How to Be an Illusionist

How to Be an Illusionist
Author: J. C. Sum
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Total Pages: 270
Release: 2017-01-02
Genre:
ISBN: 9781541258839

Have you always wondered how to be an illusionist? Do you wish to perform on a large stage for thousands of people? Maybe you are a working magician specializing in close up or stage magic and are looking to put together a bigger show for a special event? "How to be an Illusionist" is a first-of-its kind introductory reference guide on performing a modern illusion show in today's entertainment & pop culture market. In this comprehensive guide, you will learn step by step how to put an illusion show together, regardless of whether you perform illusions for fun, as a hobby, part-time or professionally. You will receive a goldmine of information that will empower you with practical knowledge to take on the world of grand illusions; including a primer on over 100 well-known illusions performed today with credits. The reference guide consists of 10 modules of information that is worth thousands of dollars' to the performing illusionist and has taken years of experience to learn and develop. It features over 80 full-colour photographs of a dozen international illusionists in performance including David DaVinci (USA), David & Abi Haines (USA), Kyle Knight & Mistie (USA), Miguel Gavilan (Spain), Hector Ruiz (Spain), Remy Savary (France), Adeline Ng (Singapore), Daniel Ka (Spain), Sam Powers (Australia), Jason Bishop (USA), Jay Mattioli (USA) and Sean Alexander (U.K.)."

Magic

Magic
Author: Michael D. Bailey
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 184
Release: 2017-08
Genre: Magic
ISBN: 9781138809604

A magical world -- The meanings of magic -- Magical acts -- Magic contested and condemned -- Magical identities -- The reality of magic -- Magic in the modern world

The Illusionist Brain

The Illusionist Brain
Author: Jordi Camí
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 248
Release: 2024-12-03
Genre: Games & Activities
ISBN: 0691264325

How magicians exploit the natural functioning of our brains to astonish and amaze us How do magicians make us see the impossible? The Illusionist Brain takes you on an unforgettable journey through the inner workings of the human mind, revealing how magicians achieve their spectacular and seemingly impossible effects by interfering with your cognitive processes. Along the way, this lively and informative book provides a guided tour of modern neuroscience, using magic as a lens for understanding the unconscious and automatic functioning of our brains. We construct reality from the information stored in our memories and received through our senses, and our brains are remarkably adept at tricking us into believing that our experience is continuous. In fact, our minds create our perception of reality by elaborating meanings and continuities from incomplete information, and while this strategy carries clear benefits for survival, it comes with blind spots that magicians know how to exploit. Jordi Camí and Luis Martínez explore the many different ways illusionists manipulate our attention—making us look but not see—and take advantage of our individual predispositions and fragile memories. The Illusionist Brain draws on the latest findings in neuroscience to explain how magic deceives us, surprises us, and amazes us, and demonstrates how illusionists skillfully “hack” our brains to alter how we perceive things and influence what we imagine.

The Illusionist

The Illusionist
Author: Dinitia Smith
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 260
Release: 1999-03-10
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0684848198

As a young woman disguised as a man, Duane Lily, an amateur magician, has created an illusion in a desolate New York town that ultimately unleashes a destructive element that even he cannot control.

David Copperfield's History of Magic

David Copperfield's History of Magic
Author: David Copperfield
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 272
Release: 2021-10-26
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1982112913

In this personal journey through a unique performing art, David Copperfield profiles some of the world's most groundbreaking magicians. From the sixteenth-century magistrate who wrote an early book on conjuring, to the roaring twenties and the man who fooled Houdini, to the woman who levitated, vanished, and caught bullets in her bare hands, David Copperfield's History of Magic takes you on a wild journey through the remarkable feats of some of the greatest magicians in history. The result is a sweeping tale that reveals how these astonishing performers were outsiders who used magic to escape class, challenge conventions, transform popular culture, explore the innermost workings of the human mind, and inspire scientific discovery. Their incredible stories are complemented by more than 100 never-before-seen photographs of artifacts from Copperfield's exclusive Museum of Magic, including a sixteenth-century manual on sleight-of-hand; Houdini's straitjackets, handcuffs, and water torture chamber; Dante's famous sawing-in-half apparatus; Alexander's high-tech turban that allowed him to read people's minds; and even some coins that may have magically passed through the hands of Abraham Lincoln. By the end of the book, you'll be sure to share Copperfield's passion for the power of magic. --

Your Vote Is Magic!

Your Vote Is Magic!
Author: Lyn Dillies
Publisher: eBookIt.com
Total Pages: 121
Release: 2012-08
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1456610074

America's premier female Illusionist, Lyn Dillies, adds another DIMENSION to her sparkling career: YOUR VOTE IS MAGIC!, the book based on the groundbreaking illusion she conjured up to deliver a powerful message to get out the vote. At a rally in New Bedford, Massachusetts before the 2008 Presidential election, Lyn produced a live elephant and a live donkey, (the two party mascots) "out of thin air!" The illusion impressively delivered the non-partisan message that YOUR VOTE IS MAGIC! and prompted a large voter registration. In the book that TELLS ALL (Almost) . . . Lyn REVEALS just how important your vote really is! On a personal basis, Lyn describes HOW and WHY she created the illusion, overcoming seemingly daunting obstacles. Challenges are nothing new to Lyn. She is well known for imaginative, unique programs and illlusions. The book, YOUR VOTE IS MAGIC! emphasizes Lyn's personal philosophy: With enough determination, anything is possible. YOUR VOTE IS MAGIC! contains many visuals that enrich the story, including photos of the animal "stars" and the preparations for the illusion. There are provocative quotes about voting from famous folk; whimsical political cartoons; and an absorbing review of the successful woman's suffrage movement. As the title implies, it's truly a MAGICAL COMBINATION of illusion and reality and delivers a colorful, persuasive message to first-time voters. This book will be happily passed along to NEW GENERATIONS of voters as they begin their journey to responsible citizenship.

The Illusion of Conscious Will

The Illusion of Conscious Will
Author: Daniel M. Wegner
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 743
Release: 2003-08-11
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0262290553

A novel contribution to the age-old debate about free will versus determinism. Do we consciously cause our actions, or do they happen to us? Philosophers, psychologists, neuroscientists, theologians, and lawyers have long debated the existence of free will versus determinism. In this book Daniel Wegner offers a novel understanding of the issue. Like actions, he argues, the feeling of conscious will is created by the mind and brain. Yet if psychological and neural mechanisms are responsible for all human behavior, how could we have conscious will? The feeling of conscious will, Wegner shows, helps us to appreciate and remember our authorship of the things our minds and bodies do. Yes, we feel that we consciously will our actions, Wegner says, but at the same time, our actions happen to us. Although conscious will is an illusion, it serves as a guide to understanding ourselves and to developing a sense of responsibility and morality. Approaching conscious will as a topic of psychological study, Wegner examines the issue from a variety of angles. He looks at illusions of the will—those cases where people feel that they are willing an act that they are not doing or, conversely, are not willing an act that they in fact are doing. He explores conscious will in hypnosis, Ouija board spelling, automatic writing, and facilitated communication, as well as in such phenomena as spirit possession, dissociative identity disorder, and trance channeling. The result is a book that sidesteps endless debates to focus, more fruitfully, on the impact on our lives of the illusion of conscious will.

The Illusionists

The Illusionists
Author: Rosie Thomas
Publisher: Abrams
Total Pages: 364
Release: 2014-06-26
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1468309919

“Beneath this buoyant tale of down-market entertainers in Victorian London rumbles a heavyweight novel . . . Intricate and thrilling” (The New York Times). A young, beautiful woman of limited means, Eliza is modern before her time. Not for her the stifling—if respectable—conventionality of marriage, children, domestic drudgery. She longs for more. Through her work as an artist’s model, she meets the magnetic and irascible Devil—a born showman whose dream is to run his own theater company. Devil’s right-hand man is the improbably named Carlo Boldoni, an ill-tempered dwarf with an enormous talent for all things magic and illusion. Carlo and Devil clash at every opportunity and it constantly falls upon Eliza to broker an uneasy peace between them. And then there is Jasper Button. Mild-mannered and a family man at heart, it is his gift as an artist that makes him the unlikely final member of the motley crew. Thrown together by a twist of fate, their lives are inextricably linked: The fortune of one depends on the fortune of the other. And as Eliza gets sucked into the seductive and dangerous world her strange companions inhabit, she risks not only her heart, but also her life, which is soon thrown into peril. “Love, seduction, magic and illusion collide . . . A spellbinding journey through an extremely shadowy world.” —Daily Express “A brilliant Gothic mix of glitter and grime.” —Daily Mail “Thomas’s sprawling follow-up to The Kashmir Shawl . . . A story of a theater company, a thriller, and, most successfully, a portrait of a woman trying to create an equal partnership with a man.” —Publishers Weekly

Mark Wilson's Complete Course in Magic

Mark Wilson's Complete Course in Magic
Author: Mark Anthony Wilson
Publisher: Running Press Kids
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2003-05-19
Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN: 9780762414550

The ultimate book of magic for kids from a world-famous magician, complete with photographs for easy to follow instructions. From one of the world's premier practitioners of classic magic, with years of experience instructing younger readers in the magical arts, comes this new revision of his complete guide to learning and performing fantastic feats of prestidigitation. Acclaimed by the Los Angeles Times as "the text that young magicians swear by," it's full of step-by-step instructions. More than 2,000 illustrations provide the know-how behind 300 techniques, from basic card tricks to advanced levitation, along with advice on planning and staging a professional-quality magic show.

Corporate Illusions Made Easy

Corporate Illusions Made Easy
Author: J. C. Sum
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Total Pages: 80
Release: 2013-11-15
Genre:
ISBN: 9781540374769

From the author of the best-selling, "Urban Illusions" and "Pack Flat Illusions for Kids & Family Shows" comes another specialty illusion book written specifically for the working Corporate Magician - "Corporate Illusions Made Easy"! J C Sum, one of Asia's top professional illusionists and illusion designers, shares ten original illusions that have been custom-designed for product launches, media events, tradeshows, conferences and road shows across Asia Pacific & Europe over the last 20 years. From making corporate executives appear, producing new products, launching corporate logos and staging motivational stunts, the illusions in the book are simple to build, effective in design and practical to stage in non-traditional performance environments. All illusions are professional level effects and take into account realistic budgets, size, logistics, venue and staging constraints typical of corporate events. Best of all, no prior illusion knowledge is necessary to understand, build and execute the illusions. New illusionists will be introduced to known as well as original illusion methods and ideas that they can execute with confidence. Experienced illusionists will find original practical solutions for common requests from corporate clients that they can use immediately. In the first illusion book of its kind, it also includes an extensive discussion on presenting illusions for corporate events, the role of the "Corporate Illusionist," how to go about building the illusions in the book as well as incorporating corporate messaging into the illusions. If you book a launch, conference, awards dinner or tradeshow with just one idea from this book, you will recoup your investment in the book many times over with a single engagement. Contents include: Examining Illusions for Corporate Events - The Role of the Corporate Magician/ Illusionist Different Types of Corporate Events & Venues How to Build the Illusions in this Book The Arrival: A Self-Contained Surrounded VIP Appearance Showcase: An Elegant Production of a Product in a Clear Display Case Rising Identity: A Unique Way to Introduce a new Corporate Identity or Logo Corporate Restraint: A Motivational Escape Illusion Performed by a CEO Global Crossing: The Teleportation of a CEO Executive Travel: A Magical Transformation of Corporate Executives The Sword Box: Metaphor Incorporating Corporate Messaging with an Illusion Jeweled Revelation: A Big Effect for a Small Item Production The Conference: The Appearance of a Committee of People on Stage A Big Reveal: The Magical Production of a Large Inanimate Product "Corporate Illusions Made Easy" features detailed illusion construction plans, full illusion presentations and corporate messaging & customization.