Thursday, November 29, 2012

Magic Mirror by Robert Neal and David Parr

One man's thoughts another man's words, an unusual premise for a book but it seems to work well. The book started as a collection of essays by Robert Neal, which were re-written by David Parr. Now I've never had any contact with Mr Neal, but David Parr is basically the head Mugwump at my favorite forum and thanks to the small but dedicated user base I have has some interaction with him. I've found him to be both helpful and insightful. This book is split into two parts, the first part is magical theory and the second part is effects. Not a lot of effects in this book maybe nine total but that's not this point of this book. The effects are darn good effects a fair few will make their way into my repertoire. But really if you are just hunting for good effects you may want to spend your money elsewhere, where this book shines is the theory portion. If you've ever wanted your magic to feel like something other than silly tricks, this book is for you. It approaches magic from a more anthropological view point. It asks and answers the question of why man created magic and why they need magic. The book also offers a new way to classify magic one I find to practical and thought provoking.

Bottom line is this book offers a new way of looking at the performance of magic. Which is something I think all performers need in general. Seriously if hope to grow at all you need to take a look at your magic from a different perspective at every opportunity.

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