This is from a Private Estate in Like New Condition. This is a hardcover book with original dust jacket.  The dust jacket has some wrinkles near the top of the front cover.  The hardcover and pages are in great shape.  

Copyright 2002

Twenty insightful and occasionally incendiary essays on the topics of: why magicians have failed to stop the exposure of secrets to the public; why magic is held in low esteem by much of show business and the public, and what can be done about it; intellectual property rights in magic; the problems of presentation for mentalists (and one solution); should you learn magic from books or from videos; how to tell a good trick from a bad one; the fallacy of “naturalness” in sleight-of-hand; commercialism, its benefits and pitfalls; discovering an on-stage character and a style that can lead to success-and an answer to the troubling question, “Why do we love magic?

Contents

• Foreword (Patrick Watton)
• Cannon Fodder
• Why Magic Sucks
• Mentalism Grows Up
• Odometer Ethics
• Decent Exposure
• Magic in the Age of Information
• Yesterdays
• Real Secrets
• A Brief History of Magic Bar
• The Writing on the Wall
• A Magician Prepares
• Audience Members and Other Props
• Old, New, Borrowed, and Blue
• Sleights, Lies, and Videotape
• First Do No Harm
• Good Trick, Bad Trick
• The Too-Perfect Theory in Action
• In Defense of Technique
• Unnatural Acts: Invoking the Supra-natural
• A Commercial Message
• Lessons and Learning
• The Elements of Style
• The Search for Mystery