Randi, now in his 80’s, is a master magician, a unique escape artist, an icon of skepticism and a living legend, the true heir of Houdini. Isaac Asimov called Randi «A national treasure» and Carl Sagan said that «We may disagree with him, but we ignore him at our peril».

Randi has led an adventurous and rich life, full of unexpected twists and turns, including the overcoming of serious medical conditions and his revelation, at 82 years of age, of his being gay. His life already has a documentary to it, but it really deserves a complete biography.

The original idea for a biography belongs to Penn Jillette, of the magic duo Penn & Teller, who in 2005 was able to convince Randi that a biography of his life was needed.

Jillette started interviewing him and then involved Kim Scheinberg, who spent several years searching for people and stories, lost documents and long-forgotten clippings. This resulted in hundreds of hours of interviews with Randi and hundreds more with friends and foes going back more than sixty years.

By 2010, the volume of research was overwhelming. Randi, along with his partner Deyvi Peña and Kim, who had invested a lot in the project, thought that something had to be done.

So, with the blessing of Penn, they asked Massimo Polidoro to take over and actually write the book. «I want my story to be told, warts and all», said Randi, «and I think that Massimo is the man who can really do it».