Traveling Street Magician's Companion Books

The words that paved and lit the road from pitch to pitch on my journey as a young street magician came from three major texts I brought with me everywhere. From Vegas to Chicago to Boston, these books helped me analyze how my day had gone and plan for a better one tomorrow. 

Among the dozens of books, booklets, and lecture notes I had read on the topic of street magic, Jimmy Talksalot's "To Lure With Spectacle" did the best job of conveying the psychology of being The Busker. There is unmatched advice on developing a performance character that can be adjusted to suit various pitches or venues. Beyond the standard basics covered by other texts, Talksalot offers advice about things as abstract as personal values to nitty gritty scripting techniques to do more successful shows. 

Eric Evans and Nowlin Craver's "The Secret Art of Magic" is unlike any other magic book. The first half delivers a detailed guide to street magic through the lens of Sun Tzu's "The Art of War." The second half is a magic theory book along the lines of Ortiz's "Designing Miracles" or Wiseman's "Magic in Theory", deriving fundamental techniques for misdirection and magic design from war strategy. Interpreting the 36 Strategies of War to make one's magic more convincing is a powerful thesis that the authors successfully accomplish. It's a unique dissertation in magic literature that also offers a path to growth and improvement. Like other practices that apply war strategies-- e.g. games like Chess and Martial Arts-- conscious application of technique leads to faster, smoother, intuitive application. That is to say, having the model of the 36 Strategies allowed me to internalize lessons and continually grow from performing shows. And on the streets we did a looot of shows.

And why do all that magic? At the end of the day, why do magic tricks for people? One can make someone else laugh by telling them a joke, forget about their troubles by watching a show, expand their mind by teaching science, or feel amazed by juggling or doing a back flip. Sam Sharpe's "Art and Magic" ponders art, illusion, philosophy, religion, wonder and the role of magic and the Magician in the cosmos. Sharpe's symbolic perspective of magic helped shape my understanding of the importance and meaning of the magic wand.  With insights ranging from a line or two to several paragraphs, it reads like Marcus Aurelius' "Meditations". Magic can create a uniquely powerful experience of wonder that invites joy, growth, and connection. Good things the world always needs more of.

As a traveling busker in my early 20s, the three books gave me purpose and the means to execute it. Check them out sometime