Discourse in Magic

Magic Appetizer: Top 3 Magic Theory Books


Listen Later

This week Jonah shares with you his top three picks for magic theory books that will make the biggest impact on your magic.

The reason why this podcast even exists in the first place is because of magic theory books. This podcast is Jonah’s fight against the world of magic to help there be more resources about theory, about opinions, about ideas, and the way that things should and could be performed. Most importantly there are thoughts about how to structure a show, how to perform, how to say things, how to practice saying things, how to get a script from your idea to the paper and to the actual real world.

There’s not that many resources to help us with all of those things. So these are Jonah’s top three favorite magic books about theory. The ones that he thinks would help make the biggest changes to your performance. Magic theory is all about figuring out how to perform and how to perform well. So in this episode, Jonah talks about his three top recommendations for magic theory books that are going to change the game for you and your magic

Book One: Magic in Mind

This first book is the broadest resource with the most options, the most authors, the most ideas, and it’s all free. This is the best resource on the planet. It is an e-book by Vanishing Ink called Magic in Mind. The author, Joshua Jay, has gathered and got permission from the most incredible magicians to take their top essays and their top ideas from their world famous books about magic theory and put it all together in one free e-book.

Magic in Mind is an absolute buffet of magic theory. When you read it, it’s going to shake up what you think, because these are the most impactful essays. Don’t read the whole book like it’s a novel, read one essay at a time and try to internalize how a paragraph or how a chapter or how an essay really applies to your magic. If you start here and you don’t listen to anything else on the podcast, then this will be the beginning of an incredible magic theory rabbit hole that you’re going to love.

Book Two: Designing Miracles

This book is Jonah’s absolute favorite. When new magicians start learning magic, they want to start creating magic. And if you’ve ever seen somebody show you a trick, sometimes that trick doesn’t make any sense. There are rules to the world of magic and if you make something vanish and appear, when do you have to show it? And when should you not show it? If something is disappearing from one place and appearing to another, can those objects go close together or not? And Jonah can tell if a new mind to magic isn’t following these rules and it’s obvious that they haven’t read Designing Miracles yet.

Designing Miracles by Darwin Ortiz is an absolutely incredible book and completely opposite to Magic in Mind. This is not a buffet. It’s almost a textbook about a very specific subject. This is the only magic theory book that is fully about structure. This is a book that is about the different rules of magic. If you like creating, making things, making tricks, or bringing ideas into the real world then this is a must read. 

Book Three: The Magic Rainbow

This may be the biggest magic theory book ever. And that is a Testament to how much brilliance is packed in it. This is Jonah’s favorite magic theory book of all time.

The Magic Rainbow is an incredible book. It is well-researched and is filled with lessons about every style of magic and every situation. It’s about arranging routines, putting them in the right order in your show. It’s about performing, practicing, and scripting. It is about the pure love of the art of magic and the pure love of theory. Every question that comes to mind, it feels like the answer is in that book and it is huge because it’s packed full of brilliant knowledge. 

Get In Touch

If you go and check out one of these books and if one of these is new to you and you had never heard of them, send Jonah a message. He would love to know if you liked them and if you learned something. What would you recommend to him? Maybe there’s a favourite book that he’s never heard of that he should check out, he would love to know. 

You can e-mail Jonah at [email protected]

Links

Magic in Mind – Joshua Jay

https://www.vanishingincmagic.com/ebooks/magic-in-mind/

Designing Miracles – Darwin Ortiz

https://www.vanishingincmagic.com/magic-theory/designing-miracles/

The Magic Rainbow – Stephen Minch and Juan Tamariz

https://www.vanishingincmagic.com/magic-theory/tamariz-magic-rainbow/

The post Magic Appetizer: Top 3 Magic Theory Books appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

Discourse in MagicBy Jonah Babins and Tyler Williams

  • 4.5
  • 4.5
  • 4.5
  • 4.5
  • 4.5

4.5

56 ratings


More shows like Discourse in Magic

View all
Penn's Sunday School by Penn's Sunday School

Penn's Sunday School

5,336 Listeners

The Magic Word Podcast by Scott Wells

The Magic Word Podcast

149 Listeners

The Insider by Vanishing Inc. Magic

The Insider

39 Listeners

The Magic Detective Podcast by Dean Carnegie

The Magic Detective Podcast

48 Listeners

Conversations With Close by Michael Close

Conversations With Close

21 Listeners

Penguin Magic Podcast by Erik Tait

Penguin Magic Podcast

51 Listeners

Steve Faulkner’s Magic Show by Steve Faulkner

Steve Faulkner’s Magic Show

9 Listeners

Of Sleights and Men by thedailymagician

Of Sleights and Men

29 Listeners

The Magic Guys by themagicguysshow

The Magic Guys

8 Listeners

The Professional Magician by Cris Johnson

The Professional Magician

18 Listeners

Improv and Magic by LD Madera

Improv and Magic

9 Listeners

Desert Island Tricks by Alakazam Magic

Desert Island Tricks

13 Listeners

The Magic Book Podcast by The Magic Book Podcast

The Magic Book Podcast

12 Listeners

Magician's Workshop by todd cooper

Magician's Workshop

17 Listeners

Magicians Only - with Steve Valentine by Steve Valentine

Magicians Only - with Steve Valentine

13 Listeners