How to Be Weird by Eric G. Wilson

Author:Eric G. Wilson [Wilson, Eric G.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2022-11-08T00:00:00+00:00

62.

Master Legerdemain

Two-Drink Mike loves dancing and knows a magic trick. Zero-Drink Mike enjoys biographies and has serious opinions on wildlife. Five-Drink Mike dances with wildlife.

Mike Birbiglia

Between July and November of 1916, the Allies (the British Empire and the French Third Republic) and the German Empire faced off over the River Somme, located in the north of France. The conflict, later known as the Battle of the Somme, proved one of the bloodiest in history. One million soldiers were killed or wounded, and the British suffered 60,000 casualties in one day. Of those lucky enough to survive, many suffered serious mental damage, then known as shell shock.

Richard Valentine Pitchford was one such soldier. He practiced card tricks to help his recovery. Later, after he became “Cardini,” one of the most successful magicians in Europe, he reflected on the therapeutic value of magic: “Of course they [medics] didn’t know so much about occupational therapy back in the first World War, but manipulating my fingers with cards amounted to just that.”

Drawing on incidents like these, Charles Folkard, later a famous magician himself, wrote Tricks for the Trenches and Wards (1915), a collection of magic tricks meant to cheer up wounded soldiers. Since the publication of Folkard’s book, psychologists, teachers, and other magicians have continued to explore the benefits of learning magic tricks. Though the research on the subject isn’t conclusive, it does suggest that mastering and performing magic can develop problem-solving skills, cognitive and motor skills, communication capabilities, self-esteem, the imagination, and the ability to tell a good story.

Learn a magic trick and perform it.

Like Cardini, you might choose a card trick: Ambitious Card, Twisting the Aces, Out of this World, Dr. Daley’s Last Trick.

But then there is coin legerdemain: Miser’s Dream, Empty Cloth, Coin Bite, Three Fly, Elbow Coin Vanish.

Also consider transformation (turning a red scarf yellow), restoration (ripping up a newspaper and putting it back together), or levitation (floating a dollar bill above your hand).

Whatever trick you chose, you will learn a new craft, which will stimulate new thoughts. And when you perform the trick, you will be relating to people in fresh, interesting ways. You will also be magic.

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