The Case Against Classics

If you know me, you know I don’t believe the theory that you should do classic magic tricks because, “classics are classics for a reason“. You should do classic tricks like linking rings or whatever because they have a purpose in your show.

I do believe that as a beginner, learning and doing those trick has a purpose. However as you grow, you should grow out of them, or create a reason why they’re in your show.

When I was reading Psychology of Magic: From Lab To Stage, this paragraph stuck out to me:

Audiences are smart, and contrary to a lot of “advice” many have seen a lot of magic on TV and social media. With shows like Fool Us and America’s Got Talent, your typical audience has seen stuff and you just banging out the linking rings because “it gets a reaction” doesn’t cut it anymore.

If you’re doing a classic, figure out how to give it purpose in your show to move the story of you further and not because it fills time.

-Louie

The Psychology of Magic

My recent airplane reading was that I started the book The Psychology of Magic. I originally heard of this book from my buddy Chris Beason, and I picked up this copy back in June at Misdirection Magic Shop in San Francisco.

The Psychology of magic from lab to stage

I’m not too far into the book, but so far it’s really interesting. In this book they’re using lab style testing for magic. The beginning of the book they’re using lab study type groups to learn more about card forces. It’s really interesting what results they came up with.

The other eye opening thing was a prediction that’s 1-4 or 1-100 has basically the same impact!

So far I recommend this book!

-Louie