Magic as a Hobby
by Bruce Elliott

It is entirely possible that this excellent book should never have been published - not like this; anyway, not for general sale.

There are two kinds of magic books, you know. The kind they give away with the box top off a breakfast cereal, and this kind of book, which tells explicitly and with pictures - so the reader can really get the hang of them - valuable secrets of professional magic. In brief, I'm sorry that this one is so very good but I'd be honestly sorrier if it were bad.

At the outset it should be explained that the author of these prefatory sentiments is one of that dwindling and gloomy body of cranks who wish magic could have been kept a mystery. In his view magic's worst enemies are that spreading section in any audience who know how the trick is done. It should be granted that a puzzle solved before it's shown is just about as publicly attractive as an unmade bed. A real magician's task, it seems clear, is to abolish the solution, the possibility of any solution in the minds of those he seeks to amuse.