talkmagic.co.uk

As I'm poor I'm going through some of the local libraries books on magic. There mostly kids ones, so not massively useful to the serious magician, but may make nice presents for younger relatives or whatever. I figure if I manage to get one good trick out of them its worth the effort. They don't exactly take long to read. Its seems worth reviewing anything to build up a good record here.


The Knowledge-Mystical magic-Ivor Baddiel Jonny Zucker

The Effect

Children's book covering the history of magic and a few tricks thrown in: cup and ball, a prediction, a card trick, an escapism, etc.

Cost

From a penny up to £4.99

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mystical-Magic- ... 805&sr=8-5


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)

1) As it's mostly history, so long as the child can read they should be alright.


Review

If any of you have ever read or seen the children's book series horrible histories this is the same sort of book. It gives a nice basic history of magic going through from ancient times to now. It goes through most of the famous magic people you'd expect Dedi, Reginald Scot, Thurston, Kellar, Houdin, etc. It covers most of your categories of magic, levitation, escapism, mentalism, etc. There is a trick that corresponds with each section teaching the kids a variety rather than just all vanishing tricks like most kids books. The cartoon illustrations are nice and its all written in a pretty entertaining way for kids. If you have a young relative that you want to buy a present for then this is quite nice for giving them a history rather than just teaching tricks.

Overall

Its better than I expected. The history covers most of the names you'd want it too and most of the types of magic. Not all accurate, but a good intro for kids.

9/10 for a child

7/10 for an adult