Yes the magic community was very pissed that he wrote a book exposing so many secrets of magic, and there was a big backlash. Since the Internet all the secrecy nonsense ship has sailed IMO. You can know the secret but still have your mind blown by a skilled magician.
I really enjoyed the links to Ricky Jay's scathing review. I don't see anything in it that really makes me think of the book differently. He comes off as a bit of a grumpy old fuddy duddy challenging the writer's credentials because he is not in the elite in magic circles. But this is exactly what makes the book so readable for non magicians,he is still more one of us. I still hang out with magicians and the level of professional insularity can be pretty thick. Especially around the old guys like Jay. Hype and impression is their stock and trade, and some guys buy into more of that than others. I'll keep clicking on the links. Do you do any magic yourself? --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, merudanda <no_reply@...> wrote: > > Vernon's reputation was in no way dependent on his being the called "The > Man Who Fooled Houdini,"(Rick Jay) here the documentary > > > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeIBCLw4p8o > <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeIBCLw4p8o> > > Stonre mentioned "inattentional blindness", a phenomenon which enables > many illusory feats.Here at FFL for example Daniel Simons's famous > "invisible gorilla" experiment has been mentioneed severeal time > > > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtKt8YF7dgQ > <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtKt8YF7dgQ> > > where subjects were asked to watch a video of people passing a > basketball and tally the number of passes that occurred. Subjects who > counted correctly tended to completely miss the appearance of a person > in a gorilla suit. > > Could it be that Mr. Stone's arrival at the Magic Olympic Village in > Stockholm(that's how his book begins with a "magical trick")"was no > Olympic Village, because there is no Magic Olympics"."just a triennial > gathering of magic enthusiasts, sponsored by an international > organization of magic clubs "and he himself victim of "inattentional > blindness"? "Self-initiates Mr. Stone" (as Ricky Jay called him) who > encounters or studies with , according to Stone, a chain of > superlatives"legendary," a "genius," a "virtuoso" or a "master" and > "mastered (in 12 months of study only)hundreds of moves and dozens of > mind-blowing tricks" claiming that 20 years before Robert-Houdin > > > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzNpEMsBUU8 > <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzNpEMsBUU8> > ever performed public!publish his book,tells us about amateur magician > and friend of Robert-Houdin creator of the first special-effects films > etc etc > George Melies > > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPmKaz3Quzo > <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPmKaz3Quzo> > RICKY JAY described "Fooling Houdini" as " an ostensibly self-effacing > memoir by an inept amateur conjure". > http://online.wsj.com/article > /SB10001424052702303734204577464450347187644.html > <http://online.wsj.com/article > /SB10001424052702303734204577464450347187644.html> > > > Do not miss "Deceptive Practice: The Mysteries and Mentors of Ricky > Jay," and his comparison to ZEN > Now You See the Real Ricky Jay (or Do You?) > http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142412788732334630457842284279355975\ > 4.html > <http://online.wsj.com/article/SB100014241278873233463045784228427935597\ > 54.html> > > Trailer > > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OlSeOxJmzg > <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OlSeOxJmzg> > > and "Magical Mathematics" by Persi Diaconis and Ron Graham > > http://www.maths.tcd.ie/pub/ims/bull69/FOC.pdf > <http://www.maths.tcd.ie/pub/ims/bull69/FOC.pdf> > > History.Channel.Houdini.Unlocking.The.Mystery > > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0idt8rh1Tc > <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0idt8rh1Tc> > > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, turquoiseb wrote: > >snip > > I'm going to try to track down this movie, because I suspect > > it'll talk about Dai Vernon, Doug's mentor and probably one > > of Ricky's. > snip > > >
