So many new magic books!
'Tis the season
I’ve been producing Erudite Magic for over four and a half years now, and in that time, I’ve seen times of both feast and famine when it comes to new magic books coming out. I feel like for much of 2024, it was relative famine. But, that’s all changed here at the end of the year. The books are arriving at my house fast and furious, so I thought I’d take you through some of my initial thoughts. These aren’t full reviews, but stay tuned - I think many of these will deserve full episodes (or already have).
Stairway to better magic
French FISM winner, Penn & Teller fooler, and France’s Got Talent golden buzzer winner Mark Bittar (better known as Markobi) has dropped a new book - Stairway - and was kind enough to send me a copy for consideration on Erudite Magic.
This isn’t a review, so don’t take it as such, but in the brief amount I’ve read so far, this is an interesting book. The first half reminds me of Juan Tamariz’s The Magic Rainbow in many ways. Some of it is the emotionally sweeping language and obvious love for magic, but it’s also due to the inspirational process he explains that he went through developing his act and character.
So far, he’s been sharing his approach, and as you might expect from an award-winning artist, it’s very artistic. There are pictures of his journal (mostly in French from what I can determine) and the text is broken down into smaller sections of organized thought, with a mix of both emotional inspiration and practical steps.
The second half of the book is probably what many will be interested in - his FISM winning act. I haven’t reached that point in my reading (no, I don’t skip ahead just to see how the tricks are done), so I’m sure I’ll have more to say about that when I do. It looks like he’s providing not only all the beats that make the trick work, but also the psychology of why its in his act in the first place and how he arrived at making it a part of his self-expression to an audience.
I’m not that far into my reading yet, but you can see why I’m excited to hear what a champion of magic has to say about his process and what we can learn from and emulate. While I don’t expect to become a FISM winner, I do think his thoughts will help shape my ever-evolving study of and approach to magic.
What excites you most about this title?
Not new, but new to me
I shared the story via my Instagram a couple of weeks ago, but I recently obtained a book from my bucket list: Simply Harkey by David Harkey. Why was this book on my list? I’m not sure…it was one that caught my eye when I was young. I remember reading descriptions of the tricks back when we got physical catalogs and thinking that this book looked amazing. So how did I end up with it?
Interesting that you should ask. Many months ago, I connected with one of the Erudite Magicians out there - Matthew Bartz. He wanted to talk to me about video work and YouTube as a platform. We had a great discussion about cameras, setup, editing, more. But of course, magic books worked their way into the conversation. He has a great library, and we discussed some of our favorite books.
Fast forward a few months later - Matthew surprised me by letting me know he had acquired a copy of Mr. Harkey’s book, and that he wanted to send it to me as a gift!! 😱 It arrived just before Thanksgiving, and it was almost a perfect reminder of the beauty and generosity of the magic community. So I’d like to publicly thank Matthew for his generosity and let you know that you can expect me to share some thoughts about the book here on the Erudite Magic Digest in the next few months.
What about you? Have you ever given someone a magic book or been the recipient of a magic book that you wanted? Let’s hear your story!
Magic’s first black superstar
Margaret B. Steele recently provided me with a copy of her book, The Great Boomsky: The Many Lives of Magic’s First Black Superstar, and I’ve been reading that with great intrigue.
The story starts off with the Herrmanns, which is such an epic golden era for American magic, and one that I frankly don’t know enough about. It’s been amazing to gain valuable insights into that time and see how a successful touring magic show operated.
However, the story quickly introduces Boomsky (or more appropriately, the many individuals who played the role of Boomsky), Alexander Herrmann’s African American protege(s). Ms. Steele helps us appreciate these talented performers who have largely been lost in obscurity, even though they all not only played pivotal roles in the Herrmanns’ success, but also went on to have amazing careers of their own.
I’ll definitely be discussing the entire book once I’ve had a chance to digest it completely. But right now, I keep finding myself wondering why, in spite of how welcoming a community magic is as an art, it just doesn’t feel as diverse as so many other hobbies. While I haven’t studied exhaustively, I can point to my own metrics for Erudite Magic that suggest that we’re not nearly as diverse (at least gender-wise) as many other well-known hobbies.
The only answer I have right now is that magic is so secretive that we aren’t doing a good job of attracting a mass audience to the art. However, I’m curious, so I plan to do more research and get back to you with some of my findings, especially as I continue to digest the amazing stories within this incredible book.
Lots coming!
At risk of sounding materialistic (I just can’t help it - I’m excited!), there are a lot of books on their way right now. Some of them are already released, like the recently republished The Magic of Johnny Thompson, but others have not yet seen the light of day. Here’s a list of the books I know are on their way, and hopefully, in the not-too-distant future, I’ll have a more robust video discussion ready for you.
Forged by Fire by Christoph Borer
Mosaic by Christian Scherer
Repertoire II by Asi Wind (supposed to arrive next week! 🤞)
Concerning the Palming of Cards by John Galsworthy
The Art of Revealing by Radek Hoffman
As you can see, my schedule is rapidly filling up, but if there are other books you’ve heard of that you think Erudite Magicians like yourself will want to talk about, please send me a message or post a comment below!
The modern memdeck
Joshua Jay’s The Particle System finally made its public debut, and I did a full review of it a couple of weeks ago. I don’t intend to revisit all of that here, but as insiders, I’m going to point you to a banger of a trick from its pages - one that’s well worth your time to study:
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