Next-Book Syndrome
The Addiction
I used to have a friend who had made millions in direct marketing. Those
familiar with the field will know that working off the right mailing list is more
than half the battle. He told me that the biggest moneymaker he ever had was a
weight-loss product he pitched through the mails. Not surprisingly, he worked
from lists of people who had previously bought weight-loss products. The grim
reality was that they were probably still overweight and looking for another
solution to their problem.
He told me that the most productive mailing list he ever worked off was a list of
people who had ordered another weight-loss product
within the last week
. This
meant, of course, that the person hadn’t had time to give the first product a fair
trial. Yet, they were already ordering something else to accomplish the same
thing.
One can picture them opening the first product and discovering that, instead of
offering a magic solution, it required diet and exercise. So they immediately
tossed it aside and ordered the next product that they hoped would provide a
miracle with no effort on their part. No doubt, they would then sit by the
mailbox in breathless anticipation of how the new miracle product would
transform their bodies.
I suspect that many magicians can identify with that anticipation, having sat by
their mailbox often enough awaiting the next great magic book that would
transform them into great magicians. They could probably also identify with the
disappointment of having to face reality once the book arrived.
Yet, like our overweight friends, this disappointment doesn’t dissuade them
from believing that the NEXT book will be better. Indeed, the next book
will
always be better for one simple reason. It doesn’t exist for them yet. No magic
book that exists can ever measure up to a magic book that doesn’t exist. Because
as long as it doesn’t exist, each magician can project his own fantasies and
unrealistic expectations onto it.
Crashing
It’s only when the book arrives that the magician must face the fact that, no
matter how great it is,
it’s only a book
. It’s only a finite collection of specific
effects, moves, or insights. To benefit from it, you have to read it, study it, and
think about what you’ve read. Finally, you have to put in the effort to transform
what’s on the page into something you can effectively do for people. To bring
the book to life you have to
work
.
Ironically, the better the book, the more work it will probably demand of the
reader. Therefore, the less likely it is to be appreciated by the average magician.
Even if you do put in the work, the book will only help you become a better
magician. It won’t transform your life.
It’s only a book
.
When the average magician realizes this, disappointment inevitably sets in. This
disappointment is usually expressed as, “I really thought the book would be
better than this.” The feeling being expressed, however, is, “Gee, my life is no
different than it was the day before the book arrived.” A recent magic board post
expressing this sort of disappointment with some long-awaited book ended with
the poignant comment, “I don’t know what I was expecting.” Am I the only one
who detects a sad, lost tone to this statement?
Not long ago, magicians were awaiting the publication of Juan Tamariz’s
Mnemonica
with the same desperation that tsunami survivors await the arrival
of emergency aid. Then one of the inevitable publishing delays was announced
on a message board. Someone responded wittily, “Oh no! Now I’m going to have
to read one of the magic books I already own!”
This joke contains a profound truth. The continual hysteria of anticipation for
the NEXT magic book is, in fact, a way to avoid the hard work of studying the
books you already own.
The High
It has become common for magicians to blame their disappointment with each
eagerly awaited magic book in turn on the book having been “over-hyped.” (I
confess I’m not clear on the distinction between hype and “over-hype.” Since
hype is short for hyperbole, one would think that any exaggeration would
merely constitute hype.)
It’s true that there are people in the magic business who are masters of using
the Internet to whip magicians into hysterical anticipation over whatever they’re
planning to market next. Their posts usually start with, “I’ve just had the good
fortune to see an advance copy of John Doe’s _____.” (Translation: “My
company will soon be marketing John Doe’s _____.”)
Nevertheless, I don’t believe that most of the blame for the periodic outbreaks of
next-book hysteria among magicians falls on the shoulders of authors,
publishers, or dealers. At the merest whisper of some new book in the works
magicians will take to the Internet to whip
each other
into a frenzy. It’s the
magicians themselves who produce ridiculously unrealistic expectations in their
own minds for each new book on the horizon.
I don’t think that hype is at all the right word for what is going on here. A
producer promoting his product with exaggerated claims is hype. A group of
people stroking each other into an orgiastic frenzy isn’t hype; it’s a circle jerk.
Magicians will talk about checking their mailbox each day in breathless
anticipation of receiving the NEXT great magic book. I can sympathize. I recall
doing the same thing as a child waiting for the arrival of the decoder ring I’d
sent away for using breakfast cereal box tops. In fact, magicians awaiting the
next magic book or video set most closely resemble children awaiting the arrival
of Santa Claus (except that they don’t show quite as much maturity).
Indeed, I think that the anticipation itself and the fantasizing they can indulge
in while waiting for the NEXT book is precisely what many magicians have
become addicted to. The daydreaming of possibilities, the breathless
expectation, the speculating with other magicians who are just as ignorant as
they are about what the book may contain and when it will appear is the real
high.
The proof is that when there is no new book on the horizon, they begin
experiencing withdrawal. They’ll start their own rumors and desperately ask
each other if they know of any books in the works. It’s all a sad search for
another high (as well as a search for an excuse not to read the books they
already own.) There always needs to be something in the pipeline to fuel the
pipe dreams.
The Cure
I’m not naïve enough to think that my views are going to change the direction of
magic. I am optimistic enough to think that there may be some magicians who
are serious in their attitude toward magic but have gotten trapped in the herd
mentality that has always existed in magic but that has grown exponentially
with the advent of the Internet.
Here is a suggestion if you want to escape the emotional roller coaster of the
next-great-book syndrome.
Don’t buy a new magic book until you have
finished reading the last one you bought
. (This is so commonsensical that I
would feel silly typing it if I didn’t know that most magicians don’t do this.)
To follow this advice, you’ll have to overcome the perpetual fear that you’re
missing out on something wonderful that all the other kids have. In fact, the
next magic book you buy probably won’t be any better than the one you’re now
having trouble finishing because you keep daydreaming about the miracles
contained in the book you haven’t bought yet. If you want to progress in magic,
stop agonizing over all the great books you don’t own and focus on benefiting
from the ones you do.
Another fear you’ll have to overcome is that the NEXT book will go out of print
tomorrow if you don’t buy it today. Magic dealers and publishers encourage this
largely unfounded fear for obvious reasons. You’ll see Internet posts warning
ominously that a book that came out a few weeks ago is already almost out of
print. What they don’t tell you is that the publisher is planning to reprint the
moment it does.
Although popular magic books go out of print from time to time, publishers
almost never let them stay out of print until the initial run of popularity is over,
something that will normally take a year or two. Even then, these books will
have sold so many copies that for an additional year or two they can easily be
found on the secondary market for a modest price. There will always be plenty
of “disappointed” buyers ready to unload it. (These observations apply only to
books that are initially big sellers. But then books that receive the “NEXT great
book” mantle always are.)
An advantage of the approach I recommend is that you’ll usually be reading a
book months after everyone else has abandoned it. You won’t be able to join the
“what are the five best tricks in
Mnemonica
?” crowd. You’ll have no choice but
to decide for yourself. You’ll virtually always be out of step with everyone else in
magic. And that’s the best place to be if you want to make serious progress as a
magician. Anything you can do to keep from being sucked into the hive mind
that is the magic Internet is a step toward becoming a better magician.
On a related note, I’ve often heard magicians respond to a neophyte’s request to
recommend a good card book by saying, “Buy the first four volumes of
Card
College
.” I can’t agree. I would instead advise buying volume one only. After
working your way through that, you probably won’t need to be told to buy
volume two.
All that buying all four volumes at once will accomplish is to virtually guarantee
that you’ll start reading volume two before you’ve finished volume one. You’ll
start reading volume three before you’ve finished volume two. And you’ll start
reading volume four before you’ve finished volume three. This, in turn, will
almost guarantee that you’ll never read any one of the four volumes from cover
to cover.
This would be particularly unfortunate with a series so carefully planned out to
be studied in a lesson-by-lesson sequence. Since there is little danger that these
great books will ever become difficult to obtain in our lifetime, buying one
volume at a time should work out fine.
To sum up, accept the fact that no book can change your life or even make you a
better magician. Only you can do that through hard work. The best book can
only provide some tools and some direction.
I’m going to have to go now. I’ve got a problem of my own to ponder. I bought a
stairclimber and I’m quite disappointed with it. I’ve had it for a month and I’m
still in no better shape than the day it arrived. I wonder if I should take it out of
the box and assemble it.
-- Darwin Ortiz
© 2005 by Darwin Ortiz
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