Magic at Powell’s Books!

Powell’s Books legendary bookstore in Portland Oregon. They have a huge selection of new and more importantly used books. You never know what you’ll find there. I frequently pop in and take a peek at their magic section.

magic books at powells books

There are a ton of legit magic books there, from Card College, to Max Maven’s PRISM! Since these are used books selling on the normal used book market, there are some deals to be had!

For me the greatest thing was in the shelf there was a magic coloring book!

magic books at powells books

This was being sold as a magic book, there was not context for it and no instructions. I wonder how many people picked it up and and were confused by it…or possibly amazed if they flipped though it and it was blank. Then wondered why it was blank, and flipped again and it had pictures!

If you visit the Portland OR area, visiting Powell’s books is worth a stop!

-Louie

Don’t Do It…

One of the things that I hate as a reason for why people do certain magic tricks is that “it’s a classic for a reason” or “just because you know it doesn’t mean the audience has seen it before“. To me these are lame reasons to justify doing a magic trick.

I’m performing at a fair right now and the vendor at the back of the audience where I’m working has a magic coloring book that he’s using to entertain the kids of the people he’s trying to sell insurance to. He’s a nice guy and he’s using it for a solid reason. However if that was a trick I did in my show, no matter how great my routine was, if someone had been to his booth, my routine wouldn’t play as well.

This is one of the reasons why I try to do more unique tricks, so I don’t have to deal with situations like there…or being in variety shows because someone is doing something similar and that forces me to cut duplicate material.