 Online Review,
I Saw That! Exclusive Magic:
- Brain Food is
an excellent book that describes how one performer transformed
his magic into an artform. Using a format similar to the one
used in The Books of Wonder, David Parr presents short but highly
insightful essays on various topics, each followed by one or
several performance pieces -- they're much more than mere "tricks"
-- that illustrate the topic discussed. Following an essay on magic as art and
another on creativity, David explains how analyzing the effect,
method and presentation helps him improve performance pieces.
The essay on presentation, for instance, leads to a disappearing
cigarette routine presented as a demonstration of resistance
to pain, with the disappearance coming as a complete surprise.
An examination of methods leads to an improved slow-motion bill
transposition that's cleaner and more logical than the original.
In other essays,
David explains why everyday-looking props are better than magic
props, how to create suspension of disbelief by appearing to
be totally above-board, and why magicians should use suspense
in addition to surprise. In all, there are fourteen essays and
eight fully-scripted routines, including David's delightful and
highly acclaimed "Dinner with the Borgias", a theatrical
piece full of drama, tension, and humour. Brain Food is a wonderful -- and very
useful -- book because, rather than simply stating rules, David
explains why and how his own thinking and experiences have led
him to reconsider many of our beliefs about magic. I wholeheartedly
recommend it to all magicians who are convinced -- or want to
be convinced -- that magic is, indeed, an artform.
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- Magic
Magazine:
- David Parr is
a thoughtful magician. He carefully constructs the effects he
puts into his performing repertoire, and he treats magic as an
art. I'm sure that several of these routines will find their
way into the repertoires of working performers, and his essays
give us much to mentally chew on. I enjoyed Brain Food very much. Mr. Parr
writes clearly and intelligently, and what he has to say will
make you think.
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- — Michael Close, August,
1998
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- Online
Review, Microsoft Network:
Hi, gang. A new book is out and this kid thinks it's great! BRAIN
FOOD by David Parr; produced by Hermetic Press. The book is very
offbeat and dark. It deals with a bizarre twist in presentation
and performance. David's approach to Magic is right up my alley
and hits the mark in theory as far as I'm concerned. Eight complete routines,
14 thought provoking essays (I read the book twice in the same
night and I'm reading it again!). The ending piece is pure theatre
and for the chosen few that will try it, a gold mine.
The real value of
the book is in the author's thinking; his approach to Magic.
Not an easy or popular approach I'll bet, but definitely one
of the right roads leading to entertainment. I just
loved it! By
the way, did I say I recommend BRAIN FOOD?
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- — Book review by George
Robinson Viking Mfg.
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- The
Linking Ring:
- Someone once
said that if he got one good trick out of a magic book, the book
had more than accounted for the cost. Well, on that basis, this
book is an outright bargain. There are both excellent thinking
and superb effects here. I recommend the book highly.
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- — Phil Willmarth, August,
1998
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- The
Magic Circular:
"The highlight of the book for me [is] a 22 page section
devoted to the background, presentation and method of a single
performance piece of Parr's, "Dinner with the Borgias,"
one of the most entertaining, theatrical and intelligent presentations
for Just Chance I've ever come across. I'd love to see more writing
like this about stand-up performance material, but the sad honest
truth is that most of it just doesn't have this level of depth
or thought behind it."
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- — Anthony Owen, AIMC
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