to the USA and back to England. In the middle of this hunt for the boy's killers Jonah finds a mysterious computer algorithm with amazing powers and seemingly bankers, gangsters and government agencies want the...

The final instalment of the three part science fiction series, The Book Of King, where General King tries to prevent the planet being overrun by the A2 Clones; the battle to save the human race from being replaced by a new and original species comes to a conclusion...

Original Species... the story continues... Over a year since Isaac Turner encountered Adam 2 at the burnt out research centre in Wales, UK, General Martin King of NATO's Tactical Team has been handed a new military emergency to deal with; A2 Clones. His first task is to read Isaac Turner's account of the search for Adam 2 and to look at the related files... for King it's a horrifying and disturbing series of events, the aftermath of which King is tasked with trying to sort out...

A science fiction story serialized on Amazon Kindle. . The story begins in Wales, at a secret military installation, where the world's foremost 'genoclone regeneration' expert is helping the UK government to do research into repairing the severed limbs of service personnel. Something has gone wrong though and Issac Turner, a military police investigator, has been sent to find out the cause of a devastating fire at the hidden research center. What he discovers has significant and frightening consequences for the human race and their domination of planet earth.

DIC and McKie are back watching the watchers. A seemingly random explosion in a chemistry lab, weapons being smuggled into the UK, a large gathering of camper vans near Salisbury, a kidnapped prince and large amounts of strange encrypted radio traffic are the pieces of a puzzle that lead the DIC to a very serious and dangerous internal concern.

37 numbers including the zero and all you have to do is pick the right numbers and the money will rack up. Sounds simple enough, but online roulette gambling can have disastrous consequences and for one man it's the road to hell...

Rated "Most Popular Fiction Magazine 2024" by Chill Subs Ranked Top 10 "Best Lit Mags of 2023, 2024" by Chill Subs Delight in intriguing, thought-provoking conversations about ethics, philosophy, and social issues! After Dinner Conversation is a monthly literary magazine publishing short fiction. Each issue features both established writers and up-and-coming authors who contribute fascinating philosophical insights on controversial topics like marriage equality, assisted suicide, the meaning of death, animal rights, and defining your "purpose." It's time to go deep in search of truth! If ...

Jonah Parish, recently retired from the Royal Marine Commandos and working in the security industry wakes up on the lawn of a house in Exeter having been drugged. The lawyer he was hired to guard is missing. In tracking down the missing lawyer Jonah is embroiled in a game of cat and mouse with a ruthless gang looking for a rare flawed 1964 West German postage stamp bearing the image of John F Kennedy and worth a million dollars. As Jonah delves deeper into the mystery of the 'Assassin Flaw' stamp and the life of the last man to own it, a dead American diplomat Rory Shapter, he uncovers the ...

Psychologist Richard Wiseman brings together history, psychology, and self-help in this unique and powerful guide to achieving the impossible in work and in life. The result of intensive research, including interviews with surviving members of the Apollo mission-control team, Moonshot delivers eight key lessons on teamwork, leadership, persistence, creativity, and more, each one a vital part of the mind-set for success.

How to give the perfect interview, never lose your wallet again, how to convince anyone of anything by using your pet frog and why rewards fail. Most people would like to be more motivated. For years, gurus and ‘life coaches’ have urged people to improve their lives by changing the way they think and behave, but scientific research has revealed that many of their techniques, from visualization to self-affirmation, are ineffective.

In this remarkable audiobook, Professor Richard Wiseman presents a pioneering study of the mind-set that took humanity to the moon and shows how you can harness and use it to achieve the extraordinary in your everyday life. Combining personal interviews, mission archives and cutting-edge psychology, Wiseman embarks on the ultimate voyage through inner space. Along the way he identifies eight key principles that make up the Apollo mind-set, including how pessimism is crucial to success and how fear and tragedy can be transformed into hope and optimism.