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Reading from magic books is tough for sure! I think it is a skill that will pay off in the long run. What is tripping you up? Are the words understandable? Are you having a hard time following along? My favorite books on close up magic are The Art of Astonishment books. I love reading them but...

I love color changes. My favorite is a move I created called I Love Trains. They can be a ton of fun to do and watch for sure.

The "too perfect theory" may apply here, although it is often misrepresented and I might be adding to that confusion. There are times where getting something perfect communicates the method and that imperfection adds to the authenticity. There are times when you need to get the prediction...

My favorite book for performers right now is Jeff Mcbride's show Doctor. I also LOVE Joshua Jay's Magic Mind. The best essays on theory all compiled in one book and it's free on Vanishing Inc.

Let us know how it goes. Kickstarter's are incredibly hard to pull off successfully. I hope you have a brand and fan base that you can pull from. Without that it can be very difficult. best of luck.

My favorite way to protect magic is by flooding the market with red herrings. The idea is to create false reveals of magic tricks with crazy solutions so that when the tricks are searched the actual methods are harder to find. Rick Lax and Rob Anderson have some very funny videos along these lines.

Haha! Seriously though :) On the bright side there is a lot of math magic out there. On the not so bright side, I like that there are specific effects that I can fool magicians with and I like to keep them for myself (Especially hen I feel I can add something unique to a plot or idea). I think...

Wow, what a difficult time. I hope that my loved ones will take the time to look through my things with as much care as you have. The coins that I perform with, although not gimmicked, are worth about $50 each. Your coins could be worth considerably more. As a reference here is a site for...

Surround yourself with magicians, go to your local club. When you have and idea share it with them, get their feedback and be honest with yourself about whether or not that trick really adds anything. You'll know that you are on to something when they start asking you about the trick.

Working with Rick Lax on the silly mind reading videos we got almost a billion views. For my videos alone I got 200,000,000 or so views. Quantity, consistency and engagement all help. Also, look into the viral nature of your videos. Calen Morelli for example had the highly controversial video...

A two person code would be a great trick to teach. This way they have to rely on each other and work together in order for the trick to succeed. The first thing that comes to mind is the 4 finger lift. This can be very impressive and when it works you can talk about how important it is to work...

Yeah, skip around for sure. There is value in moving thoroughly through a book as well :) Best of luck!

Thank you! I'm not trying to go into a long philosophical battle over "What is magic?" this has been done before. I'm not interested in defining magic as an art. That's an old conversation. Ninolng, you got me. This is what I want to get into. Many mentalists claim that what they do is more...

Everytime I reframe the question to try to be more specific people keep giving me answers that don't answer the question I'm going for. What is magic? If something is not impossible can it qualify as magic? What makes magic different than other arts in the eyes of the audience? Each of these...

I think that I am having a hard time being understood here. I don't think that there is a "nothing camp". Magic is clearly a medium different than other mediums. Right? What is that difference? This is the main question I'm asking. Music is a sound based art form. It uses sounds in an organized...

I like the idea of impossibility, but I include within that the inexplicable. I believe that most thinking adults would at least settle on inexplicable. I think many people experience magic like this. "He says he is going to do something impossible. He does that. I know that it is not...

I originally asked the question, "What is magic?" on Facebook. I believe that magic is a presentation of what is perceived to be impossible (breaking fundamental laws of nature) by the viewer. It might also be a presentation which is, by design, inexplicable when placed against our current...

Magic is clearly different from other art forms/crafts. You explain this well above. I agree, there are books which misdirect you, film can use practical effects, and a contact juggler uses something very close to sleight of hand to accomplish what they do. The differences do mater though for a...

What differentiates the medium of magic then? How do we define the genre? Why don't people look at The Blaire Witch project or Orson Welles's War of the Worlds and call it magic? Why don't we look at dancers, sculptors, acrobats, martial artists and jugglers and call them magicians?

I disagree, but if it is true that magic offers nothing extra/different why chose it over another medium? If you can convey the exact same thing through poetry, theater, painting or music what makes magic different? I think that magic forces the audience to see something that they find...