Real World Magic by Jerry MacGregor

Description

This is a pre-owned book. Good clean and unmarked interior pages. No dog-eared pages. Some scratches to the rear cover. Upper right hand corner of the front cover has a small bump. 304 pages; laminated board covers; illustrated with 23 line drawings; copyright 1999.

In this wonderful book you will find a truckload of practical advice on what it means to be a professional close-up (primarily) magician in the “real world.” Here’s a book of invaluable advice for the aspiring professional, the part-timer, or even for the amateur who finds himself constantly annoyed and uncomprehending when he hears professionals try to explain the differences between hobby magic and real-world performance.

In part one you’ll find material about how to entertain, finding meaning in your magic, the importance of language, selecting tricks, routining shows and more! The author speaks cogently and often bluntly, offering a plethora of advice that, while as is often the case can be found spread elsewhere throughout the literature, rarely has so much been said so directly in such a concise space. This is not a book of academic theory but rather a book of practical, at times elegant, and thoughtful advice.

In part two of the book, the author rounds up a number of highly regarded colleagues, mostly in the Pacific Northwest, to contribute a number of tricks, organized into four sections of openers, middles, close-up mentalism, and closers.

All in all, an excellent source of practical theoretical advice, followed by a mixed bag of magic tricks, with some good ones definitely included in the bag!