My Home Library Books fascinate me and when you follow me up to my 'den', you will be confronted with shelves and shelves full of books on magic. A lot of them are new, especially those on children's magic as some good ones have appeared in print. However, occasionally I will pick up some of the older copies, yellow through age and well thumbed. 'The Royal Road to Card Magic' by Hugard and Braué, 'Scarne on Card Tricks'. One on 'Counts, Cuts, Moves and Subtlety' by Jerry Mentzer was added at a later date. I must not forget to mention '202 Methods of Forcing' by Anneman and 'Lend me your Pack' by Victor Farelli. I have had these, together with other books, well over 50 years. Anybody who knows me and my work will ask the obvious question: "Why books on card tricks?". You would be quite right as I am a children's entertainer and cabaret worker and not really a card man. It is just that I am a 'magical nut' and besides buying tricks all the time I also like books. I must admit, however, that I've read most of these only once. You will notice a lot of pieces of paper sticking out of them (I dislike folding the pages or bending the corners) to remind me of a good effect, but here is another confession. From the thousands of tricks I have read in books and magazines over the years, I have only built perhaps half a dozen, and used in my performances maybe 20 or 30 effects, over the same period. When we have a lecturer I, together with quite a few other members, will go to his table and purchase his lecture notes because we like what we have seen and hope to copy his moves. Do we do this? Of, course we don't. When we get home we read through it, perhaps make a few notes in the margins or on a piece of paper, to remind us exactly of what we have seen while still fresh in our minds and then, put the manuscript away until the next time. Did I say the next time? I read recently that Paul Daniels has an extensive library of well over a thousand books. Why has he bought all these? I don't think it is to get ideas. With his experience he should have plenty, and when he runs out of them he has his technical advisers to fall back on. No, I think that Paul, like many of us, is a magical magpie, unable to resist a book on the subject we love. Now we have a new interest. Just a few short years ago we started seeing training videos. They not only show us the effect but also how to do it. It just requires copying the moves and then practise, practise. What a delightful way of learning new tricks. No longer reading and re-reading paragraph after paragraph to understand the author's intention. It's all there. It couldn't be easier. This is just for me but, did I hear a groan from the kitchen? I distinctly heard my wife say: "Oh my God, here we go again!". But, of course, it couldn't be. At my age I always imagine hearing things. |
