The Garden of the Strange, by Celeb Strange

This is what the publisher (Alakazam) say about this;

In 2003, Luke Jermay invited Caleb Strange to write a book: nearly four years in the making, The Garden of the Strange is the brilliant result.

This beautifully written, deeply affecting book takes Mr. Strange’s trademark blend of innovative thinking and stunning presentations to the next level. With twenty compelling and original routines, and an additional half-dozen ‘from your pocket’ variations, this eagerly awaited work will be of great use and interest to mentalists, bizarrists, and table-hoppers alike.

Yet beyond its fine, audience-centred effects, The Garden of the Strange contains something more, of equal value to the working performer. For tucked away within its full and thorough notes, the attentive reader will find explained a wide range of powerful yet often neglected techniques (linguistic, literary, theatrical), which can be used to maximise the impact and enhance the quality of one’s work.
The Garden of the Strange, then, is a thrilling and, above all, fresh exploration of the art of the impossible: a lyrical and accomplished volume, it has been called, more than once, ‘the most inspiring book of magic I have yet read’.

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I read this book in a day (180+ pages) and at the end of it my mind was being pulled in all sorts of directions. Not just from the wonderful descriptive narrative, but from what the book was trying to be.

You see, Garden of the Strange is a collection of illusions, but wrapped in colorful wording that plunges you into the effect as though you are there. But there isn’t a bar, or a bit of table hopping in sight, there are a number of places dressed up in lighting and sound to make it very special and to help set the scene. The effects are bold and the atmosphere is immense, you can almost smell it. It is very creatively written, but despite that I was left, in a way, feeling that I would have difficulty performing any of these effects as written.

And here lies the rub, the imagination that has gone into the illusions is beautifully creative, with the stage being as important as the method, but I feel as though I would never be able to replicate that beauty as a whole. And would you do something if you knew it could be done better, even if that was only suggested in a book. I felt a little lost, a little out of my depth.

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The recently reformed band, The Police, once wrote “A week has passed since I wrote my note” and it is true for the above… a week has gone by and I am now drawn to the Garden of the Strange when I have a spare ten-15 minutes and am looking for a little inspiration. And although I’ve read it once, now reading it again, picking out random chapters, my expectations are managed around the illusion and I can feel free to concentrate on the presentation of that illusion, and how to create that colorful atmosphere. And now the books purpose comes full circle and a book that I thought didn’t quite deliver, now delivers on far more than the method, the presentation in essence is a major part of that.

So, to summarise, this book is not just about the method, and in fact I don’t even feel the need to mention any of the 20+ illusions - specifically to keep the mystery that this book inspires me to deliver, to me the Garden of the Strange is about inspiration, about the feel of an illusion, even the feel of the book, it’s cover, it’s pages, ooze quality. But to get that inspiration I feel you need to read it once, and then again and again, picking out the chapters when you are looking for those ideas about presentation and atmosphere, the methods, although well presented, are second to that. This book will feed your ability to entertain, and this is 99% of my need set when performing, and this book will be forever in my reach to inspire me with maintaining and improving on that goal.

Great Review Jono Thanks!

Just to let you guys know the Garden Of The Strange is now in stock and ready to ship. It should also be in stock with magic dealers worldwide by this time next week.

Best Regards

Peter Nardi

This sounds like an enticing and thought provoking read...

Ordered mine from http://www.alakazam.co.uk

Piers.

Thanks for the review!

I would also love to explore this book but unfortunately my order appears to have gone missing in the post (it included a couple of other expensive items) and now despite this being a large amount of money, Alakazam don't seem to want to reply to my requests for assistance. Peter has been very helpful in the past so I don't understand the lack of reply? Rant over, still hoping this will be sorted out and I get to read what sounds like a fascinating book.

Al

Rant about missing parcel retracted, Peter has a new computer system and has been 'missing' some emails. He has reassured me (through another mutual Café friend) it will be sorted out. Thank you Peter Nardi and Alakazam, a dealer of high integrity!

Cheers,
Al

I can not say enough about this book. It is wonderful. And while most of the material will probably be deemed too "theatrical" for the standard performer, the material is truly spellbinding. I can not recommend this book enough. The complex story telling is brilliant and the plots and methods are a wonderful mixture of method, theater, and psychology.

Thank you Caleb. You, like a select few before, have shared something provocative that could change the art as we know it. Thank you.

A question here before I buy this reasonably expensive but still appealing book:
Do all/most of the effects presented in the book work everytime, or is there some sort of cold-reading or hit-or-miss kind of thing?

Only a couple of them depend on suggestion or reading ability, but many of the rest are enhanced by them; 'work' is a matter of degree.

I browsed a copy of this book at Misdirections, in San Francisco, but ultimately didn't buy it. I was impressed with the design and production--too many magic books are cheaply printed Microsoft Word documents--so it was refreshing to see one done with care. I didn't buy it because I felt like I hadn't done my research; are these working routines or arm-chair dreams? I didn't see a single illustration or photograph, which gave me the impression of the latter. Please someone correct me if I'm wrong.

Gordon,

The absence of illustrations/photographs was a deliberate choice. Firstly, we wanted the reader's attention primarily focused on the use of language - words as wands (presentational and methodological) being a theme of the book. Secondly, we sought to encourage as imaginative a response in the reader as possible and we felt that the absence of illustrations helped with this.

As for arm-chair dreams, I understand the reasons for this reaction, so let me state for the record that all of the routines in the book have been performed by me and others at one time or another, some many times and a few I still present today, though not, at the moment, as Caleb.

Regards,

Paul.

I just want to say how much I enjoyed this book, the stories are a joy to read and there are some beautiful effect to go with them.



Aidan

This mysterious stranger I know near nothing about caught my eye with the description of his book. I bought it ran through it in a matter of hours then reread the book and then went through again and I keep going through it. The best part of this book isn't the tricks though they are all more then effective! It is the focus on what in my opinion the art should be about story! To engage an audience not with mindless puzzles but with something they can emotionally attach onto something that not any stage light, fog machine, hair care product, or over embellished movement can attempt to do. This is the art of wonder. Any genre, any magician who is willing to not only look at what effects are in the book but also the lessons within the book will find this to become a reference to work towards creating a relationship with the audience that can pay off big if applied.

Best magic purchase in years!

Respectfully,
Kyle Browning

I haven't read this book yet but I understand through my great knowledge and wisdom that you might as well like / enjoy "The Book of Light" by Tom Phoenix.