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epsilon97 Regular user 178 Posts |
Hello all,
I just bought Alex Stone's new book, Fooling Houdini. I thought it might be fun to start a book club here at the Café. Stone's book is about a person's obsession with magic and his journey in the magic world. I have finished three chapters so far, and I really like Alex's writing. Is anyone else reading this book? Would you like to start a book club? -Fred |
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Peo Olsson Inner circle Stockholm, Sweden 3260 Posts |
Sounds like fun, count me in.
Pictured to the left my hero and me during FISM 2006 in Stockholm.
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epsilon97 Regular user 178 Posts |
Great Peo. I am really enjoying the book so far.
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CHRousseau Regular user Registered Lurker from Lakewood WA 120 Posts |
I pre-ordered this book from Amazon before publication with high expectations and it arrived two days ago. I read it in one night, eagerly at first but then just to finish it off. While there were some points of interest, for a book targeting a lay audience, there was just too much casual exposure about topits and center tears, too many factual errors and far too much adolescent self-congratulation on the part of the author for me to take it very seriously. It will stay on my magic book shelf, but at the end, in the dark corner.
I waited until I had finished it to read the Swiss review in Genii as he seems to dislike almost everyone in print other than himself but, following a link from the author's own website http://www.foolinghoudini.com, today I thought Ricky Jay's piece in the Wall Street Journal at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424......+houdini could not have said it any better, especially at the end. If you are going to start a book club, I would nominate beginning with the accessible e-book editions of Dariel Fitzkee's classic trilogy which is now available at a ridiculously low price at Amazon. While I have dared not put a single note in the hardback copies of these which I have read and re-read for more than thirty years, I now can annotate, cut, paste and print with ease the perpetually valuable insights of these works which I believe are classics of our art.
Arthur C Clarke was mistaken--Magic has always been the most advanced form of technology.
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Necromancer Inner circle Chicago 3076 Posts |
Quote:
On 2012-06-23 01:12, CHRousseau wrote: To be fair, he wrote an extremely positive review for Unspeakable Acts: Three Lives and Countless Legends of Tom Palmer/Tony Andruzzi/Masklyn ye Mage. Excerpts: "It's challenging if not impossible to do justice to a life and personality as complex as that of Tony Andruzzi. Fortunately, the author was a personal friend and longtime colleague, and was assisted by the work of other similar friends and associates of ye Mage. The result is a readable tome that...really does manage to do some justice to the memory of a truly extraordinary character." "I was fortunate to know him personally...and now, thanks to this enjoyable book, those who had the pleasure along with those who missed the privilege, have the chance to get to know a genuine man of mystery." https://midwestmagic.net/shop/item.asp?itemid=12976 Sorry for derailing the Fooling Houdini discussion momentarily. Just wanted to correct the record and cast a little light on a book that deserves greater attention. Best, Neil
Creator of The Xpert (20 PAGES of reviews!), Cut & Color, Hands-Off Multiple ESP (HOME) System, Rider-Waite Readers book, Zoom Pendulum ebook ...
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James Alan Special user Toronto, Ontario 680 Posts |
I'm nearly done. Can't say as I enjoyed the book at all.
What's so strange to me is that the book was even published. It's written by a self-confessed non-expert and is generally a disorganized mess of ideas which have nothing to do with the title. I'm no expert writer, but I know it's supposed to be easier than this to try and figure out what a book is supposed to be about. I can't' say I disagree completely with his point of view (the factual errors on the other hand...), we're a strange group of people with social norms that don't make a whole lot of sense and a portion of us spend way too much time obsessing over exposure (whatever 'exposure' means in the age of wikipedia and Google). But I think it's quite disappointing that he spent so much time in magic, apparently working very hard at it, but never being able to scratch past the surface of what magic can be. I will say: I think absolute best part of the book happens as you turn the page between the end of chapter two and the beginning of chapter 3. For those who are "with it", it's two paragraphs of pure gold. I won't spoil it for you! |
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epsilon97 Regular user 178 Posts |
Maybe it's just the fact that I have I am new to magic and interested in reading anything I can get my hands on, but I am really enjoying the book. I have enjoyed learning about FISM, Richard Turner, Jeff McBride, Pop Hadyn, Wes James, etc. I am disturbed to read about the factual mistakes, but I am not too put off by the reviews from people in magic. There seems to be a cantankerous haze over everyone in the magic scene.
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Jerskin Inner circle 2497 Posts |
Fooling Houdini sounds so horribly written (based on Jamy Ian Smith & Ricky Jay's reviews)that I've ordered it from my local library just to see how bad it is.
GrEg oTtO
MUNDUS VULT DECIPI |
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epsilon97 Regular user 178 Posts |
I really am not finding it to be poorly written. Alex Stone is a professional writer who has written for many magazines, including, without limitation, Discover and Harper's. I actually enjoy his writing.
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Blair New user 3 Posts |
I have to say I agree with you, Epsilon: Stone is a good writer. He is humorous and does a great job depicting interesting characters. I am returning to magic after a good amount of time away and find his perspective to be engrossing. In fact, the book is one of the reasons that I have caught the magic bug. Each chapter tackles a part of magic that I find intriguing. He has some good points to say about exposure. I also liked hearing about the average guy in magic, as opposed to the greats. I have to say I enjoyed the book a lot. But maybe that is because I'm so desperate for magic that anything is good. Again it has been some time since I studied magic, but I don't seem to recall any glaring errors in his descriptions. Could someone give me an example?
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Blair New user 3 Posts |
I just read the review by Ricky Jay and understand what the factual errors are. I thought people were referring to methodology. I am not as well versed in magic history as I would like to be. I agree that Stone should have nailed down those dates and stories a little better or at least couched them in the idea that they were myth. Although I do have to take issue with Jay's criticism about the Magic Olympics. They are called the Olympics by many others besides for Stone. Lance Burton has been calling them that for years in his stage show.
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rjs Loyal user 296 Posts |
Alex Stone should be given equivalent space in the New Yorker to comment on Ricky Jay's acting ability.
I am astonished by how immortal performers like Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger and Sting are so awful when they try their hand at acting. But I must confess it gives me pleasurable feelings watching these legends wallow around in the mire. Schadenfreude. |
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EVILDAN Inner circle 1279 Posts |
Alex Stone appeared on a morning news show this past Saturday pimping his book. The lead in led you to believe they were going to tell everyone how the sawing a lady in half illusion was done. That didn't happen.
Instead, Alex Stone talked about why he wrote the book and offered to illustrate by doing a vanish of a coin, a washing of the hands and a reappearance of the coin. The news people asked, "So what's the trick?" I don't think the camera crew was ready for that demonstration as they caught the action from a far sideways angle. You couldn't even see that the coin vanished. It looked as if you showed a little kid the vanishing coin trick and he tried to duplicate it. (I put the coin here, mix up the hands, show the coin is back) It was that bad. He then did a very sloppy looking phase of an ambishus kcarhd routine. The newsroom was less than impressed but polite nontheless. Why did he write the book? I can't even remember.
by EVILDAN....
"The Coin Board Book" - moves and routines with the coin panel board. - http://www.lybrary.com/the-coin-board-book-p-827955.html "SLASHER - A Horror Whodunnit" - a bizarre close-up routine based on Bob Neale's "Sole Survivor." PM me for more info. "Zombie Town" - a packet effect about how a small town turned into zombies. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nzJhcoJtyOM |
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panlives Inner circle 2087 Posts |
Quote:
On 2012-07-15 08:27, rjs wrote: Sorry, but your opening comment is entirely unconnected to Mr. Jay’s critique. Or perhaps Ricky Jay wrote a book about the history, theory and application of acting that I am unaware exists. Your Red Herring stinks. Ricky’s Jay brilliant review stands on its merits.
"Is there any point to which you would wish to draw my attention?"
"To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time." "The dog did nothing in the night-time." "That was the curious incident," remarked Sherlock Holmes. |
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Steve Friedberg Inner circle 1402 Posts |
Meanwhile, Alex Stone is appearing on this morning's "Face the Nation" with Bob Schieffer on CBS; Bob has given the book a rave review, calling it "the funniest book I've read." As did USA Today, which said, "Fooling Houdini is not only informative, but highly entertaining. Stone has pulled the proverbial rabbit out of the hat."
Ricky Jay may not like this book. I'm pretty sure James Alan didn't like it, "two paragraphs of pure gold" notwithstanding. Yet, I'm sure that we are not Stone's audience. And I'm also pretty sure that he's crying all the way to the bank over the critiques from his fellow magicians. (BTW, he did a rather pedestrian Ambitious Card on "Face the Nation." I could argue that my ACR is better. I can't argue that I will never make it to "Face the Nation.")
Cheers,
Steve "A trick does not fool the eyes, but fools the brain." -- John Mulholland |
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MagicBus Inner circle Kalamazoo, Michigan 2869 Posts |
I read every word of "Fooling Houdini"- and enjoyed the book thoroughly. Even though I do not come from the Sheldon Cooper school of thought (e.g. I am a member of the FCM for a reason), Stone's story was well written and had some decent magical insights I had not been exposed to before. I found it interesting that Jamy Ian Swiss and Ricky Jay of Richard Dawkins and company came up sucking lemons on this one when Alex comes from out of their philosophical bent (not mine for sure). The book holds one's attention without treading through the same magical territory- all while being told in an interesting "first person" account. Recommended!
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MagicBus Inner circle Kalamazoo, Michigan 2869 Posts |
What is nice too about "Fooling Houdini" is your local Barnes and Noble bookseller probably has a copy of it currently in stock (they have a bunch of them at the Kalamazoo store)- one can take a look at it first before purchasing it.
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j100taylor Inner circle 1198 Posts |
I also enjoyed the book. The best parts discussed magic as it relates to physics and cognitive science (he is also an accomplished physicist). And he did a fine job in relating how his magic obsession became so all-consuming it almost ruined his life (I can relate - and so can my wife)
Lakewood, Ohio
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MagicBus Inner circle Kalamazoo, Michigan 2869 Posts |
And no, I was not the hefty man from the FCM referred to in the book...
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debaser Special user Boulder 557 Posts |
The book in my opinion is a light brush across many things about the magic world. Nothing to deep. More of an extended New Yorker article meant for laymen who are interested. It is neither great nor bad writing and the small historical or other inaccuracies are meaningless in terms of why the book was written and who it was written for. Yes there are way better books on the history of magic. This is not a book on the history of magic or even a magician. It is an editorial about the magic world written through the lens of an auto-biographical experience.
Quite frankly it makes magicians look better and more interesting than they often really are. You could easily write a more accurate book that would make magicians and the magic world look more insular and nit picky and boring without even trying. Stone offering is a gift to the magic world (but I'm not sure if its a gift to the reading world as it is a bit pedestrian in style) |
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