At the heart of the extraordinary turmoil of the High Renaissance stood a distinctive, strange, and fascinating figure: the Magician. A volatile mix of scientist, book lover, engineer, fabulist, and trickster, this magician paved the way for the emergence of modern physics and chemistry, while simultaneously working on everything from secret ciphers and siege engines to magic tricks. Anthony Grafton's brilliant and original book examines the careers of men who somehow managed to be figures of astonishing genius and, at times, naive or worse. The historical Faust, Marsilio Ficino, Pico della Mirandola, Johannes Trithemius, and Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa are all compelling figures, inextricably linked to kings, artists, and soldiers, and at the core of any definition of why the Renaissance was an age of such ceaseless innovation. Astrology, architecture, warfare, even medicine: all these and more were revolutionized in some way by the experiments and tricks of these extraordinary individuals. No book does a better job than this of allowing us to understand the ways in which magic, religion, and science were once intertwined and often difficult to distinguish.