Excerpt: 'Magic: The Complete Course'

Jan. 16, 2008— -- Magic tricks always seems to amaze, whether the audience consists of 5- or 50-year-olds. If you have an interest in illusions and harbor a secret desire to learn a few tricks, magician Joshua Jay teaches you all his secrets in his book, "Magic: The Complete Course."

Jay showed off some of his close-up magic and explained why his book does not break the magician's code of ethics on "Good Morning America Now," and you can read an excerpt of Jay's book below.

"The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science." —Albert Einstein

What's the point of a magician? He comes on, he fools you, you feel stupid, show's over.—Jerry Seinfeld

Magic needs a makeover. Toss the tuxedo. Lose that top hat and set the rabbit free. And that goatee has to go. No more impaling women in boxes, and enough with the corny insults. Just stop.

Magic is the most mysterious of the performing arts. Why has she become so trivial?

The tricks. Most of the material magicians use is outdated or out of context. Consider the rabbit-from-the-top-hat effect. No birthday party is complete without it, and for fifty bucks the Amazing Larry will do the honors. And every time a rabbit comes out of a hat, another dozen nine-year-olds think magic sucks.

But as Einstein pointed out, magic can be moving. The moment we experience a great trick, we are instantly children again. For a fleeting moment—after the magic happens and before logic sets in—the world is boundless and anything is possible. Only magic can do that.

"Magic" is filled with amazing effects. And they're even more amazing because they're simple. Good magic is easy to describe and easy to remember: "She made a hundred bucks appear" or "He cut through a lady."

But consider the classic "Cut and Restored String"—a version of which appears in every bad beginner's book. You thread a piece of string through a straw . . . then you put the straw in a tube . . . then, in some cases, you cover the tube with a handkerchief . . . then you cut the whole mess in two . . . poof . . . it's restored. Straws? Tubes? Handkerchiefs? Too complicated, thank you.

Pulling a rabbit from a hat wasn't always a bad trick. It was first recorded in an early American conjuring book in 1836. Imagine the period: Every man you know wears a hat; the wealthier men wear top hats. You're extremely wealthy, of course. So you invite John Henry Anderson—the Great Wizard of the North—into your drawing room to entertain your guests. At one point, he removes your top hat and pulls out the unthinkable: a live rabbit!

Today, pulling a rabbit from a hat is an ancient relic from a different time. Fuzzy bunnies and top hats still adorn magicians' business cards and neon magic shop signs, but the trick itself went out of style about the same time as the venerable top hat.

You're holding a book of secrets. Powerful secrets. And true to my profession, I know what you're thinking: Isn't this against the rules? Breaking the magician's code . . . or something like that? Exposure is the elephant in the room. For my first trick, I shall make it disappear.

There is a difference between exposing and teaching, and magicians have long debated what that difference is. It boils down to this: effort. This book is not exposure because you had to open it. My expectation is that you opened this book because you want to learn the art of magic.

You are not seeing the tricks exposed on TV or looking up videos of "magic secrets revealed" on the Internet. You are expending effort to learn magic.

Poof. The elephant is gone.

Excerpt and images used with permission of Workman Publishing Co., Inc. from "Magic: The Complete Course" by Joshua Jay. Copyright 2008. All Rights Reserved.