Funny thing about Crazy Man's Handcuffs. A couple of years ago, I was in a room with a bunch of high school math teachers. One of them knew how to do the CMH move and demonstrated it to the others at my table. I said nothing, but watched intently as they did it. What was interesting was that it was never considered to be a magic trick--it was an interesting and fun thing to do with a rubber band. Everyone learned how to do something cool, but no one, so far as I could tell, believed that they had learned a magic trick.

First, I think that this illustrates the difference between moves and magic. Without presentation, CMH is just a cool thing to do with a rubber band.

Second, the story shows that magic secrets may be rather different than we usually assume. Everyone knows how to show one thing and hide another; everyone knows that it is possible to deal cards from somewhere other than the obvious place. Those really aren't the secrets of magic: the secrets involve ways to mask how we do what everyone knows is possible.

For me, this leads to an amazing resource for the interested beginner. Magic for Dummies is a book that beautifully illustrates all this. The book is a gem because it teaches very few magical moves, but emphasizes magical performance on every page. Perhaps it would make an excellent first resource for the curious.

John

(hope I didn't ramble too much here)

Jonathan, they are laymen... my problem is knowing the differences between laymen who just want to know how it's done AND the serious ones.