|
Bouffard, James Charles,
Psy.D., Ph.D.: The
Magician's
Fight |
 Image from Barnes & Noble |
Comments: Edited by Lisa Diane Branscome. Formerly published as The Magician and His Art. Covers a brief history of the Magician from earliest days to today. The pre-supposition of this book is that all magic of old was not true witchcraft, but sleight of hand and misdirection. Thus, the magician "fought back" for the proper recognition of his craft.
Contents:
19 Prologue: on John Ross, Increase Mather's Cases of Conscience,
and Jeremy Lawrence's Innocent Persecutions books
27 Chapter 1: Jacob Meyer leads the way in 1735 for a scientific
view
of conjuring
31 Chapter 2: Robert-Houdin in the mid-1800's
35 Chapter 3: Alexander Herrmann in the later 1800's
43 Chapter 4: Harry Houdini in the early 1900's
51 Chapter 5: Harry Blackstone in the mid 1900's
55 Epilogue: The secret of success - showmanship
57 Illustrations: including Jacob Philadelphia,Robert-Houdin,
Alexander
Herrmann, Harry Houdini, Bess Houdini, Harry Blackstone, and more.
75 Magical Facts and Secrets
77 A Case for Showmanship: examples of showmanship from each of
the
above magicians demonstrating how simple tricks are made grand
83 A Case for Practice: practice!
87 Magician's Secrets: the magicians oath.
89 Card Magic
89 Reverse Discovery: a card appears face up in the deck
91 Fantastic Five: the Five of Hearts locates the selection
93 Money Magic
93 Coin Through Leg: using the finger palm
95 Dollars From Nowhere: from the (supposedly) empty hands
96 Mental Magic
97 Magazine Test: magician predicts a word selected in a magazine
99 Impromptu Magic
100 Magic Pulse Match: one match pulses when held against another
102 Psychic Magic
102 The Psychic Bending of a Key: a key bends after being held by
the
magician
104 X-Ray Vision: Things can be done even though thoroughly
blindfolded
107 A Magical Glossary
123 Chapter Notes
127 Magical Trivia
133 Magical Reading
139 Bibliography
143 Index
