talkmagic.co.uk

What do you guys think about people being able to rent books on magic straight from the library for free? The problem I believe is that any layman who has no interest in magic could just grab it to learn the secrets to magic.

When I was a kid some of the primary books of the day could only be found in the Library or, if you were lucky, a magic shop... but for me, the closest magic shop was over an hour's drive from where I lived and it wasn't the greatest on earth. The really good shops were an easy two hour drive to the south or five hours to the north... ad another two hours and you'd be in Colin, Michigan... home of ABBOTTS Magic... or as young teen-age magic buffs in the 70s saw it -- MECCA.

I see no reason why a public library shouldn't have magic books. I actually donate copies of my book to several libraries and have solicted copies of books from noted authors for the same purpose.

I realize many are going to scream at that thought but the best place to hide anything of value is out in plain sight... that's the last place anyone looks for "the real thing".

Craig Browning wrote:that's the last place anyone looks for "the real thing".

That is very true, especially in this internet age.

XTTX wrote:What do you guys think about people being able to rent books on magic straight from the library for free? The problem I believe is that any layman who has no interest in magic could just grab it to learn the secrets to magic.

Absolutey true! But then again - why would someone with no interest in magic look at a magic book in the first place?

I can rent magic dvd's from Netflix. Granted they're not the higher quality dvd's put out by some of the bigger names out there, but anyone with a netflix account can snag a few dvd's of card magic and even some larger scale illusions.

I've seen tons of magic books in regular book stores as well. Granted, in the last two cases the person would have to make a purchase of some kind in order to learn the info (although he could just sit down in the book store and read them without purchasing), but it's just as easily accessible to laymen.

As Craig said - they hide in plain sight. If people aren't looking for them or show no interest in them, I doubt they'd bother themselves to read magic books they come across in the library.

Also as Craig pointed out no one's going to expect to get genuine useful magic secrets from a public domain source (well, apart from all the exposure sites and youtube tutorials but that's not quite the same as they're deliberately advertised as exposure). I didn't even click that you could get magic books from the library until someone mentioned it here.

Maybe beginners magic books are fine but the more advanced stuff should be restricted.
When I went to my local library to see if there were any hypnosis books (I'd literally memorised the ones I own) they told me they were in the restricted section which means they aren't on display but available for those that specifically ask.

I don't see a problem with it. Unless someone has a real interest and practaces the techniques they're going to forget them in a couple of days any way. And if the magician's performance is good enough they'll never even notice.

UK libraries stock plenty of magic books, and if there's one in particular you're after, I'm sure they'd get it in for you. Paul Harris' Art of Astonishment series is at my loal library, as is Hugards Encyclopedia of card magic.

i Dont agree magic suppose to be a secret from others - i suppose i would put the basics in a libary but anything highly should be kept out....

Its like this - If you peformed a magic trick on the street too say maby 20 ppl and there all amazed...Does this mean they go to a libary and see how you did it. To me that just dont make sense

I feel that it is utterly ESSENTIAL that libraries have magic books in them. It is the reason I am in magic. If there were no libraries with magic books I would never have become a magician in the first place. This of course some people would view as a good thing but we won't go into that right now.

One day when I was nearly 13 years old by chance I saw a book in the library called "magic as a hobby" by Bruce Elliot. A somewhat advanced book in some ways since the material was really all from the Sphinx magazine. To be frank I couldn't do a single trick in it because most of them required all sorts of weird props which to me were quite unobtainable. The few tricks with regular items were so difficult for me that I just gave up on them.

However it started a fire which has lasted 50 years. A fire which is unquenchable and will never go out until I physically drop dead.

I took back the book and got out another one which did me more good but was still far too advanced for me and I could do very little in it except a few fans of cards. I remember practicing for hours to back and front palm cards from the book and I have never used the bloody thing in my life. The book was "Expert Manipulation with Playing Cards" by Lewis Ganson.

The spark was lit by these two books even though I was getting nowhere in my studies. However I started to make progress when the next book I got out was "Scarne's Magic Tricks" which was full of tricks with regular everyday items and which weren't that hard to do. My favourite was the trick where you remove your shirt with your wrists tied up. I used to love the one where you rub a chalk mark through the table too.

I did all the tricks very badly and I had yet to learn the real secrets of magic which lie in presentation and showmanship. However that book gave me my basic grounding in magic which has lasted to this day.

I then got an awful book by Peter Warlock. It was probably awful not because it was really awful but I couldn't do the tricks in it for the same reason I couldn't do the tricks in "Magic as a Hobby". The props were not obtainable and I hadn't discovered magic shops then.

I then got Wilfrid Jonson's book out of the library. It was called simply "Conjuring" as I recalled. I struggled with the tricks and could do a couple but I really wasn't any good. However the big break was when I got out of the self same library his book on card tricks. That was the real turning point for me. Card tricks became my passion and my thing. The tricks in the book were very easy to do. Believe it or not I started learning them with small Patience (Solitaire cards) and it was nearly a year before I graduated to the big cards. I had very small hands in those days and could barely palm a card.

Over the next couple of years other books appeared in the library. The most frightening one was "Expert Card Technique" by Hugard and Braue. I couldn't do a bloody thing in the book except Hocus Pocus Card which actually became my favourite card trick. However the back section of the book on presentation I studied assiduously and to this day I maintain that it is the best material ever written on the subject nothwithstanding all the volumes that have been written about the topic since.

All these books got the fire burning. I wasn't that great but my enthusiasm was unquenched. I showed my badly executed and presented tricks to everybody and anybody including other kids at school.

However I really started to make fantastic progress when my father purchased for me "The Royal Road to Card Magic" It became my bible and remains so to this day. I studied the book thoroughly step by step and started to get fantastic reactions from laymen to the material which I am still doing to this day. I never met a magician for the first two years of my magic life and I am actually very grateful for it since I think I would have fallen into their bad habits if I did. I am proud to say that even after I discovered magic shops and magicians I am completely self taught from books. Very few people have shown me anything in persona and I don't have the attention span to watch anyway.

The Royal Road wasn't a library book but if it hadn't been for that library I wouldn't have started on my amazing journey and I wouldn't have gotten the Royal Road in the first place.

No. Libraries MUST have magic books. Anyone who has a casual interest will forget all about the material so no harm will be done. However there may be one young boy who will come across a book just like I did and become fired up with a passion that could change his life.

On a personal note I had a horrific and dreadful childhood that I cannot talk about to this day. The magic distracted and saved me and if it wasn't for that little library in Woodford, Essex I don't know how I would have ended up.

Yep. I vote "yes" with all my heart for magic books in libraries.

If it has an ISBN you can order a book from the library. The thing is, people don't bother looking that deeply if they just want to know how something's done. It's simply too much effort.

I've got one for you all, speaking of magic books & libraries... check out the Congressional Library on line... that will hurt your head

A heartfelt "Yes" to both the poll and Magus Lewis's response.

A library is where many young magi begin their interest and their craft. It is essential that magic books are stocked, and that everyone with an interest in the magic community encourage it. Whenever I find myself in a library I make sure to check the shelves for whatever they have on magic. I hope you all find time to do the same.

- Tyler

In my case I wouldnt maybe never got into magic without the books in the library.

PickAnyCard wrote:In my case I wouldnt maybe never got into magic without the books in the library.

Exactly!
I believe that if you are truly interested in magic, you should be able to reach out and find some information. But what I really detest is guys like Penn & Teller revealing magic on national TV for laymen that just sat down for a while, watching whatever was on TV that moment. Also I detest some of the revealing vids around on Internet.

But if you are interested in magic, you should be able to nurture that interest.