I am the proud owner of a large collection of magic books. Perhaps, my most prized book is a copy of a Nelson Enterprises catalog from the 1960s.
Nelson Enterprises was a magic store located in downtown Columbus that specialized in mentalism, magic that mimics psychic phenomenon. Just reading the catalog will make you skeptical about paranormal claims.
For sometime, I had thought about scanning my copy and putting it online, but now I find the public library in Columbus has beat me to it. Read and be amazed!
You can read about Robert Nelson here.
Did you know that Martin Gardner, who wrote the legendary math puzzles column for Scientific American for many years, was also a big fan of magic? Check out his autobiography “Undiluted Hocus Pocus” and his earlier collection of puzzles “Mental Magic”.
Thanks! Yes I did, in fact I have a pamphlet of card tricks that he wrote back in the sixties.
My favorite story story about Gardner is that he wrote a negative review of one his own books under a pseudonym that was published in The New York Review of Books. You can read the review here:
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/1983/12/08/gardners-game-with-god/
Also you if like Gardner’s work, I recommend the writings of his friend Raymond Smullyan, who died just last February:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Smullyan
Thanks for the p
Pointers!
Very entertaining!!