Anyone going to press with a book "new" tricks should have the good grace to concede, if only momentarily, that he may be placing himself in the category of the mad scientist who spent his time developing cures for which there were no diseases. It’s hard to win points against the argument that a new idea should fill a need, that invention should follow necessity. Yet the disregard of such orderly logic seems, in the long run, to produce some of the best results. Many of the good things in magic, for example, if dissected would probably be found to consist of bits and pieces of other less worthy efforts, things that didn’t do so well on their own.
The thought that well enough should be left alone - aside from bringing a chill to someone about to favor an eager and grateful readership with his innovations - is not for magic. If, tomorrow, someone came up with a practical method for the Indian Rope Trick and happened to use a fifty foot length of rope, it's a safe bet that it wouldn't be long before someone else would switch to a sixty footer. And, of course, he'd claim the trick as his own.
Like it or not, that seems to be the way it is and there’s nothing in sight to indicate that it's going to change.
