The Right Way to Do Wrong: An Expose of Successful Criminals – free download.
Nov 24, 2009 History, Philosophy & Thinking, Skeptical books, Special Offers
Sticking with our magic theme this week we have a great release for anyone interested in magic. Writen by Houdini himself, The Right Way To Do Wrong is an interesting look in to the techniques of what has to be the world’s greatest magician.
Houdini spent a lot of his time debunking people who made fraudulent claims, from psychic abilities to magical powers. The Right Way is Houdini’s first book and is more directed towards exposing criminal activity, but there is a passage or two on “spiritual frauds”. From Burglars, thieves, pickpockets and beggars it’s all covered here, but don’t take my word for it. You can download a free copy of the audio book here.
LibriVox recordings are Public Domain in the USA. If you are not in the USA, please verify the copyright status of these works in your own country before downloading, otherwise you may be violating copyright laws.
SYNOPSIS: The legendary Harry Houdini started the tradition of magicians debunking charlatans and revealing secrets of the trade that continues today through the likes Penn and Teller or James “The Amazing” Randi. But Houdini went even further here, in this delightful 1906 novelty: he revealed the working secrets of thieves, swindlers, and con artists. Culled from his conversations with “the chiefs of police and the most famous detectives in the world,” Houdini’s tales of the tricks of the trade of beggars, pickpockets, and burglars are instructive and amusing. The master showman was also a surprisingly entertaining writer-and this is one of his most enjoyable books, one that will enthrall readers of true crime as well as fans of Houdini himself. Hungarian-American magician and professional skeptic EHRICH WEISS (1874-1926)-aka Harry Houdini, “Handcuff King and Jail Breaker”-also wrote Magical Rope Ties and Escapes (1920) and A Magician Among the Spirits (1924).
Amazon Link
November 27th, 2009 at 9:59 am
Also Librivox is pretty good for most of the Philosophy canon as well, Marcus Aureilius to Russell and Nietzche are all on there it’s my first port of call for such things. It is nice to find a book on my reading list that is in a different category on there too.
November 29th, 2009 at 2:05 pm
Thanks, enjoyed this, Houdini is an entertaining writer. It’s interesting how some of the scams exposed in 1906, such as the letter swindles, continue today but now use email as their medium.