Hello,
I'm a magician in high school. I've been doing magic for a long while, but now I have to give a speech about the history of magic. I would apreaciate any help that could be given me. Thank you for any and all help.
Acione
School Project
- Thread starter acoine
- Start date
I want to take a class that requires a speech about magic history.
Where I would start is in the beginning, research witches and wizards and right a bit about them.
Then move into the European era of magic with David Devant? Also research Robert Houdin, that isn't a type o.
Basically the best place in my books to get an extensive amount of information about magic is from Jim steinmeyer's books Hiding the Elephant, The Glorious Deception of Chung ling su, Art and Artifices to name a few. The best part is that all of these books can be found at our local bookstore.
Where I would start is in the beginning, research witches and wizards and right a bit about them.
Then move into the European era of magic with David Devant? Also research Robert Houdin, that isn't a type o.
Basically the best place in my books to get an extensive amount of information about magic is from Jim steinmeyer's books Hiding the Elephant, The Glorious Deception of Chung ling su, Art and Artifices to name a few. The best part is that all of these books can be found at our local bookstore.
I did a 40 minute presentation on the history of magic for my English GCSE about a month ago. It went down great (A* 
).
I recommend you use Wikipedia as your primary source of information, it's great. However, I backed up and expanded on a lot of points with "The Art of Magic and Sleight of Hand" by Nicholas Einhorn, it has a wonderful little section about the history of all different types of magic at the beginning.
If you need any more help, feel free to PM me.
Good luck,
-Sam H
).I recommend you use Wikipedia as your primary source of information, it's great. However, I backed up and expanded on a lot of points with "The Art of Magic and Sleight of Hand" by Nicholas Einhorn, it has a wonderful little section about the history of all different types of magic at the beginning.
If you need any more help, feel free to PM me.
Good luck,
-Sam H
I will have to disagree on Wikipedia. That site is an open encyclopedia for anyone. Anybody canchange it or add to it. There is no guaruntee that the info on the site that you are getting is right.
I've never done a report on the history of magic, but I'm sure I can come up with a few ideas for you.
Where did magic originate from?
How did Houdini come about? Why did he do his stunts?
It would be a good idea to compare old magic to modern magic along with David Blaine to Houdini at the end of it.
What were magicians considered back then? Con-artist? Thieves? Hustlers? Poor? Rich?
There's just some ideas to look up, I'm sure I'll come up with more later.
Good luck!
P.S. Don't use wikipedia - it's not official, anyone can edit it's content and be wrong.
Where did magic originate from?
How did Houdini come about? Why did he do his stunts?
It would be a good idea to compare old magic to modern magic along with David Blaine to Houdini at the end of it.
What were magicians considered back then? Con-artist? Thieves? Hustlers? Poor? Rich?
There's just some ideas to look up, I'm sure I'll come up with more later.
Good luck!
P.S. Don't use wikipedia - it's not official, anyone can edit it's content and be wrong.
There's a bunch of history of magic videos on youtube. Search "BBC History of Magic" and there's history on all kinds of stuff from Close-up to levitation to mentalism.
Most teachers don't count that as a legit resource anymore. If you use it, I hope you and your F are very happy together.
The Illustrated History of Magic
Hiding the Elephant
Any number of biographies
Wikipedia can be edited by just about anybody. It does have some good stuff, but the majority can be edited by a 12 year old to look silly.
Search BBC history of magic on youtube and watch them all......that gives a good, comprehensive history.
Stop it
Stop bad mouthing wikipedia. A number of institutions have carried out studies on it and found it to be just as reliable, if not more, than most encyclopedias. Anonymous editing is all monitored, as is everything added to and deleted from the site. Wikipedia is a strong reliable source, and a good stating point for most research projects
And I'm tired of people being so mean to it.
Stop bad mouthing wikipedia. A number of institutions have carried out studies on it and found it to be just as reliable, if not more, than most encyclopedias. Anonymous editing is all monitored, as is everything added to and deleted from the site. Wikipedia is a strong reliable source, and a good stating point for most research projects
And I'm tired of people being so mean to it.
I agree. I don't mean to sound like a wikipedia fain, but I'm pretty sure that they have people that monitor wikipedia. So if its changed to something dumb like for example: The first known magician in America was *Coin.* They would probably change it.
I tried to edit exposure out of Wikipedia once, and within five minutes the Mods had fixed it- they're definitely quick.
Yes they probably do have mods there but the question is are they educated in magical history? Some dude could put "the person known as the "professor" real name is Ed Marlo." that is obviously a mistake.
The best bets have already been suggested Jim Steinmeyer is a historian of magic. Hello read his books I suggested. I also recommend the BBC series on youtube. Also try other message boards such as www.themagiccafe.com Everyone on this site has been around for awhile and is full of information to give. there is plenty of information out there, the hard part is figuring out what is credible and not.
I DO NOT RECOMMEND WIKIPEDIA FOR THIS SUBJECT!!!!!!! .
No, offense to anyone here, because I also used to make all my school projects and speeches around the topic on magic, because thats what I loved the most. but now that I have graduated from high school and I look back, I think by making every topic on school projects about magic, I was really limiting my self in life and grades. I think I could have gotten alot better grades. if I were to go back to high school I would definately not limit my self to magic and do some other stuff, because in life there are lots of things we can do other than magic. I really believe that some of us really have to come out of the fantasy land that we live in.
anyway enough with all my babbling and on to the conclusion, never become too obsessed with magic, and look around you for something more in life.
anyway enough with all my babbling and on to the conclusion, never become too obsessed with magic, and look around you for something more in life.
I thank you all for the help. Something I guess I forgot to mention was that my speech is to be given next week, so I can't be doing all this extreme reading into everything. And to art-is-a-blast, I've given speeches on how to creat a psycological profile, how bullying effects the mind of a child, and I'm going to be giving a demonstrative speech on martial arts. I realize your point and it is a very valid point, but I do spread myself to many other topics. This is actually the first real speech I'm giving on magic at all. Oh and I have watched almost all the BBC videos on youtube, and they have helped me tremendously. Again thank you all for all the help, and please continue giving me help. I will be sure to tell you, when I give the speech, how the speech went.
~Acoine
~Acoine
Hey I'm going to have to give my speech on Monday. Again thankyou all for the help you've given me. Wish me luck.
~Acoine
~Acoine
I still dont trust it for the simple fact that it says in my old high schools media tech room we have a meth lab and that the teachers a junkie..
Hiding the Elephant is a great book. I only read the beginning (haven't gotten around to reading the rest yet) but it was great.