Abracadabra: Secret Methods Magicians and Others Use to Deceive Their Audience. - book reviews

By Nathaniel Schiffman. Prometheus Books, New York, 1997. ISBN 1-57393-163-7. 441 pp. Hardcover, $27.95.

Anyone interested in magic - and skeptics ought to be - should buy and read this book. Schiffman, who is also a professional magician, has written Abracadabra as a four-hundred-page love letter to his craft. In doing so, he has provided the public with a definitive look at the art and science of conjuring as well as a comprehensive overview of tricks, secrets and illusions in use for literally thousands of years.

In fact, very little in magic is new, since the same magical forms have been in use for centuries and the modern conjuror still employs them but is able to add to them some of the benefits of modern science. As Schiffman tells us, these forms consist of: the production of an object; the evanishment of an object; the transposition of objects, the change in form, size, weight, color, or temperature of objects; the penetration of one solid object by another; the defiance of the laws of gravity; proof of invulnerability; making the inanimate animate; making whole something that has been destroyed; accelerating a natural process; and producing pseudopsychic phenomena, e.g., telepathy, precognition, or thought-transference, i.e., mentalism. These forms summarize nearly all of the kinds of misdirections and illusions that are used to deceive the observer. Of course, some magicians may use a combination of several of these forms as they strive to leave their audiences awestruck.

While nearly anyone can learn to do magic tricks and fool their fellow man with a few hours of practice, becoming a skilled magician requires much, much more. Schiffman systematically and convincingly spells out just what is needed for an amateur magician to become another Randi or David Copperfield. Although excellent manuals and handbooks abound for the would-be magician, Schiffman's instruction is vastly superior in that he concentrates on the need to develop the attitude, the philosophy, and the spirit of the magical enterprise rather than just learning how to "do a few tricks." Abracadabra is filled with insightful and illuminating quotations and bits of wisdom from the best magicians of all time - Robert-Houdin, Maskelyne, Houdini, Dunninger, Blackstone, Milbourne Christopher, Gibson, Kreskin, David Copperfield, and Randi to name but a few.

Schiffman comprehensively instructs us in how illusions are created and what things to look for when watching magicians in action. He also discusses the foundations of deception - including misdirection, control, the use of gimmicks and fakes, lying, and concealment on stage. Along the way Schiffman talks about how the skilled magician uses manipulation, substitution, duplication, camouflage, imitation, false partitions, concealed mechanisms, falsification arrangements, and so on to create his illusions. When the magician performs his illusion he is required to simultaneously do three things: tell the story of the effect he is creating; manipulate the secret mechanisms or ploys that provide the "magic," and create proofs or clues that mislead and show that nothing false or "hokey" is occurring.

In the second section Schiffman examines magic from an on-stage perspective and from the point of view of a magician on stage. We are told everything we need to think about as a magician and the necessity of controlling as many aspects of the "theater setting" as possible. In other words, the magician has to orchestrate his control over the audience by giving them suggestions, controlling his every movement, using pantomime, sound, and music, carefully developing his patter and pacing, and - in a sense - brainwashing his viewers through his use of lighting, audience participation, and clever acting.

In part three he considers magic from the points of view of the audience, the assistants, and his animal helpers. He also sneaks into the magician's trunks to look at all of the tools, props, and gadgets that one sees on stage but is never allowed to touch or inspect. As we go through these things the secrets of dozens of standard illusions are revealed.

In part four Schiffman does something most unusual: he looks at how magic tricks and techniques can be taken out of the theater and applied in the real world to manipulate and influence others. We also learn what we can do to protect ourselves from such chicanery. This section is of particular interest to skeptics since it deals with the use of fakery and how we can best go about detecting it and exposing it. Among the example given are some of Randi's techniques used to expose several faith healers, psychic surgery, Uri Geller's tricks, as well as numerous tricks used by some of the nation's best con artists. A particularly delightful chapter is one titled "Misdirection: Magic In Everyday Life." This is followed by another one that every shopper can profit from titled "Magic In Selling And Advertising."

Throughout the book, and in nearly every chapter, Schiffman tells us clearly and succinctly exactly how the magician's tricks are done. The secrets of the Floating Lady, the Indian Rope trick, numerous card tricks and sleights and forces, how large massive objects seem to disappear, how David Copperfield flies, and so on, are exposed. Although it would be impossible for Schiffman to explain in detail how every effect is achieved, the general principle behind the illusion is provided. This, to many professional magicians, is anathema. Yet both Henry Gordon in an excellent foreword and Schiffman in his preface provide a most persuasive defense of this practice. Gordon notes that books telling hobbyists how to perform particular tricks are putting the cart before the horse. They should be learning the basic principles of conjuring, such as misdirection, human perception, showmanship, and visual and psychological illusions. Schiffman provides all these things. Moreover, Gordon says, "I have never known of a professional magician who has had his or her career affected by revelations of this kind when they appear in a book that has been purchased. . . most people who are more interested in the entertainment of magic than in the solving of the secrets will forget the revelations over time." He also notes that "The secrets of conjuring will always be revealed. This serves two useful purposes. They promote an interest that recruits newcomers to this wonderful hobby, and they challenge performers to devise new and improved methods of deception."