Magic Books
No I don't mean Happy Potter and all that stuff.
When you enjoy conjuring you have to fend off fantasists on the left, and occultists on the right (although you can filch plot-lines and cover stories from both!)
Although conjuring has a very naff (nerd) image, it goes through phases of seeming fashionable. Penn and Teller almost made it cool for a while. The DBs (David Blaine and Derren Brown) in their own very different ways found methods for getting it on television. As well as films, you can find it employed for fiction, and recently I have come across these:
Fifty-two Ways to Magic America by James Flint (Author)
Carter Beats the Devil by Glen David Gold
The Bullet Trick by Louise Welsh
I don't want to stop and review them right now (haven't finished the Bullet Trick just yet) but they amused me enough.
I still prefer reading about real magicians and their stories... Jim Steinmeyer's books (as I mentioned before), Peter Lamont's stuff, etc. The Magician and the Cardsharp: The Search for America's Greatest Sleight-of-Hand Artist by Karl Johnson, or Phantoms of the Card Table: Confessions of a Card Sharp by David Britland and Gazzo.
Funnily enough exposes like Lamont's deconstruction of 'the Indian Rope Trick as an urban myth' do not appear to sell that well. Just as you can see endless glossy coffee table books on crop circles, but can probably buy a remaindered copy of Round In Circles (a fairly affectionate debunking book).
Wiki has some fun stuff about the Indian Rope Trick.
I haven't compiled my favourite lists, but you'll find some at Amazon, like Diamond Jim Tyler's set. Nakul Shenoy has an interesting group (and yes, Henry Hay's book still excels, so sad about the title...) If card tricks interest you this list should keep you busy forever...
And Derren has returned to British television, even more demonic than before. Trick or Treat started with him entrancing a guy (having woken him in the middle of the night to sign a contract saying "we can do with you what we like!") in a photobooth, and then flying him to Morocco (in trance) only to wake up in the same photo booth! After 13 hours he must have been bursting for a piss...but they don't go into all that, or the ethics, or anything. AS they seem to have no morals I guess I don't feel bad in pointing out the ambigrams used to prevent the guy getting the 'Treat' and not the 'Trick'. I hardly feel bad about it.
Anyone who read Angels and Demons (and not just the fashionable Da Vinci Code) knows that John Langdon's ambigrams may either say the same thing when turned upside down, or something different. Two five letter words beginning with T seem perfect for such a thing.
When you enjoy conjuring you have to fend off fantasists on the left, and occultists on the right (although you can filch plot-lines and cover stories from both!)
Although conjuring has a very naff (nerd) image, it goes through phases of seeming fashionable. Penn and Teller almost made it cool for a while. The DBs (David Blaine and Derren Brown) in their own very different ways found methods for getting it on television. As well as films, you can find it employed for fiction, and recently I have come across these:
Fifty-two Ways to Magic America by James Flint (Author)
Carter Beats the Devil by Glen David Gold
The Bullet Trick by Louise Welsh
I don't want to stop and review them right now (haven't finished the Bullet Trick just yet) but they amused me enough.
I still prefer reading about real magicians and their stories... Jim Steinmeyer's books (as I mentioned before), Peter Lamont's stuff, etc. The Magician and the Cardsharp: The Search for America's Greatest Sleight-of-Hand Artist by Karl Johnson, or Phantoms of the Card Table: Confessions of a Card Sharp by David Britland and Gazzo.
Funnily enough exposes like Lamont's deconstruction of 'the Indian Rope Trick as an urban myth' do not appear to sell that well. Just as you can see endless glossy coffee table books on crop circles, but can probably buy a remaindered copy of Round In Circles (a fairly affectionate debunking book).
Wiki has some fun stuff about the Indian Rope Trick.
I haven't compiled my favourite lists, but you'll find some at Amazon, like Diamond Jim Tyler's set. Nakul Shenoy has an interesting group (and yes, Henry Hay's book still excels, so sad about the title...) If card tricks interest you this list should keep you busy forever...
And Derren has returned to British television, even more demonic than before. Trick or Treat started with him entrancing a guy (having woken him in the middle of the night to sign a contract saying "we can do with you what we like!") in a photobooth, and then flying him to Morocco (in trance) only to wake up in the same photo booth! After 13 hours he must have been bursting for a piss...but they don't go into all that, or the ethics, or anything. AS they seem to have no morals I guess I don't feel bad in pointing out the ambigrams used to prevent the guy getting the 'Treat' and not the 'Trick'. I hardly feel bad about it.
Anyone who read Angels and Demons (and not just the fashionable Da Vinci Code) knows that John Langdon's ambigrams may either say the same thing when turned upside down, or something different. Two five letter words beginning with T seem perfect for such a thing.However, when something apppears this obvious in a Derrren show, you tend to look for the double bluff! Just google "trick or treat ambigrams" to see how much air time (and discussion on magic forums) he gets out of the link with Dan Brown (a third DB, of course, but just a coincidence!) heh heh
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