Magic Tonight

Just a reminder that Professor Zap will be at the Main Street Center, 255 Park Avenue, tonight at 6:30 for Magic 101.  He'll be demonstrating some of the tricks you can learn at our upcoming series of magic workshops as well as entertaining the crowd with his own repetoire of tricks.

The library has lots of books for instructing magicians of any age.    Amazing magic tricks : apprentice level by Norm Barnhart is part of a series that takes young magicians through several levels of tricks.  Great beginning card tricks for smaller hands and other sleight of hand illusions that can be done with simple items you already have around the house make this a favorite for anyone looking for a general book that will cover a variety of topics.

 

Another series called Inside Magic includes the title Close-Up Magic.  These books by Nicholas Einhorn have a table of contents so you can zero in on the type of trick you'd like to learn.  Here is where you'll find classics like the Ping-Pong Balance and the Indestructible String.  Others in the series include a nice volume on Stand-Up Magic and Optical Illusions. 

I've always loved card magic but found advanced tricks to require a lot of practice and hand moves that were difficult for smaller hands.  Magic with Cards is a book in our children's non-fiction section that has all the good card tricks like Surprise Aces and the Magnetic String.  Many of these tricks are easy to learn. 

Remember Harry Houdini originally performed as the "King of Cards" at the beginning of his career.  It was later that he develop his escape act.  Once you master a few of the easier tricks try out The Complete Course in Magic by Mark WIlson.  Mark was just eight years old when he watched a magician perform and decided that this was something he wanted to do.  Later in high school he worked part time at a magic supply store and later went on to become known around the world for his live performances and his television work.  This volume is a complet education in magic with plenty of black and white drawings to guide you.

My favorite magic book is....wait, if I tell you then it will always be checked out.  I think I'll just keep that one to myself.  But if you find the magic book written by a young man from the Akron area...I think it will become your favorite, too.