Did you know that people who believe in the benefits of ageing live longer? That the symptoms of disease can spread through the power of suggestion alone? That lucky charms really do improve athletes' performance? And counterintuitively, even if you know about all these effects, you can still harness them to live a healthier and better life?This is a book about the benefits of magical thinking, but grounded in real science. It is about the cutting-edge research happening right now in psychology and neuroscience that suggests our brain is a prediction machine that projects its expectations onto the world, changing our reality. And excitingly, it is about how this ?Expectation Effect' goes far beyond medical placebos, encompassing things like sleep, intelligence, learning, ageing and exercise. As David Robson shows through great narrative stories and fascinating studies, there are practical, evidence-based ways that we can all do our own magical thinking to improve our lives.