Houdini: Master of Illusion

by Clinton Cox

Book Overview

This biography of famed magician and illusionist Harry Houdini explores how he carried out his amazing feats and exposes the secrets behind many of Houdini's tricks. The author cites Houdini's... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0439452325
• ISBN13: 9780439452328
• Release Date: January 2001
• Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Great Book!

Harry Houdini was a master magician, escape artist, and is as popular today as he was back in the early 1900's. But still, much of his life remains a mystery. Fact or fiction? Houdini told many lies about himself, and this is the book that uncovers what really happened. Houdini: Master of Illusion is about the life of Harry Houdini, the great magician and escape artist. It takes us through his humble beginnings and Houdini's deathbed promise to his father that he someday pour golden coins onto his mother's lap. After learning magic working as a photographer's assistant with his brother, they performed together for a short period of time before setting out on their own. Harry thrived on his own, reaching fame through vaudeville performances and European shows. In every city that Harry visited, he went to jails, broke free from cells, and escaped from handcuffs. Harry worked almost all of the time and soon lost physical ability. He looked at least ten years older than he really was. After he was through with vaudeville, due to movies, Houdini did a lot of work with mediums. After Houdini was convinced that they were phony, he spent tons of time and money trying to let the public know about this phoniness. Harry spent much of his private time grieving over his lost mother and visiting graveyards. Finally, after many years of doing countless escapes and feats, Houdini died. He died on Halloween, 1926, at 1:26 PM, of a ruptured appendix, for it flooded his stomach with advanced peritonitis. Houdini is just as popular today as he was back then, so in a way, he still lives on. This is a great book because it has happiness, sadness, and was interesting. This book is happy, because it is about a success story of a poor boy. It was happy when Houdini made the first flight ever in Australia, when Harry and Bess finally buy a house, and when Harry made an elephant vanish, a feat that made everyone want to head out to see Houdini. Houdini had many sad things happen to him in his life. One was growing up in poverty, also when he was getting too old and tired to perform, something very sad for a performer. But, the saddest thing of all for Houdini was when his mother died. He had always had a bit of an obsession for her, but it truly showed when she died. Houdini grieved for her the rest of his life. Finally, this book was interesting. It was interesting to learn that Houdini told many lies about growing up, where he learned magic, and his education. It was almost like he was trying to change who he was. It was also interesting to find out that when Houdini performed his great milk can escape, he had fake chains on the milk can. All Houdini had to do to get out was get out of handcuffs while squeezed inside of the milk can and push up. Another interesting part of Houdini's life was that he almost instantly lost fame when movies came along. Vaudeville houses were becoming less and less popular. Houdini decided to get into th

This book shocked me

This book was not bad but it did have some slow parts. I really liked the way Harry Houdini does all of his great tricks. To the way he hangs upside down in a strait jacket then gets out to the way hegets hung by his feet inside a tank filled with water with hand cuffs on and then gets out. Through out the book ge does many tricks but my favorite trick is when he gets out of a "burglar proof" room. But it was a pretty good book.

Houdini: The Greatest Magician Ever?

This book is a very concise biography of Harry Houdini. The book begins at his child hood and continues to his death. This book has great descriptions of Houdini's life. It displays the ways that he completed his stunts and tricks of illusions. this book is fun to read and easy to read. Also if you enjoy magic, this is the book for you.

Houdini Master of illusions

This book was the best books I have ever read! It shows how Houdini did his stunts and what happened in his life. The book started out with Houdini as a boy who wanted to be a magician. As he got older he learned how to pick locks and master locks. Then he was able to pick any lock that was thrown on his wrists. Soon he was named "Houdini King of locks." If you want to know how magicians do their tricks you should read this book.

An excellent biography of Houdini's magic

Clinton Cox's Houdini provides an excellent biography of Houdini's magic. Chapters are filled with insights on how he developed his skills.