[vunderba]

Back when I was seriously considering becoming a magician in the early 90s, an apprenticeship (particularly someone skilled in sleight of hand) was almost a necessity. The alternative was grainy VHS tapes and books.

Though I’m grateful to have mastered them, I don’t exactly have especially fond memories of learning to properly perform shifts and back palms from a series of dense text descriptions and poorly drawn hand diagrams in books by S.W. Erdnase and Henry Hay.

As a kid, I spent a lot of time at Eddie’s Trick Shop, a local magic store that doubled as a hangout for many great magicians. Once you proved your devotion to the craft, they were more than happy to help newcomers learn.