Darien Library
  1. julieklausner: Please note: if you don’t want to see this post at the top of your dashboard, just click the pin and it will go away! Get the new episode of my podcast from iTunes or download/stream it directly here! How Was Your Week: Episode 75“Doc Hopper Realness”: Alex Stone Ahoy! And a robust August to you. This week brings the return of the HOW WAS YOUR WEEK BOOK CLUB! Woo-hoo! YEAH! Books!!!!!!! The one and only guest on the show is Alex Stone, the author of Fooling Houdini: Magicians, Mentalists, Math Geeks & the Hidden Powers of the Mind. Strap on your nerd helmet, fasten its padded chin-strap, and get ready to learn… Why people STILL play Three-Card Monte What the term “in-attentional blindness” means and how it applies to getting your watch stolen The difference between magic and comedy And why there aren’t a lot of lady magicians. Plus, Julie posits a disturbing hypothetical about Mr. Rogers, ponders Stephen King extensively, asks after Billy Joel, discloses an embarrassing decision she made in a movie theater recently, condemns ventriloquist dummies, and recaps Puppetry of the Penis, which may or may not have been a dream we all had. Also: why it’s sometimes tougher to trick children than adults, who Julie has decided the blind Kenny Rogers of magic is, Jack Black’s performance in “Robert” Linklater’s BERNIE and what a “Hype” is, in the magic lingo world.There’s a lot going on in this week’s episode. This is a fascinating show for your face. And to see Alex Stone spit fire in our Community Room while referencing Arrested Development, watch this video. (Skip to the 3:20 mark)

    julieklausner:

    Please note: if you don’t want to see this post at the top of your dashboard, just click the pin and it will go away!

    Get the new episode of my podcast from iTunes or download/stream it directly here!

    How Was Your Week: Episode 75
    “Doc Hopper Realness”: Alex Stone

    Ahoy! And a robust August to you. This week brings the return of the HOW WAS YOUR WEEK BOOK CLUB! Woo-hoo! YEAH! Books!!!!!!!

    The one and only guest on the show is Alex Stone, the author of Fooling Houdini: Magicians, Mentalists, Math Geeks & the Hidden Powers of the Mind. Strap on your nerd helmet, fasten its padded chin-strap, and get ready to learn…

    • Why people STILL play Three-Card Monte
    • What the term “in-attentional blindness” means and how it applies to getting your watch stolen
    • The difference between magic and comedy
    • And why there aren’t a lot of lady magicians.

    Plus, Julie posits a disturbing hypothetical about Mr. Rogers, ponders Stephen King extensively, asks after Billy Joel, discloses an embarrassing decision she made in a movie theater recently, condemns ventriloquist dummies, and recaps Puppetry of the Penis, which may or may not have been a dream we all had.

    Also: why it’s sometimes tougher to trick children than adults, who Julie has decided the blind Kenny Rogers of magic is, Jack Black’s performance in “Robert” Linklater’s BERNIE and what a “Hype” is, in the magic lingo world.There’s a lot going on in this week’s episode.

    This is a fascinating show for your face.

    And to see Alex Stone spit fire in our Community Room while referencing Arrested Development, watch this video. (Skip to the 3:20 mark)

  2. Last Thursday we welcomed magician Alex Stone to the library to discuss his book Fooling Houdini. After the event, I asked him to sign The Expert at the Card Table, an extensive book on card manipulation written in 1901 by S. W. Erdnase, a pseudonymous author whose identity has remained a mystery for over a century. As you can see, Alex wrote, “Use this book with caution.” I have always wanted to own a book that comes with a warning.

    Last Thursday we welcomed magician Alex Stone to the library to discuss his book Fooling Houdini. After the event, I asked him to sign The Expert at the Card Table, an extensive book on card manipulation written in 1901 by S. W. Erdnase, a pseudonymous author whose identity has remained a mystery for over a century.

    As you can see, Alex wrote, “Use this book with caution.” I have always wanted to own a book that comes with a warning.

  3. Literary Outfits: A Series. Tonight, Alex Stone, author of Fooling Houdini visits the Library to teach us about magic, math, and physics!

    Literary Outfits: A Series.

    Tonight, Alex Stone, author of Fooling Houdini visits the Library to teach us about magic, math, and physics!

  4. We will have magic tricks this Thursday.

    We will have magic tricks this Thursday.

  5. youtastelikenachos:

    This morning I toured a MAGIC LIBRARY. What’s a magic library you say? It is a special collection for magicians, of course! I originally heard about it while reading Fooling Houdini: Magicians, Mentalists, Math Geeks, and the Hidden Powers of the Mind which is a fascinating book coming out this June about magic and math. So because I always oblige when someone asks for a tour of my library, I decided hey why not and emailed the Conjuring Arts Research Center asking for a tour.

    A few things of note:

    1. I asked them how they handle collection development since the librarians there seem to be archivists, not magicians. This is when I was informed that they have a “resident magician” (!!!) who does most of the collection development. 

    2. The librarian explained to me that their most difficult type of researcher is an actual magician. Why? Because they are very good at making things disappear. She was not joking. They have to literally keep careful watch over magician researchers so they won’t  make any rare manuscripts POOF disappear.

    3. Their catalog, which is only available to members, is called Alexander. I was curious to know where the name came from since most libraries have adorable stories for how they named their online access catalog (although my alma mater’s is named Aladin, which…boring). Turns out it is named after Alexander, a mentalist who was made famous by his ability to read minds. THIS IS A MAGIC LIBRARY JOKE.

    4. On my way out, the resident magician performed a trick for me. At first I was excited until I realized it was a trick my dad used to play on us when we were small called Black Magic. The resident magician must have assumed I was a magic rookie.

    Alex Stone will be here this Thursday. We’re going to get him to perform some magic tricks.

  6. Yes, he explains, the 1902 “Expert at the Card Table,” credited to the pseudonymous S. W. Erdnase, is regarded as a kind of magician’s holy book. But once, on a New York subway, a woman thought his gilt-edged, leatherette-bound edition was a real Bible. “Bless you,” she told him. Mr. Stone, “stifling the urge to stand up and start preaching from the legerdemain section,” instead decides to flash her an “innocent altar boy look.

    — 

    ‘Fooling Houdini’ by Alex Stone - NYTimes.com

    Okay so this little book Expert at the Card Table that is mentioned in this review of Alex Stone’s Fooling Houdini? I bought a copy of it when I visited the magic library he writes about in his book and I will be giving it away to a lucky patron when the author visits the Library July 19th.