What do you think?
Rate this book
Scripting Magic Volume Two
445 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 2017
5 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
April 1, 2019
As in the first volume of this series, Pete McCabe has taken up the holy quest of convincing magicians to improve their script-writing, and I say bless him for it! It's high time more magicians start giving their audiences meaningful and well-written presentations rather than mere stunts or puzzles narrated by "patter."
In my review of the first volume, I said I now consider it required reading for performing magicians. I will echo that sentiment here. I also said that the one flaw I identified in the first volume was that the advice presented was largely unstructured, rendering it potentially least effective for those readers who most needed to learn from it. This second volume rectifies this problem.
While the books cover much the the same ground (they are, after all, considering exactly the same topic), I was pleasantly surprised to see how much new information McCabe and his various contributors were able to add to this sequel. Only in the rarest of moments did it feel like I was re-reading the same information. But most significantly, this second volume is better-organized and more structured than the first volume. The author has even provided a handful of exercises to help the reader begin to write high-quality scripts even if he or she has never tried to do so before. Don't get me wrong; this is not a book only for beginners. Even seasoned professionals will find useful advice and some new ideas. Still, that the book is at least accessible to beginners is a strong point in its favor.
Like its predecessor, this might be exactly the right book at the right time in the history of magic.
In my review of the first volume, I said I now consider it required reading for performing magicians. I will echo that sentiment here. I also said that the one flaw I identified in the first volume was that the advice presented was largely unstructured, rendering it potentially least effective for those readers who most needed to learn from it. This second volume rectifies this problem.
While the books cover much the the same ground (they are, after all, considering exactly the same topic), I was pleasantly surprised to see how much new information McCabe and his various contributors were able to add to this sequel. Only in the rarest of moments did it feel like I was re-reading the same information. But most significantly, this second volume is better-organized and more structured than the first volume. The author has even provided a handful of exercises to help the reader begin to write high-quality scripts even if he or she has never tried to do so before. Don't get me wrong; this is not a book only for beginners. Even seasoned professionals will find useful advice and some new ideas. Still, that the book is at least accessible to beginners is a strong point in its favor.
Like its predecessor, this might be exactly the right book at the right time in the history of magic.
Displaying 1 of 1 review