A Magician Among The Spirits: (Hey Presto Magic Book)
HARRY HOUDINI'S CLASSIC INVESTIGATION INTO THE WORLD OF SPIRITUALISM - PUBLISHED IN A NEW EDITION TO MARK THE CENTENARY OF HIS DEATH
Harry Houdini was the most famous magician and escape artist of his age. But behind the handcuffs, death-defying escapes and extraordinary showmanship was another Houdini: the investigator determined to discover whether communication with the dead was real.For more than twenty-five years, Houdini attended s ances, investigated mediums and examined extraordinary claims of supernatural phenomena. A Magician Among the Spirits, first published in 1924, is his remarkable account of that search.Houdini takes the reader inside the strange and fascinating world of early Spiritualism, investigating the Fox Sisters, the Davenport Brothers, Daniel Dunglas Home, Eusapia Palladino, spirit writing, spirit photography, ectoplasm and the ingenious methods by which fraudulent mediums could apparently obtain information known only to their sitters. The book culminates in Houdini's argument for why the trained eye of a magician offered a unique defence against deception.At its heart is one of the most fascinating relationships in the history of magic: Houdini's friendship and profound disagreement with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The creator of Sherlock Holmes became a passionate believer in Spiritualism, while Houdini remained unconvinced. Their opposing views eventually placed two of the most famous men of their generation on opposite sides of an extraordinary debate.Yet Houdini was not simply a scoffer. He believed in an afterlife and desperately hoped for evidence that he might communicate with his beloved mother. He approached s ances wanting to find something genuine, but concluded that the evidence he encountered could be explained by deception, illusion or human psychology.
This special Hey Presto edition includes:
A new foreword by President of The Magic Circle, Marvin Berglas, and an introduction by Professor Richard Wiseman.
Published to commemorate 100 years since Houdini's death on Halloween, 31 October 1926, this edition presents one of his most important books for a new generation. Part detective story, part history of magic and part first-hand investigation into belief, deception and the desire to communicate with the dead, A Magician Among the Spirits reveals a side of Houdini every bit as fascinating as his legendary escapes.Essential reading for anyone interested in Houdini, magic, Spiritualism, the paranormal, scepticism, psychical research or the remarkable cultural world of the 1920s.
Customer Reviews
ThriftBooks ® and the ThriftBooks ® logo are registered trademarks of Thrift Books Global, LLC
