Breaking Our Magic Wands
- All new: 6 routines and 4 essays on what it means to "break our magic wand."
- Enjoy the wit and wisdom of one of magic's great philosophers.
- Includes the remarkable "My Last Trick," Bob Neale's capstone routine.
When magicians die it is customary these days to break a wand to symbolize the end of their magic. But as Shakespeare’s Prospero shows, there might be other reasons or seasons to break our magic wands. What might they be? What options do we have for ending our time with magic?
In this book of heartfelt insight, Robert E. Neale, one of magic’s deepest thinkers and now eighty-eight years old, playfully explores our options through 6 unpublished performance pieces and 4 short essays.
And, as you will quickly discover, this book about breaking wands is Bob Neale’s own performance of this powerful ritual—his swan song and gift to magicians everywhere.
Perfect bound: 8.5" x 11", 56 pages
RELATED FILE: Color Drawing for "Quack" by Alan Wassilak
WORDS OF PRAISE FOR ROBERT E. NEALE
Max Maven: Bob Neale has a rare ability to create magic with an intellectual whimsy. The result is simultaneously provocative, profound, and just plain fun.
Eugene Burger: Reading Bob Neale’s work is always an exciting adventure!
Jeff McBride: It astonishes me how Bob Neale can transform even some of the darkest situations of the human condition into light, humor, and inspiration.
Michael Weber: Robert Neale [gives us books] full of ways and means by which we can . . . more clearly see the real magic that exists in the world. Long live magic, long live Robert Neale.
Barrie Richardson: "Bob Neale is a wonder . . . . His ideas are arresting. His insights stretch your mind and make you shake your head with awe, wonder, and respect. And his magic routines are what Mozart would applaud with glee."