Price$29.95
Media TypeBook
CategoryBizarre, Close Up, Mentalism, Philosophy
Date AddedOct 19, 2013
The Magic of Celebrating Illusion
Robert E. Neale
Theory and Art of Magic Press
(Based on 1 review)
In this first installment of his long-awaited Trilogy of Magic, Robert E. Neale uncovers the profound extent to which human experience is informed by our illusions . . . and the essential role magicians play in teaching us how to celebrate it! The book also includes twenty-one of Bob Neale's latest, highly innovative magic routines performed with simple props such as playing cards, bills, rope, and paper. Each one comes with a fully developed presentation.
What Leading Magicians Say:
With [this book's] publication, Robert Neale...has given us a book full of ways and means by which we can see past our self-imposed illusions in order to more clearly see the real magic which exists in the world.... Long live Bob Neale!
-Michael Weber
Bob Neale is a wonder. He is a softhearted human being and a hardheaded philosopher of magic and life.... His insights stretch your mind and make you shake your head with awe, wonder, and respect.
-Barrie Richardson
Bob Neale has a rare ability to create magic with an intellectual whimsy. The result is simultaneously provocative, profound, and just plain fun. I am a fan...
-Max Maven
Reading Bob Neale's work is always an adventure. He tugs and pushes us beyond what we think we know and then suddenly rearranges things in a completely unexpected way.
-Eugene Burger
Bob Neale is my hero. It astonishes me how he can transform even some of the darkest situations of the human condition into light, humor, and inspiration.
-Jeff McBride
Reviews
(Top ▲)
Overview
Thirty Bucks, nearly 350 pages and enough material to make your brain hurt. Is it gem or is it rubble? Stay tuned to find out.Effect / Method
This book is part Dr. Seuss, part Martin Buber and ALL Bob Neale. It covers a broad range of silliness mixed in with a broad range of deep thinking "stuff" that will make your head spin. From illusions you can play on yourself to effects you can use to bond with your audience, this book is stuffed full of stuff. Paradoxically, much of the Buber-like material was also very Seuss-like.If you like philosophy, you'll like this book. If you don't like philosophy, you'll like this book. If you like illusions, you'll like this book. If you don't like illusions, you'll like this book.
You won't like all of it. I didn't. In fact, my range of emotions while reading this book was everything from laughter to sadness, from profound wonder to being offended, from feeling giddy to being moved to tears.
The basic structure of the book is simple enough. It's four parts each dealing with a different type of illusion:
- Visual Illusions
- Psychological Illusions
- Spiritual Illusions
- Performance Illusions
Each section starts with this phrase: "I am a magician . . . and so are you." The beauty of this, as you'll discover, is that the statement is true even if a so-called lay person were reading the text. Following Bob's profound statement about our magi status, you'll find an essay or two or more about the type of illusion being studied in the section at hand. These essays/subjects range anywhere from simplicity to holy-crap-I'll-have-to-read-that-100-more-times-before-I-understand-it.
Following the essays is a series of a few to several effects/performance that relate to the theme of the section. This makes the book easy to follow and even easier to use. The effects found in the various sections are everything from old classics with a twist to completely original pieces from Bob's unpublished works. Also included are pieces that are for casual non-magical fun settings. For example, the first thing you're hit with in the book is an incredible illusion (not magic trick, an actual visual illusion) with a dollar bill that is just plain freaky and fun. You can do it on yourself and/or do it with someone in your impromptu audience.
This section has several strange pieces like this that are wonderful (i.e., full of wonder) that you can use to wonder-ize yourself as well as your spectators/friends/audience/etc. The book is loaded with story telling magic, magic with meaning, magic with connections that many can relate to/with, along with stuff that will make you stop reading and try it right then and there.
I love a good Gilbreath-Principle-based effect and I found an excellent one (In League With) in section three. There's a fun variation of the old Fast and Loose concept that I think many people will appreciate. Card tricks, paper tricks, vanishing the reflection of your face trick (yep . . . vanishing the reflection of your face) - a trick only you can appreciate. On and on and on . . .
As y'all know, my reviews focus on method, ad copy and product quality, not effect. Of course, every time I review a book, I have to delve into "effect" because you need to be aware of what you're purchasing. I'll not go through every effect, but I will tell you that there are 21 effects plus several philosophical essays. As I mentioned earlier, you likely won't like everything, but you'll love a lot of things. And the things you love will be different from the things I love. A quick note on "method:" everything in this book has a practical, doable, and easy to grasp method. They are well explained and well illustrated.
By the time you've read the contents of this book, you'll have (rightly so) begun to question your world view from several different angles. You'll also begin to seriously question your motivation as a magician and a performer . . . also a good thing.
I think I've said this before about Bob's work: if this book doesn't move you, you're dead.
Product Quality
The book is paperback and relatively sturdy made with thick durable paper. The table of contents makes it easy to find what you're looking for. The extensive bibliography will start you on the road to reading revelry . . . really!Ad Copy Integrity
There really is nothing in the ad copy to judge here. No outrageous claims are made, just simple statements about the contents of the book. In fact, if anything, the ad copy understates what you're getting.Final Thoughts
While this book is far from perfect, it is perfectly complete. It covers every angle of the concept of illusions in our daily lives. If there is another thought, idea, concept, exploration about illusion that you think is not in this book, you're probably wrong. To quote an old classic spaghetti sauce commercial, "It's in there!" By the end of this study of the illusory nature of the human condition, your eyes will be opened to a whole new world — a whole new lease on life. Yep; thems some big words, but they be true . . . there's gold in them thar hills, and by "hills" I mean Bob Neale's amazing book, The Magic of Celebrating Illusion. If you don't have one, get one.Final Verdict:
5 Stars with a Stone Status of GEM!