The adage goes, “There’s no such thing as a free lunch.” In our day-to-day transactional world, this is true more often than not. Quid pro quo tends to be our motto.
Occasionally there are some things that come without explicit expectations of getting something in return. One is the ebook, Magic In Mind, compiled by Joshua Jay and released by Vanishing Inc. in 2013. I’m sure that there’s hope that while you’re downloading the book, you’ll add something to your cart but there’s no demand to do so. Well, I suppose it’s not totally free as you have to create an account if you don’t have one already. You are giving up your contact information.
Joshua has done the magic world a huge favor as he has assembled essays on magic theory that were previously spread across many books. In the 550 pages, there’s essays by Tommy Wonder, Eugene Burger, Arturo de Ascanio, Rick Johnsson, Tom Stone, and many others. The eleven subjects include Thinking Like a Magician, Method, Techniques, and even, Art in Magic. Pulling these essays together yourself would be challenging and expensive. This saves you time and money.
Magic in Mind is best read slowly. It needs to be ruminated upon. If you have a tablet, I recommend using it for this as you can read, reflect, and jot some thoughts about the essay. If an essay interests you and you want to explore more of the author’s ideas, the bibliography will help you search for the original work.
While the ebook is highly recommended, steer clear from the recently released audio book. While I’m not a fan of audio books, I have found them enjoyable at times – especially in the summer working outside with headphones. This one is a bit of a pain as it’s a five hour plus file with no chapters. Additionally the narrator is not the best. It sounds like it’s his first time.
