A superb evocation of turn of the century magic (Rating 5 of 5)
» John Adams
In this excellent book Jim Steinmeyer transports the reader back to the times where magic shows were the biggest draws in town. He leads us backstage to witness the scheming and stealing, and professional jealousies that drove the leading magicians of the age in their quest to find the next big trick. Considering the American background of the author he gives a surprisingly large part of the book over to the British magicians Maskelyne, Devant and Morrit.
Mr Steinmeyer knows his subject very well - he is currently the world's leading designer of stage illusions (he's the guy who designed Copperfield's Disappearance of the Statue of Liberty). He is able to describe the technical aspects of the tricks well, giving just enough information to understand the mechanics without ruining the flow of the story. He clearly revels in the innovation of Devant, Morrit and Jarrett and is capable of passing that enthusiasm to the reader.
Highly recommended
Remarkably pacy (Rating 4 of 5)
» Rhys
I originally bought this as it had a similar cover to "Carter Beats the Devil" and its theme looked similar. It is about late 19th and early 20th century magic but is a non fictionalised account of all the great conjurors of them time. As expected there is double crossing and subterfuge and u get a real feel for the particular shows and characters. Depsite not following a strict chronological narrative it is a surprisngly pacy piece of work and recommended to anyone who likes human interest stories. It doesn't often tell you how tricks are done but when it does it is fascinating
Make a gap in your knowledge disappear!!! (Rating 5 of 5)
» The Cardinal
If you have or have had any interest in stage magic then do yourself a favour and get this book. It is an absolute joy to read. A really well written and page-turning history of the many characters who created the illusions which are still being used today. What I found most surprising was how attached I became to the main protagonists in my reading, so by the time you reach the 1920s-30s toward the end of the book and they start to pass away (as people tend to do) I found it all a bit sad. Yet again, this is down to Mr. Steinmeyer's wonderful style and passion for his subject. Superb!
Tantalising and thought provoking (Rating 5 of 5)
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A very entertaining look at the history of the golden age of stage illusions, from the nineteenth century to the 1930s. This book does explain some of the secrets behind some great illusions, but this is not an expose (all the "secrets" have been written about elsewhere). The author has investigated Houdini's making a elephant disappear and puts his theory forward at the culmination of the book, but more importantly the author gives a great flavour of the intriegue and backstory behind the development of some of the greatest stage magic tricks, and gives a fascinating view of the performers who turned magic into an art form, often by outright theft of other's ideas. The author does not tell you exactly how each and every trick mentioned is done, but rather plots the development of such illusions as levitation and disappearing improbably large objects as the art became more sophisticated and the competition between conjurors more intense. A wonderfully well-written and interesting book for anyone who has asked not only "how do they do that?" but also "how on earth did they come up with the idea in the first place?"
(Rating 5 of 5)
(Rating 4 of 5)
