Bart King - The Pocket Guide to Magic

THE
POCKET GUIDE
TO
Magic

BART KING

Illustrations by Remie Geoffroi

First Edition
13 12 11 10 09 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Text 2009 Bart King
Illustrations 2009 Remie Geoffroi

For a full bibliography for this book, please go to the authors website: www.bartking.net

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced by any means whatsoever without written permission from the publisher, except brief portions quoted for purpose of review.

Published by
Gibbs Smith
P.O. Box 667
Layton, Utah 84041

1-800.835.4993 orders
www.gibbs-smith.com

Designed by Black Eye Design
Printed and bound in Canada
Gibbs Smith books are printed on either recycled, 100% post-consumer waste, FSC-certified papers or on paper produced from a 100% certified sustainable forest/controlled wood source.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

King, Bart, 1962

The pocket guide to magic / Bart King ; illustrations
by Remie Geoffroi. 1st ed.

p. cm.

ISBN-13: 978-1-4236-0637-6
ISBN-10: 1-4236-0637-X
1. Magic. I. Title.
BF1611.K53 2009
793.8dc22

2009009748

To Luke

(go Trail Blazers!)

and Caleb

(go... juggling!)

CONTENTS

Diabolical Magic
of the Blackest Sort

Demonstrations of this books illusions
are atwww.bartking.net.

The gratitude Id like to express to the following people is not illusory.

Caleb and Dave Sohigian, Luke Twomey, David Kelly, Amy Faust, Kent Meisel, Deena Thimble Stach, Michael King, Daniel Fredgant, the Celsi family (Rebecca, Ben, Eve, and David), Michael Milone, Doug Levin, Suzanne Taylor, Michelle Witte, and the staff at the Multnomah County Library.

Pick a book, any book...

IF THIS BE MAGIC,
LET IT BE AN ART.

Shakespeare

Congratulations! While there are more books about magic than any other performing art, youve somehow picked the right one. Yes, Ive been practicing magic for literally minutes, and in these pages, youll learn spectacular secrets that will...

Oh, wait, wait. Magic is magic, but there is illusion and then theres fantasy. While this book discusses wizards, sorcerers, witches, and the supernatural, it does not endorse them. Sure, it would be nice to wave a wand, utter a Latin phrase, and grow hair.1 But Ive determined that Harry Potter lives in an alternate universe, and so we earthly magicians have to create illusions with what we have: cleverness and sleight of hand.

While this book is about magic-for-fun, history is filled with examples of magic-as-fraud. The priests of ancient Greece, for instance, rigged temples with trapdoors, speaking tubes, and levers to impress visitors with the power of the gods. Because of deceitful behavior like this, magicians developed a tradition of despising psychics, mediums, and spiritualists. Thats because honest conjurers dont have anything to do with black magic or white magic. (But there is probably

Optimus Libri Umsom
(the best book ever)

The idea of using Latin-sounding words (petrificus totalus!) to make magic began in the time of King James I of England (1567 1625). A magician who performed for the king started each illusion with the spell, Hocus pocus, tontus, talontus, vade celeriteiubeo. The magicians name: Hocus Pocus.

a green magician out there somewhere practicing eco-friendly illusions.)

Of course, magic DOES exist, and heres a true story to prove it: A man took his son to a play filled with magical effects. There were flying people and astounding disappearances. Popcorn was even available in the lobby! After the play, the boy said, I wonder how they did that!

The father began explaining how the flying actors wore special harnesses that lifted them up, but his son interrupted him. No, Dad, I dont want to know. I want to wonder.

Smart kid! He understood that wonder, mystery, and amazement remind us of what a magical place our world is. And this leads us to an important question: Do you want to amaze people, or do you want to fool them?

Heres the difference: People like to be amazed. Perhaps youve heard of someone whos positively amazed. Thats because no one is ever negatively amazed! However, if you insist on tricking your audience, you might make them feel foolish. Thats one reason why many magicians never use the word trick. Instead, they use words like effect, demonstration, or illusion. And thats how you get around Jerry Seinfelds complaint about magicians: He comes on, he fools you, you feel stupid, shows over.2

Most people understand that the magician is an honest liar; his or her goal is to deceive the audience for entertainment. So its okay for you to have an outrageous explanation of why your magic works. But claiming to have supernatural powers is pushing it too far. After all, the only real difference between you and your audience is that you know more about what youre doing than they do!

You want your audience members to drop their guard and appreciate your performance. How do you accomplish this? Make your magic as amazing as possible without being an annoying trickster. Because if you can get someone to wonder how you created an illusion, then presto!

YOU ARE A MAGICIAN.

1 Youre bald, right?

2 Actor Jason Alexander (he played George on Seinfeld) is an enthusiastic magician.

BECOMING A FIRST-CLASS MAGICIAN
CAN BE AS DIFFICULT AS BECOMING
A FIRST-CLASS PIANIST.

Robertson Davies

Regardless of your age, you should be going to magic school.

Why? you ask.

You little scamp! Because it will make you a better person. And Im not just pulling that out of a hat, either. Psychology professor Richard Wiseman conducted a study on a group of British students who were sent to magic school. There the kids learned feats just like the ones in this book! And when the students were tested two weeks after their magic classes, the junior magicians scored higher in confidence and social skills than their Muggle classmates.

But whats so magic about learning magic? Professor Wiseman explained that students had to have the self-discipline to learn the trick and think it through and look at it from someone elses perspective. They also had to learn to keep a secret while being likeable.

Writing + Magic = Money!

In 2008, J. K. Rowling was the best-paid author in the world. She made $300 million over 365 days, which averages out to more than $820,000 a day. (Man, it takes me WEEKS to earn that much.)

I hadnt considered that before. Any kid who knows magic also knows how to keep a secret! Thats an underrated ability. Professor Wiseman added that learning magic requires self-discipline, an understanding of how other people think and an ability to entertain. And unlike computer games it encourages children to interact with their friends and family.1 In fact, the results of his study were so positive, Wiseman thinks magic should be made part of Englands national curriculum!