I'm not sure 'The Berglas Book' is an indispensible text on any field of magic other than the life and times of David Berglas. It's not a book of secrets, it better describes his approach and mindset I suppose.

What it definitely is though is a beautifully produced book, bibliophiles will enjoy that aspect of it, very nicely bound and lovely paper, it's rare to see *any* kind of book that is as well crafted as this... plus, it's huge, so at least if the wife complains you can shoot her down with its very low cost per unit area of printed page.

Whether you think it is great or a waste of cash depends on a. how much you like David Berglas and b. whether you have plenty of money to spend on magic books.

Just my opinion. I am a generation too late to have seen David on TV, but I would still like to shake him by the hand. (And maybe try and wring some more details about ACAAN out of him!)

Phill

I really enjoyed the book but then it's exactly the kind of book that interests me - largely biographical. I love the Canasta books for the same reason but would rank them higher as he's more my kind of performer than Berglas.

I'm much more interested in seeing how people who succeeded *think* rather than just some seemingly random collection of tricks by someone I've only heard about on forums (and I include my own work in that )

I thought the book was fascinating. A look into the mind of a man that fooled nations. I wasn't expecting ACAAN [I actually think that is just a magician's trick anyway] so maybe that's why I liked it.

I have a few of his TV series on DVD and the episode that I thought bombed was
Berglas doing Wunderbar for Christopher Lee. Lee's is just so bored it is funny.

I wonder if Berglas knew Lee was privy to a lot of magician's secrets?
James

What's interesting about that episode is that Lee is obviously a believer in paranormal forces and Berglas is trying to walk a fine line by saying what he is doing is a trick without saying it's a trick!

I thought the book was the most overhyped and biggest dissapointment in magic.

I thought the book was brilliant!
A fantastic insight into the thoughts of a truly great performer. What a mind!
John Carney has some very interesting thoughts on this book over at the Genii forum. John considers "13 Steps" and "Mind and Magic of David Berglas" to be the best books on mentalism available.

The only thing wrong with the TV series are the fact they were filmed without much editing or David having any choice with the camera angles which were cringingly bad for us at home sometimes in the know! but I'm sure baffling for the people who he was performing in front of on the set!

Nowadays the Celebs are Executive Producers etc on their own shows and can edit out most of the dodgy angles as they are filmed from lots of other angles on tiny cameras, problems in Davids day, he was probably working with no more than three cameras the size of your average Harley Davidson in front of a studio audience too!

Three cameras is pretty much the norm for studio work. I don't think most shows use more than three.

When I first got into magic about 8 years ago, I was recommended by my teacher to view David Berglas' material that had been on TV decades earlier. I mentioned Berglas's name to my mother (RIP) who remembered his name... not for seeing him on TV but when she attended a 'dinner-dance' occasion many moons ago, David Berglas asked her to dance and she accepted and they danced to some songs... they left their separate ways but it could have been oh so different - me being the son of Berglas

Dave

"the mind & magic of david berglas" is already long time OOP..
can anyone tell where I can find the book again?
is it planning to re-print again, near the future?