I'm mad at books.

I was walking back from the gym this morning after a Saturday morning workout. My iPod was in my pocket and a little white cord was snaking its way up my body and into my ears. I was plugged into the audiobook I'm listening to right now, Re-imagine: Business Excellence in a Disruptive Age by Tom Peters. I had been listening to it since the moment I woke up... while I brushed my teeth, walked to the gym, lifted weights, changed, and ate breakfast (an incredible veggie omelet at the gym cafe). I turned it off only long enough to swim a few hundred yards in the pool and loosen up.

And now, as I was walking (from the gym to work) with it blasting in my ears (I like to crank up good books just like good music), I started to get mad.

I got mad because I was enjoying the book so much.

Well that's not exactly it. I got mad because I was getting so excited and fired-up and turned-on by what I was reading... like a city exploding into night... lightbulb-by-lightbulb... TURNED ON UPSTAIRS... ready for action.

Well that's not exactly it either. I got mad because Re-imagine is a book I've owned in hardcover for at least six months. And I HAD skimmed it and read the first 50 pages or so, but I hadn't started REALLY READING IT until last week when bought it again (paid full price again) and started listening to the audiobook of Re-imagine on my iPod.

That's why I was mad. Because I'd been so foolish and waited so long to buy the audiobook and fully expose myself to this PURE GOLD that was blasting away in my ears.

I don't read books. I don't have time. I buy books, and I'm in the middle of half a dozen books, but I don't DEVOUR them the way I chew up and spit out audiobooks.

Audiobooks go straight to my brain... like opening up my head and pouring the knowledge in.

I've NEVER not finished an audiobook. I'll say that again... In all of the hundreds or maybe a thousand audiobooks I've purchased, rented and borrowed since I started listening to them in a carpool with a kid named Keith Schmidt and his dad as we headed to northern Michigan to play in a hockey tournament... I've NEVER not finished an audiobook.

In that same period I've purchased hundreds of printed books that I haven't fully read or finished (many that just sit on my bookshelf collecting dust).

What's my point?

We live in a world in which we don't have time to read as many books as we MUST READ if we're going to keep up with the rapid pace of change we're waking up to every morning. Our world REQUIRES CONSTANT LEARNING. And we don't have time for it.

But our technology has given us a way to DEVOUR books when we're doing OTHER things (driving, waiting in line, washing the dishes, trying to get through dinner with a boring date, etc.).

I've heard a lot of magicians say that DVDs are bad for magic... that they favor the "old" way of learning magic... "from books". It's time we take aim at that mindset... at least make sure it's not holding US back from learning what WE need to learn (in magic and in life) to get the results WE want.

The truth is magic books don't sell (and I don't know of anybody on the planet in a better position to make that statement than me)! We sell easily DVDs over books 10-1... without even trying. DVDs fly off the shelves, and books keep the shelves from flying away. People who want to learn magic have figured out that there's a quicker way. They don't have to spend countless hours pouring over diagrams to try to figure out what their hands are supposed to be doing. A picture is worth a thousand words and a video is worth a thousand words x 30 frames per second.

I'm not here to argue that DVDs are BETTER than books. Obviously books are cool for millions of reasons and DVDs have weaknesses... especially if they stifle creativity by giving magicians an easy (lazy) out when they should really be (struggling) thinking about how THEY and THEIR CHARACTER might present a concept or routine. No argument here. Lazy magicians are the worst kind. But, lazy people don't matter. Lazy people aren't gonna take your job. They're not gonna take your spectators. They're not a good reason to lock all knowledge up inside a couple of dusty covers.

If people who write magic books want people to read magic books, they need to make doing so a realistic option for busy people in today's busy world. Make me an audiobook and let me listen while I wait at red lights. Let me listen while I sweep the warehouse. Let me listen while I sort one-way force decks. Let me listen while I wait in line at the post office. If I need to see diagrams to understand what you're talking about, give me a website and I'll go download the diagrams.

My point simply stated is this:

The world is changing. We haven't found a way to buy more time... not yet. So we have more that is possible and more to do, and the same amount of time to do it in. Audiobooks and training DVDs are currently the best way to get information out of someone else's brain and into yours. Someday soon we'll figure out a better way to transfer information between brains, but until then it's audiobooks, web training tools, and training DVDs for me.

Penguin Magic has never published a book. But, if we do I promise we'll make it available in audio format as well... For everyone who's sick of waiting to learn until they have time to read.

And if you're someone who's written a magic book that you want put out as an audiobook, give Penguin a call. We're friends with the guys who run the studio where Celine Dion records when she's in Vegas. We'll put you in front of the same mike Celine sings into and you can sing your book to the world.