How did Uri Geller do his magic?

By the sheer force of his powerful mind — powerful, that is, compared to those of the dopes who bought his line of baloney. Geller, who recently began making appearances again after a long hiatus, was able to convince millions he had psychic powers when he was really just a talented showman using a few simple tricks. He even fooled a team of scientists at the Stanford Research Institute, which just shows you can have an MA and a PhD and still fall for the same old BS.

Geller's best known stunt was making a spoon or key bend by merely rubbing it. In reality he'd surreptitiously bend the spoon or key beforehand, then keep the bent part concealed in his hand. When showtime came around, he'd display the spoon or key to the audience with the bowl or flat side facing out, from which angle it looked straight. Then he'd commence rubbing, all the while keeping up a furious line of chatter. By and by he'd extrude the bent part of the spoon or key from his fingers, if you follow me, giving the appearance that it was bending before the audience's eyes.

It sounds like there's nothing to it, but that's like saying the Sistine Chapel is just paint on plaster. Execution is everything to a magician, and Geller is a master of the art. Witnesses would claim they'd never taken their eyes off him, but videotapes would later show he'd distracted them just long enough to make whatever preparations he needed. Occasionally somebody would slip him a key or spoon too stiff to bend, in which case he'd claim his powers just weren't up to snuff that day. Paradoxically, these failures reinforced the idea that Geller was for real — if it was a trick, it'd always work, right?

Other tricks were even more simpleminded. To "see" a drawing inside a sealed envelope, Geller would secretly hold it up to the light. An assistant would signal the right answers to him when he was doing mind-reading demonstrations. He'd copy down license plates and makes of cars in the parking lot to dazzle audiences with his uncanny knowledge of their private lives. A child could do it. You could do it. For more detail, see The Truth About Uri Geller, by James Randi, or Gellerism Revealed, by Ben Harris.