I'm sorry to submit a strongly negative review of this book, but it really is awful. If it were possible to give negative stars then this appalling little smudge of racist, colonialist, condescending excrement would earn a full -5 from me.
In addition to unrelenting denigration and mockery of the traditional repertoire, accouterments, skill and general deportment of itinerant Indian magicians (with gratuitous comments regarding the trustworthiness of people of mixed heritage), Branson paints "comedic" scenes of Indian magicians attempting to present European-style magic ... something which Branson clearly considers to be outside their capabilities. He then reassures his readers - who he explicitly expects to be members, like himself, of the British colonial population of India - that they can develop all the skills necessary to become performing magicians with minimal effort and practice.
Branson claims that amongst magicians there exists a code of conduct that prohibits explaining other magicians' methods to the public. He clearly indicates that European magicians - whom he places at the acme of perfection in skill, creativity and morality - would never do such a thing. He then justifies the fact that he is doing exactly that in this book - explaining in detail the secrets of all the Indian magic effects that he has seen - by the "logic" that he is actually doing a favour to the itinerant magicians because once people know how the tricks are done, they will actually be more willing to pay to see them performed. I believe the actual reason for his disregard for professional courtesy is much simpler: he is European, they are Indian.
Branson concludes his book with an anecdote which he clearly considers to be very amusing. At some point during his residence in India a bundle of leaves was left in his yard with the apparent intent of invoking a curse upon him. Shortly thereafter the wife of one of his Indian servants died in childbirth. The punchline is that the servant concluded that the curse had been effective because his wife had never died in childbirth before. In just a few short lines Branson ties together racist digs at the gullibility of his servants, their illogicality, their inability to experience grief, and his own complete lack of empathy over a tragic event in his own household.
Frankly, both Branson and his book are sh*t.
