I am almost ashamed to admit it but I own no books of Dai Vernon's works. My question is if I want to get one with his philosophies or theories about naturalness etc., which one has more of that sort of thing in it?



Thanks

Adam

Book of Magic

"The Dai Vernon Book of Magic" written by Lewis Ganson.

Vernon book of magic, agreed. The chapter where he really lays it out is chapter 2, the Vernon touch. The one difficult thing with Vernon is that much of his stuff has become standard. For this reason much of his brilliant thinking seems to be the norm.
Focus on naturalness and attention to detail.

That's fine I just wanna read it for myself

The Dai Vernon book of magic is great but I also suggest the Vernon Chronicles and if you can get and read some old genii mags and the Vernon Touch column that he wrote. There are many good performing ideas and magic theory in those as well.

If it will convince you, I also recommend book of magic. It has everything you want. Just get it.

Enjoy it. For a primer, have a look through The Stars of Magic.

You may then want to get the Vernon Tribute(s) to Liepzig and to Malini.

The guy LOVED clever tricks, and being clever about methods used in tricks.

I was lucky enough to be slightly acquainted with Vernon and I got to spend a precious few hours with him on a couple of occasions, jamming and gabbing. I have always believed that his "be natural" philosophy has been taken out of context and and taken to extremes that he never intended. You have to remember that Dai was born in 1895, a very different world...an era when magic,along with theater and juggling, was performed with greatly exaggerated movements and overly dramatic gestures. Vernon's "natural" handling was a reaction against this tradition. I don't think that he meant to eradicate all flourishes in the way that some present day followers believe. Vernon loved to play with cards for hours at a time and although he wouldn't be interested in the elaborate virtuoso cuts that some young guys are into, he certainly did some flourishes on occasion. I saw him do some.

Best regards,
Glenn Godsey

Wow that's really cool to know thanks Glen




Adam

Glenn Godsey

Lennart Green on his DVDs backs up what you say, he also spent time with him.

Regards

Tommy

"The Vernon Touch' - hopefully out this year...

Excellent Mr. Godsey, Dai Vernon Book Of Magic was a book that I read almost as much as the Bible early in my journey thru magic. I still have that book (I purchased it in the early '70s from Paul Diamond's magic shop for $10). I still read it. Anyone who spent time w/ "The Professor", is lucky indeed! Thanx for the clarification.
Respectfully...

<<<KRaZy4Kardz>>>

What era of the Genii mags is his column in?

Stars of Magic and the Dai Vernon Book of Magic are 2 of the best books I have ever read.If you want to see Dai Vernon's thinking you should get yourself his Revelations DVD series.There are really some valuable information in them.I think that many people will agree that Dai Vernon and Marlo are the kings of magic.
Andre

Richard Kaufman has now published The Vernon Touch. This is over 600 pages and contains all the writings of Dai Vernon in Genii. It is exclusively available from Richard Kaufman and seems like a fantastic investment

Sadly, such is meaningless as they are both gone. We will all be gone one day, and what matters is what we do today. To venerate those one has never met is also sad. To ask others to turn away from the living to worship icons made of our dead is downright scary. There are many today who remember those people they still feel the loss of their friends.

Instead of dumpster diving for grace, try finding those who bring virtue to our craft and help them. Support their efforts. Make magic a more lively and better place.

I recommend Volume 4 of the Vernon Chronicles - hard to find but great reading!

Dave

Read Erdnase with fundamentalist fervor.