Levitation in a Nutshell

What does it mean to rise?

Levitation in a Nutshell: Science, Tradition, and Wonder is a short, clear-eyed companion to one of the oldest dreams in human imagination. From a live frog suspended in a magnetic field to a Franciscan friar reported to have hovered before the Pope, the book follows the wish to be free of gravity through the laboratories of modern physics and the contemplative traditions of India, Tibet, China, and the Christian West.

Written for curious readers who want substance without jargon, Levitation in a Nutshell: Science, Tradition, and Wonder brings together strands that are usually kept apart. The maglev train hovers above its track on principles a child can grasp; the yogic texts describe an inner discipline of which lightness of body is said to be one possible sign. Each tradition has its own integrity. The book respects both without forcing them into agreement.

Inside you will find:

• How magnets, sound, light, and superconductors actually lift things
• The science behind the famous floating-frog experiment
• What the yogic, Buddhist, Daoist, and Christian traditions report
• The truth behind witches, brooms, and flying ointments
• How stage magicians produce the illusion of suspension
• What psychology tells us about witnesses to the impossible

Clear, careful, and never credulous, Levitation in a Nutshell: Science, Tradition, and Wonder shows how the dream of rising has been answered, in part, by physicists, mystics, and illusionists alike. The result is a small book that takes seriously what most modern writing dismisses or inflates.

If you have ever wondered what really hangs between the laboratory and the monastery, the séance room and the stage, this is the place to begin.