Book giveaways
Dec 1, 2009 Events, Special Offers, Updates
For those of you who did not find the bottle of ether in the Taschen Magic book, here it is – the lucky winner is Paul Asselin, who also correctly kept his written piece to under 100 words.
We’re also sending Katie and Mike a copy of 59 Seconds by Richard Wiseman each for our “leave a comment, win a book” giveaway.
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
Win possibly the greatest Magic Book ever
Nov 20, 2009 Art, Image based, Special Offers, Specialist Subjects
TASCHEN are noted for their wonderful books crammed full of images and we own quite a few, however this release is really something special. Featuring more than 1,000 rarely seen vintage posters, photographs, handbills, and engravings as well as paintings by Hieronymus Bosch and Caravaggio among others, this 650-page volume traces the history of magic as a performing art from the 1400s to the 1950s.
Combining sensational images with incisive text, Magic explores the evolution of the magician’s craft, from medieval street performers to the brilliant stage magicians who gave rise to cinematic special effects; from the 19th century’s Golden Age of Magic to groundbreaking daredevils like Houdini and the early 20th century’s vaudevillians.
This book is a stunning publication. I will admit, first thoughts were that was a specialist release, however attempting to put the book down is very hard. Well actually it is very easy, its weighty feel is something to behold at a good 10lbs. And yet I must have spent at least 30 minutes turning pages and reading snippets before I realised the time.
Further more we’re giving away a copy of this book and not just any copy. We have managed to secure copies signed by one of the great illusionists of all time, Derren Brown. He is not featured in this book, its time period only stretches from 1400-1950, but many who have influenced him are.
To win a fantastic copy just visit the TASCHEN site here and select the LEAF THROUGH option on the right. Leaf through the MAGIC book until you find a bottle of Ether. Tell us exactly where you found it, along with the reason why you’re into books or magic (your choice but must be in less than 100 words) and email us here.
The winner picked out of a hat will be announced on the 1 December via the blog.
MAGIC – Taschen, Win a copy signed by Derren Brown on Vimeo.
Exclusive – low price offer over at Amazon
Leave a comment: win a book.
Nov 5, 2009 General, Special Offers, Updates
If you leave a comment on a book here that you’ve read. Simply say so, leave a few words about it and each month we will award the best commenter with a book of their choice from our lists.
We will be running this for a few months and as soon as we start to see more reviews we’ll be upping what we give away. So WATCH THIS SPACE!
Jo
Hello People
Oct 27, 2009 General, Special Offers, Specialist Subjects, Updates
Welcome to Why We Read, my own personal take on what is and isn’t worth reading. Having worked in a library, a school and a university as an IT specialist for 8 years I would find myself scouring through books for something decent to read.
The vast majority of books out there seem to garner their credibility on a gutter press quote on the jacket or a reader top 10 list that featured the likes of Jordan or some other equally vacuous celebrity. Training books always seem to offer to turn you in to a wizz in 24hrs and I’m always amazed at how hard it is to get a good recommendation.
So I intend to wade through all the crap out there and recommend a good solid reading list that will both entertain, inform and allow visitors to hopefully help build a complete list of worthwhile releases.
If you have any books that you feel are important and a good read then please email me and we will review.
Enjoy
Joe
