title: Allan Wexler: Absurd Thinking-Between Art and Design
author: Ashley Simone
description: "How do the spaces we inhabit shape our daily rituals, and how does our behavior, in turn, help to inform the architecture of these spaces? These are the questions with which artist Allan Wexler has primarily grappled for the last few decades, endlessly creating projects that examine and restructure functional objects as well as routines that we may accept without question. Celebrating his individual vision is a new monograph recently put out by Lar Mllers Publishers, the first that takes us deep inside his constantly searching mind." <i><br /><br />-Hyperallergic</i>
zlib_text: 
  
  
  ![](images/9780062098016_Outside_Front_cover.png)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  FOOLING  
  HOUDINI
  
  
  Magicians, Mentalists, Math Geeks  
  & the Hidden Powers of the Mind
  
  
  ALEX STONE
  
  
  ![logo](images/logo.jpg)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  [Dedication](contents.xhtml#ded_01)
  
  
  For my parents, Carmen and Bill Stone
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  [Epigraph](contents.xhtml#epi_01)
  
  
  
  
  
  The most beautiful thing  
  we can experience  
  is the mysterious.
  
  
  —Albert Einstein
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Contents
  
  
  [Cover](cover.xhtml)
  
  
  [Title Page](titlepage.xhtml)
  
  
  [Dedication](ded01.xhtml#ded01)
  
  
  [Epigraph](epi01.xhtml#epi01)
  
  
  
  
  
  [Chapter 1 \- The Magic Olympics](ch01.xhtml#ch01)
  
  
  [Chapter 2 \- Mystery School](ch02.xhtml#ch02)
  
  
  [Chapter 3 \- Miracles on Thirty-fourth Street](ch03.xhtml#ch03)
  
  
  [Chapter 4 \- The Touch Analyst](ch04.xhtml#ch04)
  
  
  [Chapter 5 \- The Hype](ch05.xhtml#ch05)
  
  
  [Chapter 6 \- Breaking the Code](ch06.xhtml#ch06)
  
  
  [Chapter 7 \- It’s Annoying and I Asked You to Stop](ch07.xhtml#ch07)
  
  
  [Chapter 8 \- How to Steal a