The Pages are Blank - Michael Feldman
$49.95
https://www.vanishingincmagic.com/magic-books/the-pages-are-blank

The Hype:

Nearly 200 pages of powerful, practical card magic exploring how we can create “real” magic for modern audiences.

As magicians, it is our job to make audiences question reality. A difficult task when you realize centuries of magic tricks have told us that vague gestures like “waving a wand” or “snapping our fingers” are good enough reasoning for why magic happens.

Michael Feldman has spent his career actively working against beliefs held by generations of magicians. He doesn’t hide the fact he’s using special skills. Instead, he invites his audience into a compelling world where they’re not asked to believe magic is “real”, but rather challenged to prove it isn’t. Every audience is left with a genuine feeling of astonishment, including Penn and Teller when he appeared on Fool Us a couple of years ago.

In The Pages Are Blank, Michael shares 19 of his most cherished pieces. Each one breaks the typical structure of magic, using devious, off-beat methods to leave every audience rethinking their idea of the impossible. Ideas that have garnered support from an impressive list of magicians like Asi Wind, Denis Behr, Tony Chang, Garrett Thomas, Caleb Wiles, Harrison Greenbaum, Erik Tait, Carisa Hendrix, and many others.

Broken into two main sections, the first part of The Pages Are Blank features Michael’s go-to material. The routines he performs when someone asks to see a trick. There’s something for everyone from quirky effects like “False Dichotomy”—a brain-bending routine in which two people's different realities both end up being true—to unique and fun takes on classics like Triumph and Card Under Glass.

Throughout this section, you’ll also find a variety of original techniques. Versatile moves like a devious two-card peek and a deck switch that is undoubtedly going to be the highlight of the book for most magicians. It is genuinely the most incredible deck switch we’ve ever seen. (Check out the trailer to see for yourself!)

In the second part of The Pages are Blank, Michael shares the results of his 25-year exploration of duplicate signed cards. Join him as he unlocks a whole new world of impossibilities from an Anniversary Waltz variation in which the faces of both cards can be seen to an impossible transpo where a signed card swaps with a card under someone’s finger in the fairest way.

Everything in this incredible hardcover book is a bona fide worker, honed and refined in front of live audiences over 1,000s of performances. The material touches all skill levels and, while some of it might require a bit of practice, there is nothing particularly knuckle-busting. The effect and method are explained in detail and are accompanied by beautiful photographs, the choreography, and an easy-reference summary featuring all the key details.

While The Pages Are Blank is a beautiful addition to any shelf. It is not written to collect dust. It is instead crying out to be read and studied carefully. This is destined to become a modern classic book for any lover of card magic.

My Take:

The first thing you notice about Michael’s book is that maybe the pages are not blank but the cover is. Pure white except for Michael’s name printed both very small and backwards. I immediately thought of the Beatles’ 1968 release of their White Album. A plain simple white cover hid pure gold inside. They proved that you don’t need a great cover to sell an LP. But I was wrong. He does give the reason for using the blank motif and it makes perfect sense. Aesthetics - His preface explains why it was chosen. It also is one of the most powreful sections of the book. Reading this tells of his strategy for performing and it is just about the opposite of the presentation you are now using. This section alone could change your whole performance and Vanishing Inc. was kind enough to put it on their site so you can read it for free. Please take the time to do so.  https://www.vanishingincmagic.com/blog/aesthetics-michael-feldman

The second thing that caught my eye was the printing. Vanishing has used a style known as full bleed. This is where the photos go right to the edge of the pages with no border. No printer will print right to the edge so the only way to do it is to print with a margin and then cut it off. It is much more costly and labor intensive but it does add a lot of class to a publication. The only time I have seen it used previously in a magic book was  Pit Hartling’s “Card Fictions” (which is referenced numerous times in Michael’s book). Needless today, a publishing company isn’t going to use this technique on a book unless they feel it is something very special.

I have to admit that I was not familiar with Michael so I asked my best friend (also know as Youtube) to see what is out there. I found that I had seen him before doing a great routine with a balloon on Penn and Teller. P&T figured it out but I am still clueless. As this book is only card magic, I am still unenlightened but you can see that performance here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uarBtleZ3Ck

Michael makes no pretensions of doing real magic. He lets his audinece know that he is doing a trick that requires skills he acquired though a lot of practice. I know a lot of us try to make our audiences feel like they have seen genuine magic but Michael gives his philosophy on just why that is not a good approach.

This is not a book for beginners. Michael will admit that some of his moves are knucklebusters but if you are a move monkey, you will be very pleased. He comes up not only with new moves but better ways to do older ones. He might even get you to drop things you already do. He is not a fan of ATFUS or the Biddle count. The moves he teaches however will give you some powerful tools to improve your magic.

Let’s hit some of the content. The book starts with Michael’s go to effects. Like I said, these are not easy. Victory is a gorgeous Triumph effect which takes place all in the hands. At one point, you can spread the deck and your spectator can see the face up and face down cards mixed.

Seven moves are taught including a peek whereby you peek two selections. Gin pick allows you to do a double lift from a tabled deck. This one is definitely worth the time. I have heard a lot of good things about Michael’s Out with the Wash, his invisible deck switch. It does require a gimmick but he tells you exactly how to construct it and once you get this one down (it is actually easier than a lot of his other things), you will become legendary. Or, how about being able to palm a card while you are shuffling. Then you are taught how to return the palmed card. He finishes up with a method to palm multiple cards instead of just one. There should be no end to the things you can accomplish with that.

I started reading the write up for “time One at a” and found that, like me, Michael seems to be a fan of science fiction themes and this one demonstrates time travel. (This theme previously has been explored most notably with S.H. Sharpe’s “Time Turned Backward”, 1940, and Ed Marlo’s “Time Machine” from Ron Bauer’s Private Studies Series.) I read the first page where the effect is described that I went onto the second page and “Effect” is printed again. A quick glance told me that the pages were identical. Long paragraph, Effect, 3 short paragraphs and a good sized footnote. The page across from each is identical. I am thinking that I have never seen Vanishing screw up like this so I started reading and found the second page is really totally different from the first. At the end it starts all over. then Michael adds “Just kidding”. Wow! Got me, Michael. First time I have ever been pranked by a book.

Do you like the card under glass trick? In Michael’s version it just keeps jumping back under the glass. Three times! And there is a really nice essay on overcoming the signature giving his technique for hiding the fact that one of the cards that is signed looks just a little different from the other one.

Phorgery has been previously made its debut in Joshua Jay’s Talk About Tricks column in Magic Magazine. Two signed cards switch places. Here is a place to put the education from the essay into play. And there are no knucklebusters in this routine.

The rest of the book focuses on four tricks using duplicate cards. I am sure you have one in your repertoire already. The first really good card trick that I learned was in Frank Garcia’a book, “Million Dollar Card Secrets”. Chicago Opener (also known as Red Hot Mama). This was also the first magic book that I bought and it is still on my shelf.

The first is Merely Impossible, a really incredible magician in trouble routine with roots in an Open Prediction type of plot.

And, if you want to perform it and don’t have it set up and with you, you are taught an impromptu version.

One Up is a killer, killer routine. However, you will be able to perform it in a fraction of our performances. However, when the situation is right, this is a trick your audince will never forget.

Phusion. Do you do Anniversary Waltz? With Michael’s version, you are actually able to show the faces of both cards at once before they are fused together.

For some reason a number of magicians (similar to politicians) make their livings as attornies. Besides Michael there are the late Simon Aronson and John Bannon. I think their profession has taught them to make sure their writings are accurate and readable to the lay public. This book certainly is. If you are an experienced card technician, this book needs to be on your shelf. If you are a wanna be, this book will give you a goal to work towards. The level of difficulty is mainly advanced but there are a couple you could pull off. If there is one you want to learn that is beyond your level, Michael’s write up will give you a starting place to find your own work around.

Plus, Michael is a funny, brilliant worker and he is fun to read. And a bonus. Several of the routines in this book can be viewed on Youtube so you can see what each is supposed to look ike if properly done. (Victory, time One at a, and his Shuffle Palm).

It should come as no surprise that I highly recommend Michael’s new book (plus, the next time I need a lawyer, he’s on my speed dial.)

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