From the ancient cups and balls trick to modern day illusions, I've always been fascinated by magicians and their tricks. I've often thought about writing a book about magic, but then I realized it would take the rest of my life to even skim the surface of the research. Since I don't have the time, dedication or discipline for that, I'll just share a few cool Things I've learned so far.

The essence of magic is convincing people to disbelieve their eyes. The method magicians use to deceive their audiences depends upon the type of magic they're performing. There are three basic types of magic:

• Close-up Magic requires sleight of hand skill and includes card tricks, vanishing coins and other tricks. Close-up magic dates back over two thousand years. The cups and balls trick, in which the magician appears to pass one solid object (the ball) through another (the cup), was performed by ancient Roman magicians. The sleight-of-hand techniques the Romans used, such as misdirection and palming, are exactly the same today as they were then. 
• Club Magic uses props for both distraction and as the objects of the tricks themselves. The props can be anything from live animals to flowers, silks, balloons, ropes, etc. When magicians first started putting together magic “acts” that string a series of illusions and tricks together for the purpose of entertaining kings and other important people, club magic was born. 
• Stage Magic requires specially designed cabinets, props and/or machinery to create illusions. Disappearing acts, sawing people in half and some escape tricks are examples of stage magic that employs engineering, science and technology to fool the audience. Harry Houdini was arguably the father of modern stage magic, elevating himself to worldwide fame with his daring, death-defying escapes. 

Street magic and shock magic have become popular in recent years, but the top three are still the staples of modern day magic. While all magicians have their signature tricks and illusions, they still use the age old techniques of distraction, palming, misdirection and just plain science and engineering to fool their audiences.

You'd think that after working here for most of my life, I'd know how all the tricks are done, but I don't. I don't want to know. Because the kid in me will still likes to wonder “How did they do that?” 

See you next week,
Bobby