Conjuring by James RandiReviewed by Robert Lewis |
| I can't even begin to imagine how hard it was
for James "The Amazing" Randi to begin work on this book. In most
works of non-fiction, there is a single focal point, or a few focal points,
and the entire book can be structured around that. In this case, Randi set
out to write a history of conjuring (or magic). It would seem like a doomed
effort right from the start, simply because of the vast amount of disjointed
information available. There are entire libraries devoted to a single conjuror,
or a single period in conjuring. With all of this stacked against him, it
is truly amazing that Randi was able to do as well as he did.
For those of you who don't know, James Randi, also (formerly) known as "The Amazing Randi" was for many years a very accomplished professional conjuror. All you really need to know in order to understand his accomplishments in this field is that he once escaped from a straight jacket, while hanging upside down above Niagra Falls. Not just anyone can do that. It takes a great degree of skill, and it also takes a bit of fame just to organize the event. More recently, Randi has dropped "The Amazing" from his name and turned to examining claims of the paranormal full-time. Through his James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF), he offers one million dollars for proof of any paranormal event. In Conjuring, Randi set out to apply his insider's knowledge of the field of conjuring to a concise history of the art. It's said that conjuring is the second oldest profession (probably untrue, but an interesting thought anyway), and the oldest of the theatrical arts (though in the early days, it was primarily used by political and religious figures to convince people they had supernatural powers). That's a long history to compress into a single book, and Randi gave it a damned good try. Right at the beginning, I must make it clear that I did enjoy Conjuring. I think it was a great, enjoyable read. But I also don't think Randi was completely successful in his goal of delivering a history of the field. Allow me to explain. Conjuring has an entire chapter devoted to Harry Houdini, which is probably appropriate considering Houdini's fame. Randi made an interesting point in the book that Houdini is so famous, great conjurors today are still called "Houdinis," though it would be unthinkable for a great pianist to be called "a Mozart." I greatly appreciate this remark for several reasons. Perhaps most topical is the simple observation that it's a great illustration of Houdini's fame. A more personal note for me is that I write horror and I do a few magic tricks. I think horror writers and conjurors are unique in that we're referred to, more than any other group, in the terms of our most famous practitioners. An up and coming horror writer is "the next Stephen King" and a conjuror is "a Houdini." Randi's book takes the conjuring side of this strange phenomenon and attempts, in a manner of a few pages, to explain it. Considering his space limitations, he did as good as can possibly be expected. But with entire chapters devoted to particular individuals, it's impossible to cover all the ground that a thorough history of conjuring would need to cover. When you read conjuring, you should not expect a complete history of conjuring. What you can expect--and this is why I really like the book--is for it to capture the feeling of conjuring. It captures in amazing brilliance the emotional attachment these performers have/had to their craft. At the end of the book, you'll have a decent--but certainly not complete--knowledge of how conjuring has evolved over the years. From the trouble some conjurers had with the Inquisition, through the frauds of the spiritualist movement, all the way to modern popular acceptance of the art. You'll feel like you know the conjurers better than you would at the end of other history books. You won't know all the details of their lives, but you'll have an understanding of who they were, or who they are. One of the strong points of this book is all of the photographs and illustrations. I found that to be just wonderful. It's nice, sometimes, to be able to see what you're reading about, so Conjuring gets a lot of bonus points for having photos on nearly every page. Really, it comes down to this: Conjuring is a truly enjoyable book, and I highly recommend it, as long as you understand what you're getting. You're not getting a complete history. You're getting a brief history, that captures the "feel" of the art, but not all of the details. I'll give it a strong 4 out of 5. |