The Juggling Edge - Has anyone read Magic and Showmanship and can tell me whether it would be a…

emilyw - 2015-04-07 15:53:06 UTC #

Has anyone read Magic and Showmanship and can tell me whether it would be a good read for persons interested in showmanship in general, without a specific interest in magic?

If not I may just have to buy it and report back.

Little Paul - 2015-04-07 16:12:58 UTC - Parent #

I've got a copy, but it's been so long since I read it I can't honestly comment. I'll see if I can dig it out and have a flick through to remind myself.

Little Paul - 2015-04-07 19:43:07 UTC - Parent #

I can't find my copy, sorry. It's in the house somewhere, but it's not on either of the right bookcases so I have no idea where it is!

emilyw - 2015-04-07 20:11:43 UTC - Parent #

the internet generation would be mystified at this old people technology failure.

thanks for looking anyway. If you do find it some time maybe you could lend me it, you won't miss it :)

^Tom_ - 2015-04-07 20:14:29 UTC - Parent #

grep -iRn showmanship shelf ?

Little Paul - 2015-04-07 21:05:19 UTC - Parent #

that's not going to work now is it. That's going to find every page in every book on my shelf which contains the word showmanship - which is clearly not what we're looking for!

find /home -name showmanship -print

emilyw - 2015-04-07 21:11:02 UTC - Parent #

go with the first one, I'll happily read all the results.

^Tom_ - 2015-04-07 21:15:32 UTC - Parent #

Well, I'd not quite decided if shelf were a directory of texts or metadata.

emilyw - 2015-04-07 21:25:44 UTC - Parent #

My shelf contains an unordered set of texts, each of which has a short section of metadata on the front and a longer section on the back, the format of which is inconsistent. I particularly recommend Kim Stanley Robinson's "Mars" series.

Orinoco - 2015-04-08 11:40:03 UTC - Parent #

I've read the first two but never gotten around to the third one, thanks for the reminder.

magicalmarkwatson - 2015-04-13 20:47:26 UTC - Parent #

Hi Emily, I have read Magic and Showmanship and would happily advise. In my opinion, though there are some nice pointers and general advice given, I think a lot of this book is very focussed towards magicians. I also feel, looking back over it, that it is these days a little dated. Much of the advice really relates to the old style of stage magician, something which is pretty rare these days. If you are simply looking for a book on performing and showmanship, there are probably better books out there.

emilyw - 2015-04-14 11:40:04 UTC - Parent #

Cheers Mark!

Scott Seltzer - 2015-04-14 21:18:42 UTC - Parent #

I agree with what you wrote about it being dated and obviously magic-oriented. But overall I like the book and I found it very well written and useful. I'd be very interested to hear what other books on the topic you might recommend. I have ready Showmanship for Magicians by Dariel Fitzkee which I didn't like nearly as much as Magic and Showmanship.