I don't often review things I get. I'm not a staff reviewer for any magazine and, frankly, not much tickles my fancy to the extent that I actually feel moved to write about it. I don't expect anyone to hold my opinions to any lofty heights, still I occasionally put them forth in hopes they are at least useful in some small way to others. Here's one of those cases.

Before I start, you should know I like Richard Osterlind quite a bit, and for many reasons. In part, he's been both kind and generous to me, answering questions I've asked and providing me great advice, and I believe he's contributed some of the most amazing, useable, and practical tricks to the world of magic and mentalism. (If you haven't yet gotten his 4 DVD set, you'd do well to purchase the set while he's still offering the incredible price of $100 postpaid: http://www.osterlindmysteries.com/storevid.htm That's less than $25 per DVD shipping included for stuff you can actually use.)

For years his "Surrounded Slow-Motion Center Tear" has been, in my estimation, the best around and his clarification of the technique in "The Perfected Center Tear" is well worth your attention. And I've already posted my opinion of "The Osterlind Breakthrough Card System", which I believe is some of the best $15 you're going to spend on learning a totally mind-blowing technique for handling a stacked deck of cards.

So yeah, I'm something of a fan of Richard's, which makes the following somewhat...well, just continue reading.

A couple of months ago I got his latest ebook, "Making Magic Real." I can't recall if I shouted from the rooftops why this was an excellent book to read, but if not, this is an EXCELLENT book to read. It's a series of essays on being a magician. BEING a magician. It's $10, which is one-fourth the amount you were going to spend on another book on card tricks you'll never perform and probably won't be totally jazzed about anyway, but feel you have to have anyway. This book, however, will pay dividends for the rest of your performing life. (Divide the number of years you intend to continue performing by $10 and you'll find it's one heck of a deal. Or, at least, I hope so.)

So, this morning, I downloaded the latest Osterlind ebook called "Making Real Magic". I've read it twice now and, while my impressions are still clear in my head, I have a few things to say about it you may find useful before you go to download your own copy.

After the usual preface, the opening volley of this book is found in this paragraph:

"I firmly believe magic is an art. It is a fine art. It is due all the respect and study that any art deserves. I also believe the obligation of a magician is to create a sense of mystery, wonder and excitement that takes his audience to a special place where the impossible becomes possible and dreams become reality. It is a place where feelings of joy, happiness and innocence, rivaling that of childhood, are born."

Now, if you'd disagree that the paragraph above is profoundly and eloquently definitive of what we, as magical performers, are about -- and I really don't think you would disagree -- then you may as well forget the rest of this review, because that paragraph lays the foundation for the rest of this wonderful book.

Tommy Wonder's "Books of Wonder", lots of stuff by Bob Neale, stuff by Derren Brown, and just about anything by Eugene Burger -- these are works that come immediately to mind when I think about interesting, useful and relevant essays about the performance of, and "making real", magic for live people. These ebooks comfortably fit in that group and I am glad to have them in my collection.

In one of the chapters, Richard refers to something I've often pointed to: the beginning of the Tarbell Course. In volume one you'll find a fascinating bit of history of magic and is (or should be) wildly relevant to what we do. Yet, you won't find many performing magicians who embrace our history in context with our performances, which is a plain shame to not only magic in general, but especially to their audiences. When you do find someone who does, though, you'll notice he's nearly deified by either his audience, fellow magicians, or both. I don't think that's a coincidence, by the way.

"You suck" is not the worst thing your audience can say about you when you've performed for them. I think the worst thing they can say is, "Who cares?" "You suck" at least suggests you've done something relevant that doesn't measure up to some expectation they have. "Who cares?", however, suggests you and what you've done for them is irrelevant. Your magic performance is so dead at that point you can't even hear the death bell ringing.

"Making Real Magic" helps you define (or redefine) what it is you are doing in your act to make it -- and you -- relevant to your audience. It helps you focus on audience expectations and how to meet or exceed them in a magical way. To me, that's where real magic lies. Practicing "The Golden Rule" when performing magic is a sure-fire way to fail with an audience. Focusing on what _they_ want from our performances seems obvious, but evidently most performers don't give it consideration.

There are twelve chapters in this book, the titles of which are perfectly chosen:

1. Magic as an Art
2. The Nature of Magic
3. Personalizing Magic
4. How Can Magic Be Real?
5. Tom Bombadil
6. Making Real Magic
7. Drama
8. The Power of Simplicity
9. Seeing Through the Eyes of the Audience
10. The Magician in the Physical World
11. Osterlind's Amazing Memory Demonstration
12. Making Magic Your Own

(Chapter 11 is a trick you can use.)

Now, you can _spend_ money on magic tricks and books, or you can _invest_ your money. Spending money is akin to gambling it away, or supporting a hobby, or just buying something because you want to; none of which is inherently a bad thing. (Just a couple of days ago I visited H&R Magic Books in Humble, TX and spent far more than I invested. Not that I regret doing so, but I do know to make the distinction between the two.)

Investing money on magic, however, means you intend and expect to get back several dollars for every dollar you spend. How on earth anyone can argue that for every one of the twenty dollars this book costs will fail to return multiples of it is beyond my comprehension.

I find this, like Osterlind's other offerings, is a drop dead bargain. Unless you number yourself among those performers who really don't care about how your act is perceived, or how to make it better (and earn more money more often), I believe you belong to the group of people for whom this book will be helpful and worthy of investment. You really should get this.

It's laid out well, and it's not a small book but neither is it difficult to read. It's available for instant download for just $20 at: http://www.osterlindmysteries.com/storemrm.htm

I don't praise many books or tricks, but Richard is batting a thousand for me, and I think this ebook is worth a look for you. And if the sales and comments from his most previous ebook, "Making Magic Real" is any indication, I'm not alone.

John LeBlanc
Houston, TX

You are not alone, Mr. Leblanc. Making Real Magic is not filled with tricks, but tools. Powerful tools.

Maybe Mr. Osterlind should consider a print version of both manuscripts, toghether. I think those two e-books are an enormous contribution to the art of magic.

Enrique,

Thank you and John for the great comments about the ebook. For now, we are going to keep the works as ebooks. Perhaps sometime in the future we may do what you suggested, along with additional material, but that is not in the plans at the present time.

Sincerely,
Richard

As usual, I must chime in here and agree with all the positive things said thus far about "Making Real Magic." I was forced to break my "No New Books For Awhile" rule and, as I knew I would be, I'm glad I did. Osterlind's thinking is, as always, clear and useful, easily readable and a helluva lot to think about.

Thanks Richard!

E

The year 2003 has been very rewarding for me. My video series Mind Mysteries has been a great success and my other offerings have been well received. Both the product sales and the amount of magic “fan mail” have been overwhelming! I want to thank all those magicians and mentalists who have been so supportive and offered such good advice. I feel as if I have “returned” to the magic community.

Since this thread is about Making Real Magic, I thought some of you might be interested to know when and why it was written. In the beginning of the year 2002 I realized that some routines I performed, such as metal bending and certain other effects, had become “real” to me. My manner and approach was entirely different than other magic I performed. I decided to sit down and analyze why this was the case and see if I could apply it to all my magic. The result was my book, Making Magic Real. I used this as the basis of a lecture I gave to a Cincinnati group and then put it away. After recording Mind Mysteries, Jim Sisti and I decided to market a few effects. We put up Making Magic Real as an ebook on our website, thinking it would attract a few magicians who were interested in this sort of thing. To our surprise, the book “took off” and continues to sell very well. The emails I get almost daily and the postings on the Café show that many magicians enjoy this kind of thinking.

After Mind Mysteries was released, the initial response from many magicians was that this was “strong” material. I had already begun working on a series of essays to hopefully form a new book to compliment Making Magic Real. The response to Mind Mysteries showed me that some thought as to “why” that material played so powerfully was in order. Again, I tried to analyze what I had come to do naturally and why certain magic appealed to me. This is how and why Making Real Magic came into being. We waited with extreme expectancy to see if the new book would be well received, but both Jim and I could not imagine how good that turned out to be. The ebook has only been on the market for a week and already the sales have been startling! Thank you for your wonderful response and for putting up with my “verbiage”!

Please, if you have any questions or opinions about my work, never hesitate to email me. Those of you who have done so know that I do not hesitate to respond immediately. If I am on the road I will get back to you ASAP.

Sincerely,
Richard

osterlind999@earthlink.net

And that is why he is one of the BEST Mentalists and Performes EVER.

And, don't forget Essays, the third part of the trilogy. The most valuable books on my shelf!

A concise, thought provoking read..absolutely wicked!!
Thanks for sharing your wisdom with us Richard.

Boy! This is the first I've heard about a THIRD e-book (i.e., Essays). I only was aware that Richard had released Making Magic real and Making Real Magic. This is good news.

Mike

I also have this eBook. All I can say is that, if you are a performing magician - one who works for real people in real situations, not just magic clubs - GET THIS BOOK!

Then read it. Live it, breathe it and flaunt it. The material is solid platinum - and not really a trick in the entire thing.

And that's why I say that it's for the performing magician only.

Lee Darrow, C.H.

Lee,

IMHO, Amatuer magicians probably can use books on magic theory and presentation much more so than working pros. At the very least, it would help raise the standard of magic in general if all magicians read such books, took the material to heart and applied what they learned from such books.

Overall, magic, in general, has a very dreary reputation. Anything that would improve our image in the eyes of the public is a plus.

But, then again, any magic book that has "not really a trick in the entire thing" will be "safe" from the general magic-buying public and such books secrets will be protected.

Sad....but true.

Mike

Actually, you should get the entire trilogy, each book fill eachother out.
These books are a goldmine for a performer.
I guess I mentioned in another thread on the subject, that I wouldn't go as far as to say that it should be prohibited by law to enter any stage without having studied these books.

Well,- I have changed my mine.
It SHOULD be prohibited !

Just get these books!

Sven

I just purchased Making Real Magic and am anxious to read it... however, I have yet to received the download. Is it emailed to you or are you supposed to be prompted right after you purchase it? I reveived no prompt and no email thus far. I emailed Jim Sisti but have not heard anything back yet. I don't mind waiting. Just hoping something didn't go wrong. What were other people's experiences with the download process?

Cfrancis, by now you should have received your copy of MRM. For anyone just tuning in, I'll explain that it works like this: You place your order and Jim e-mails your copy just as soon as he gets to his computer and sees your payment - usually the next day.

*jeep!
--Chet

I agree with John (and I don't agree with him on much).

I'll go even further: I have never, ever been disappointed by anything Richard has released, from his books, e-books, DVDs, or products. It's quite clear to me that he doesn't put anything out that isn't practical, extremely well polished, and useable.

I don't think there's a single other publishing performer about whom I can say this.

--Josh

Okay. Good. I placed the order yesterday so I hope I receive the book today. Very excited to read it. Thanks for the info.

Actually, that's _not_ how it works.

Once the transaction is completed through PayPal, the purchaser receives an instant e-mail notification containing a download link. However, every once in a while, the auto-generated e-mail with the link will get swallowed up by an overly-aggressive spam filter on the buyer's end. In that case, yes, I usually will manually send the book as an e-mail attachment. However, the overwhelming majority receive their purchase immediately.

If anyone has any questions and is looking for an accurate answer, I think it's fairly clear from the preceding that they should be directed to either Richard or I directly.

Well, that's what I get for trying to prepare a proper answer without first printing it on paper and tearing it up. Thanks for the clarification, Jim!

*jeep!
--Chet

You know what I despise? I despise people who post on a thread and have very little other to say than, "Me, too!"

It seems that everyone in this thread so far has enjoyed Mr. Osterlind's eBooks.

Me, too!

As mentioned elsewhere on another forum, I'm a magician slowly edging my way into mentalism and "mind magic". "Making Magic Real" was recommeded way back before there *was* a eBook review section here on TMC, and I picked it up. I can't recommend these sets of thoughts strongly enough. It's certainly given me a lot to think about, and one suggestion in "Making Real Magic" in particular has, in fact, immediately improved not one, but all of the effects I do! (No, I'm not going to say what it is. When you read the book, I suspect you'll sort it out for yourself.)

Highly, highly, highly recommended.

I would suggest to read the complete "Triology". I like especially the second and the third book.

Magixx