The Effect
In 2003, Luke Jermay invited Caleb Strange to write a book: nearly four years in the making, The Garden of the Strange is the brilliant result.
This beautifully written, deeply affecting book takes Mr. Strange’s trademark blend of innovative thinking and stunning presentations to the next level. With twenty compelling and original routines, and an additional half-dozen ‘from your pocket’ variations, this eagerly awaited work will be of great use and interest to mentalists, bizarrists, and table-hoppers alike.
Yet beyond its fine, audience-centred effects, The Garden of the Strange contains something more, of equal value to the working performer. For tucked away within its full and thorough notes, the attentive reader will find explained a wide range of powerful yet often neglected techniques (linguistic, literary, theatrical), which can be used to maximise the impact and enhance the quality of one’s work.
The Garden of the Strange, then, is a thrilling and, above all, fresh exploration of the art of the impossible: a lyrical and accomplished volume, it has been called, more than once, ‘the most inspiring book of magic I have yet read’.
We are expecting to receive the book early May and expect the demand to be high, so to avoid disappointment pre-order your now!
Cost
Beautiful Hard backed edition with dust jacket £24.99 from here
http://www.alakazam.co.uk/acatalog/Hot_List_1.html#a1836
Difficulty
(1=easy to do, 2=No sleights, but not so easy, 3=Some sleights used,
4=Advanced sleights used, 5=Suitable for experienced magicians only)
i would say that it has to be a 5, some parts of the book are easier than others but on the whole you need an awful lot of performance experience and knowledge of lots of different areas to even attemp these tricks
Review
I was awaiting this book eagerly for about a month and wanted to get my hands on some of the fantastic sounding tricks that this book contained. what i got though was not an ordinary magic book, it is by far the most frustrating, thought provoking, mind boggling, inspiring, beautiful waste of £26 i've ever bought. if you want to get a book sit down and practice the tricks contained within don't get this one, right from the off you are transported to this magical land where the tricks are described in intricate impossible detail. let me give you an example
"you are outside with your audience. together you have spent the day exploring an ancient ceremonial landscape: one rich in stones and stories and strangeness. Everybody has been enchanted by your magicial tales, which you have performed next to moorland barrows and by sun dappled streams in piebald glades. Throughout the day, many of your guests have shared stories and the group is growing close. and now, as you near your journeys end and the day delves slowly into night, the dark keen shovel of the sky is becoming wet with a million stars."
and thats just the opening paragraph to the first trick, i thought well that kind of detail isn't necessary for the trick to work, unfortunatly the detail and description of the tricks make it clear that the level of intamacy with your audience is necessary for most of the tricks to be effective. this is not the stuff for table hoppers in resturants. in fact the level of knowledge you need of some fairly advanced mentalist techneques leads me to say that unless your a specialist in the area of mentalism then you may mind this book useless for your acts. things like the dual reality principle, trance, suggestion and embedded commands are just a few of the ideas you'll need to master (and thats just for the first trick)
there are around 25 "tricks and stories" in this book and used in the right setting with the right kind of atmosphere and the right level of intamacy with your audience these tricks appear and in a sense are nothing short of real magic,
there are several uses of everyday moves which the advanced magician will be familiar with but these are thin on the ground.
as far as performance techniques go this is a really interesting book. if you want to put the magic to one side and work on a range of powerful techniques (such as linguistic techniques and theatrical techniques) then this book will be of real interest to you for the shear scale of the showmanship described and the lessons you will be able to extract.
on a scale of 1 - 5
i honestly don't think this book can be rated like that. it will have something for some, something for others and nothing for most. it will be purely dependent on your ability, your willingness to be open to new ideas no matter how bizzare and your understanding of performance power.
Overall
I was going to try and re-sell this book, but after reading it a second time i can see the value of the information contained. and while the magic might be very specialised it certainly fills my head with ideas, not just about my performance but also about where i want to take my magic in the future.