Book on Theory
- Thread starter ArielB.
- Start date
The "best" book on theory depends on where you are in learning and performing magic and where you want to go. Here are a bunch of the books that I have on my shelf:
Maximum Entertainment by Ken Webber - Practical advice for a professional performer. Not theory, but common sense ideas that will make you more professional.
The Show Doctor - Jeff McBride - A professional's answers to performer's questions. Very relevant for someone starting out in performance.
Seriously Silly by David Kaye (AKA Silly Billy) - This is one school of thought when it comes to performing kids shows. I don't like the idea of the magician being a clown-like buffoon even for kids shows.
The Magic of Ascanio: The Structural Conception of Magic by Arturo Ascanio - A very thoughtful and philosophical approach to magic. This is very much the starting point of the Madrid School of magical thought.
The Five Points in Magic by Juan Tamariz - A study how to use your eyes, voice, hands, feet and body to improve your magic.
The Magic Way by Juan Tamariz - A study of how to increase the audience's perception of impossibility of your magic.
Scripting Magic by Peter McCabe - A series of scripts by a variety of magicians. Some are better than others. I like the idea of reading scripts and it is good to start thinking about scripting. However, I've found myself delving deeper into meaning (see Robert Neale and other books below).
Magic and Showmanship: A Handbook for Conjuring by Henning Nelms - This book has a lot of great ideas and is an inexpensive book to start with. However, the book was written in 1969 and the effect explained in the book are not that good.
The Fitzke Trilogy - Showmanship for Magicians, Magic by Misdirection and the Trick Brain - I really don't like these books. I think many of Fitzke's ideas are wrong (like magic needing to be dressed up by scantily clad dancing girls). BUT, the books are an interesting read because they make you think about why his ideas are wrong. Oh, from the books, it is evident that Fitzke did have a very high opinion of himself.
Strong Magic by Darwin Ortiz - This is probably the greatest book on magic theory. However, it is difficult to understand if you don't have a lot of performing experience.
Designing Miracles by Darwin Ortiz - How to structure your tricks, effects and presentations for maximum amazement.
Mastering the Art of Magic by Eugene Burger - This book is like a series of conversations with Eugene where he explains his thinking and how he performs his effects. Any of his other books are similarly worthwhile. There is so much to learn form Eugene and it is so sad that he was taken from us way too soon.
Transformations: Making Magic Out of Tricks by Larry Haas - This is a wonderful book about how to turn trick into performance pieces through the addition of meaning and presentation. You will never think about magic the same way again.
Magic and Meaning by Eugene Burger and Robert Neale - This on is a really deep and philosophical exploration of the significance of magic. Think graduate level history and philosophy type book.
The Magic Mirror by Robert Neale and David Parr - A series of reflections on what is magic ultimately determining that magic is a reflection.
Magic Matters by Robert E. Neale - This is an amazing book on making your presentations meaningful with essays and tricks with presentation. Robert's presentations are very thought provoking and emotional. He has other books including Life, Death and Other Card Tricks and This is Not a Book that have similar thought provoking and emotional presentations. Another book with similar presentations is Walt Anthony's Tales of Enchantment.
I also like Tommy Wonder's Books of Wonder. The trick are amazing and the essays on theory are excellent. Similarly, I like Roberto Giobbi's book Confidences which is mostly very well developed effects with presentation but contains an excellent essay on the zeitgeist of controlling a card. I also like Roberto's Secret Agenda and Hidden Agenda they both contain 365 days of journal entries -- it is just fun to see how Roberto thinks.
Maximum Entertainment by Ken Webber - Practical advice for a professional performer. Not theory, but common sense ideas that will make you more professional.
The Show Doctor - Jeff McBride - A professional's answers to performer's questions. Very relevant for someone starting out in performance.
Seriously Silly by David Kaye (AKA Silly Billy) - This is one school of thought when it comes to performing kids shows. I don't like the idea of the magician being a clown-like buffoon even for kids shows.
The Magic of Ascanio: The Structural Conception of Magic by Arturo Ascanio - A very thoughtful and philosophical approach to magic. This is very much the starting point of the Madrid School of magical thought.
The Five Points in Magic by Juan Tamariz - A study how to use your eyes, voice, hands, feet and body to improve your magic.
The Magic Way by Juan Tamariz - A study of how to increase the audience's perception of impossibility of your magic.
Scripting Magic by Peter McCabe - A series of scripts by a variety of magicians. Some are better than others. I like the idea of reading scripts and it is good to start thinking about scripting. However, I've found myself delving deeper into meaning (see Robert Neale and other books below).
Magic and Showmanship: A Handbook for Conjuring by Henning Nelms - This book has a lot of great ideas and is an inexpensive book to start with. However, the book was written in 1969 and the effect explained in the book are not that good.
The Fitzke Trilogy - Showmanship for Magicians, Magic by Misdirection and the Trick Brain - I really don't like these books. I think many of Fitzke's ideas are wrong (like magic needing to be dressed up by scantily clad dancing girls). BUT, the books are an interesting read because they make you think about why his ideas are wrong. Oh, from the books, it is evident that Fitzke did have a very high opinion of himself.
Strong Magic by Darwin Ortiz - This is probably the greatest book on magic theory. However, it is difficult to understand if you don't have a lot of performing experience.
Designing Miracles by Darwin Ortiz - How to structure your tricks, effects and presentations for maximum amazement.
Mastering the Art of Magic by Eugene Burger - This book is like a series of conversations with Eugene where he explains his thinking and how he performs his effects. Any of his other books are similarly worthwhile. There is so much to learn form Eugene and it is so sad that he was taken from us way too soon.
Transformations: Making Magic Out of Tricks by Larry Haas - This is a wonderful book about how to turn trick into performance pieces through the addition of meaning and presentation. You will never think about magic the same way again.
Magic and Meaning by Eugene Burger and Robert Neale - This on is a really deep and philosophical exploration of the significance of magic. Think graduate level history and philosophy type book.
The Magic Mirror by Robert Neale and David Parr - A series of reflections on what is magic ultimately determining that magic is a reflection.
Magic Matters by Robert E. Neale - This is an amazing book on making your presentations meaningful with essays and tricks with presentation. Robert's presentations are very thought provoking and emotional. He has other books including Life, Death and Other Card Tricks and This is Not a Book that have similar thought provoking and emotional presentations. Another book with similar presentations is Walt Anthony's Tales of Enchantment.
I also like Tommy Wonder's Books of Wonder. The trick are amazing and the essays on theory are excellent. Similarly, I like Roberto Giobbi's book Confidences which is mostly very well developed effects with presentation but contains an excellent essay on the zeitgeist of controlling a card. I also like Roberto's Secret Agenda and Hidden Agenda they both contain 365 days of journal entries -- it is just fun to see how Roberto thinks.
theory as in it can reveal methods too or just focussed on the tricks of the trade sort of things?
If the former, RRTCM and Modern Coin Magic (both of which you probably have).
If the latter, I guess Tricks of the Mind by Derren Brown? Dunno on this field mostly because most magic books start out with telling how to become a better performer in their prefaces.
If you want both...Complete Idiot's Guide to Street Magic by Tom Ogden. It is underrated and I have mentioned it A LOT. But that's because I got and still get a lot of help from it, and I want others to benefit too.
That's because Idiot's Guide devotes 4 big chapters to becoming a better performer, what to do when disaster strikes, how to approach people, how to dress if you wanna become professional or just have fun and create a unique identity for yourself, what to perform, how to get over any mental-blocks, what never to do in a performance, etc.
thats what Im after ! A book that improves your performance. Which is why I got a hold of the The Approach by Jamie D. Grant and Mastering the Art of Magic by Eugene Burger
They aren't books, but Paul Daniels (Rest in Peace) had a YouTube Channel that I ran accross the other day. There are a lot of sessions of him talking about Theory and such, just hunt around on it.
https://www.youtube.com/user/thepauldaniels/videos
There's a lot of Random Stuff about Paul, and stuff he did, but there is also a lot of good quality lessons to be learned in there.
https://www.youtube.com/user/thepauldaniels/videos
There's a lot of Random Stuff about Paul, and stuff he did, but there is also a lot of good quality lessons to be learned in there.
This is a killer list.
One of my favorite resources is Joshua Jay's collection of essays Magic in Mind, it's free and you can download it here. https://www.vanishingincmagic.com/magic-downloads/ebooks/magic-in-mind/