DVDs or Books?

[Tony Rush]

Confession: I'm a bit of a book snob.

I won't go so far to say that my wife and I are book "collectors". Or bibliophiles. But we do have at least two leather-bound books a week coming from Easton Press....we do own multiple copies of the Lord of the Rings in various formats....and both our nightstands are overflowing to the floor with whatever we're reading, recently read or am going to read.

With that said, magic has become really dangerous. Because there's a very clear overlap of two of my hobbies. If I already bought lots of books before....my renewed interest in magic has created even MORE opportunity for me to buy books.

There's been a near-weekly parade of FedEx and UPS trucks coming to bring me something new to read (and to just own). The "Revelation" book by Vernon is magnificent. I got "Wisdom of Solomon" today and will enjoy getting into that this weekend. "The Lost Notebooks of John Northern Hilliard" arrived this week (thank you, Richard). I've got tons of reading to do and am looking forward to it!

With all that said...there are some effects I've bought lately in the form of DVDs. Some are quite good and I've been pleased. Others wind up being someone else's classic effect repackaged with rock music, snazzy graphics and the annoying "street" look that seems to have taken over the industry while I've been on hiatus. :)

But, ultimately, they provide what I wanted when I whipped out my credit card: the explanation of an effect I wanted to learn.

So, all this leads to the point of the thread. When I walk into my office, what do I really like seeing? Shelves full of classic books by the masters explaining lots of effects and handlings? Or a shelf of DVDs, each one mostly a one-trick pony for explaining an effect that's usually written up in a book somewhere already?

I wouldn't really call myself a traditionalist. Maybe I am. But I definitely love the look and feel of a book.

Of course, no one can argue that a well-shot DVD is a much better teaching tool than reading the words slowly, moving the fingers to the appropriate pages and trying to decipher photographs all at the same time. So, there are definitely some advantages to DVD, there.

I suppose the solution is inevitable: both my book library and my DVD library is growing and will continue to grow.

I just can't get enough of the books. :)

How about you?

[flynn]

I like both, but prefer books because they would last forever practically, your whole lifetime at least, if u take care of them. They also would often times explain the exact handling and methods required for the trick and additional thought the author or magician may have about the trick.

I like dvd's and videos because you get to see the artists presentation with the timing, the tone of the patter and the handling of the trick. It allows for us to see magicians we may never get a chance to see. My fave dvd's and vidoes are Larry Jennings, David Regal and Harry Lorrayne though I havent seen many of Lorraynes vidoes yet because he's got lots. Other dvd's I own that I like are from Joshua Jay, Michael Ammar, Daryl, Paul Potassy, Patrick Page, David Roth, Doc Eason, Max Maven, several WGM dvd's and much more to be listed. In all I have about 40 dvd's. Dont know what I'll do with them when dvd's become obsolete much like 8 track tapes did lol.

[Tony Rush]

LOL -- you bring up a good point. When video moves from DVD to another medium, you've gotta wonder what our solution will be. (Especially since many DVDs are protected from being converted to video files.)

For instance, when L&L Publishing released Ammar's Cups and Balls Vols 1 & 2, they were available on VHS; I don't think the DVDs were available yet. Either way, I bought VHS as that's what I had at the time. Today, I need to repurchase them since I don't have a VCR in my house anymore.

One thing is for sure: paper and ink will never go out of style. :)