Download PDF Magic Is Dead My Journey into the World Most Secretive Society of Magicians Audible Audio Edition Ian Frisch Charlie Thurston HarperAudio Books

Product details Audible Audiobook Listening Length 10 hours and 23 minutes Program Type Audiobook Version Unabridged Publisher HarperAudio Audible.com Release Date February 26, 2019 Whispersync for Voice Ready Language English, English ASIN B07MWC29B4

Magic Is Dead My Journey into the World Most Secretive Society of Magicians Audible Audio Edition Ian Frisch Charlie Thurston HarperAudio Books Reviews

• This isn't the worst book I have ever read, but I would have returned it if the return window on kindle products isn't so small.
  
  I don't know what this book is about. If I was asked to describe it it would be "a year in the life of some guy named Ian, but also about his childhood and parents, and sometimes about his hip magician friends and occasionally about the history of magic, but mostly about some guy named Ian." I started the book curious about what "the52" is, and now that I have finished it I still have no idea what it is other than 52 people with sometimes vague connections to the magic world who have a card tattooed on their finger. Could have learned the same from a photo caption.
  
  The history of magic part, while being the smallest piece of the content pie graph was by far the most interesting. Also I had never heard of any of these magicians and discovering a couple on youtube was cool; Shin Lim in particular was pretty mind-blowing.
  
  I really hated how the author was unable to tell any stories without refocusing the story on himself. Like when he was describing one magician, "She also performed a two-card transposition; a trick that I can also do." Who cares man , you are describing someone else. My favorite was when he is describing browsing comments from his friends' instagrams and that people had begun noticing him in the background. He says, "...people would be asking who I was; some kids even said they thought I was cool." LOL what?
  
  And then I audibly gasped when in the final chapter he described a video his friend released that had he described as having music that was, "A cover of Johnny Cash's 'Hurt'...." Seriously? No one edited this? Johnny Cash covered the Nine Inch Nails song "Hurt," arguably their most famous song after "Closer." How did THAT make it past the screeners?
  
  I was interested in the book because I thought it would be a journey into this new world of magic that I was unfamiliar with but sounded really cool. It ended up basically being part autobiography, part "wacky adventures with Ian & friends," and occasional magic history lesson. Not at ALL what I expected.
• I love magic books and books about magic, so when this one popped up on my recommendations it was an easy decision. It's a memoir of a journalist reporting on magic who becomes obsessed with the art, eventually becoming a magician himself and publishing his own trick.
  
  I liked the introduction to the 'new breed' of magic. I started following magic 20 years ago and still favor reading the classics, but this really made me interested in learning more about some of the new creators out there. The stories about different tricks he witnessed, and even the how-to's, were all really well done. Also, the author did a great job of weaving his personal life story into this work, and all of the personal pieces were some of the best writing.
  
  However, I didn't like a few things about this. The most jarring example is that the dialogue came across as very unnatural at times. Can't put my finger on exactly why, but it was enough to distract from the story. It sounded like someone trying to recall a conversation and just not quite nailing it. I also didn't like the way the book was marketed or the subtitle. Secret society feels like a stretch. the52 was a central part of the book, but I felt like it should have been a side note compared to everything else going on.
  
  Last, I can't imagine that someone who doesn't already really like magic would like this. It's not a great start for the general public. Good book if you already love magic, probably not the best one to start with if you don't. One book that I think bridged that gap well and still told an interesting story was Alex Stone's Fooling Houdini if you are looking for a book to start with.
  
  Impressive story, author did a great job. Recommended if you like magic already.
• This book is fantastic, wether you are a fan of magic or not. Ian paints a vivid picture of this world he got rolled into and takes you with him every step of the way on this "adventure". Getting to know more about some of my favorite people in the Magic industry is just an added benefit. His writing is phenomenal- I don't remember the last time I laughed out loud reading. You feel all the things he wants you to feel- sadness, excitement, humor, accomplishment, ambition... It runs the gammit of the emotional spectrum in the best possible way. I HIGHLY recommend!
• This book is more about the author's exploits with his wacky friends. I found it totally boring.
• My dad was a magician and magic enthusiast, so I've grown up on the periphery of that hobby/business (albeit not the hip new scene described in this book). I guess it's a generational thing, but I found this memoir of the author's initiation into "the52", an ostensible secret society of magic's new wave stars, to be kind of a slog. It's not that the current generation of magicians have invented curated personas - magicians have always done that sort of thing, by the nature of their work - but, like the Instagram campaigns and publicity stunts described herein, the results are mostly slick and superficial.
• I really wanted to like this book but the more I got into it the more I was put off. It was a look way to go for a magic trick!
• I've been waiting for this book for a few months now. When it finally showed up I immediately spent a few hours in it. After reading the prologue, I was immediately hooked. I expected in the beginning to immediately get hooked into the magic, but with the information on Ian's background, I felt even more connected and eager to continue reading. Highly recommended.
• This book details a writer's journey through the mystery and unknown of the underground magic scene. From touching the hearts of the reader through stories of his childhood, to detailing his beginnings as a magician, this book has inspired me to further my knowledge of magic as an art. This book is perfect for magicians and non-magicians. No knowledge in the field of magic is required to understand the contents of this book. In fact, it is perfect for those interested in beginning his or her journey into the world of magic. 10/10 recommend this read.