Any one here read "Sorcerer's Apprentice" by Tahir Shah?

It concerns the writer who, as a young man, learned to perform some odd bits of magic from a family friend.
Twenty years later (talk about an incubation period!) He goes to India to re-meet with the friend and learn magic seriously. Only to find the friend has sworn off doing magic forever (seems that show twenty years ago climaxed in a fireball that singed the hair and burned off the eyebrows of his hosts!)

The friend suggests he find the magician that originally taught HIM and the story goes into Gonzo weirdness from there.

Sounds like my kind of read. Thanks!

Just be advised, I don't say "Gonzo weirdness" lightly.

The cover picture is great. Read the first few pages on the Amazon site . . . this might give an interesting insight into the world of Indian magic . . .


Woland

Although his "mentor" force feeds him the history of magic, he doesn't know what's happening in one effect until he finds a way underneath the stage and sees the mechanism.

Ed,

Looking around, I found Tahir Shah's blog and some more interesting information about him. he is the son of Idries Shah, who wrote a few influential popular books about Sufism back in the 50s and 60s, also publishing a few compilations of humorous teaching-tales about the Mullah NassrEddin (Nasrudin) -- highly recommended.

I am definitely going to obtain a copy of this book!

Woland

Loved this book. I've mentioned it a few times on this very forum.

Found the book, and have begun reading. It is very interesting. More of a travelogue so far, but then I have only just reached the part where Tahir Shah describes his first few weeks of apprenticeship . . .



Woland

Completed reading the book. It's a well-done travelogue, describing all sorts of mountebanks, charlatans, and scam artists met along highways and byways most tourists and travelers never see. Most of the effects seem to be done with poisonous chemicals.

The character of the Bengali Mage, Hakim Feroze, is interesting. That part of the book reminded me of some of the memoirs concerning George Gurdjieff, on the one hand, and of Alejandro Jodorowsky's film, The Holy Mountain, on the other.

I would be interested to know, from someone who has independent knowledge of Indian magic, whether Hakim Feroze is in fact generally considered one of the greats in this field.

Thanks to you, Ed, for bringing this interesting book to our attention!

Woland

Great book, heavily paned when it came out by the skeptic boors.