If you need unique ideas for your show, read this book. (You remember...that rectangular thing full of words?) This book is filled with the most unusual stories and magical ideas. A few stories are quite improbable and so outlandish that they will inspire your mind to work overtime. Get out a pen and paper or digital recorder to collect your thoughts as you read.

If you have any glimmer of a pulse you WILL come up with a plethora of original material for your show. If the idea of 'stories' bores you, remember this: "All patter is really just a storyline. Magicians have been doing storytelling ever since they added patter to go with an effect!"

Hello All,

This book has slipped under the radar for most people I've talked to; personally, I am thankful for that. This book is worth it's weight in gold (you figure that out with gold prices the way they are).

The Garden of the Strange is not just another mentalism book full of tricks you'll never use, it's a fantastic mentalism book full of tricks you'll never use.

By this point it's probably unclear as to why I have rated this so high if it's full of tricks I'll never use; I'll get to that in a minute but first, let me describe my first reactions to the book.

If I had not waited two months to write this review, I would have given it maybe two stars and been thoroughly unimpressed with this book. The writing style is conceited and can be construed as highly pretentious (which is a rather ironic word).

The tricks are totally impractical if you're a walk around performer or for that matter, a platform performer and by the end of the book I literally said out loud: "That's it?"

All of this however is why I thoroughly enjoyed this book. As of late magic has gone through, in my opinion, a very generic stage. Everything book seems to follow the same general pattern and all the tricks are guaranteed to be tried and tested, packs flat and plays big; but, every once and a while, we should break away from the generic tried and tested and mainstream magic and open up: The Garden of the Strange.

The tricks are not so much tricks but stories with magic added to create very powerful effects. This book is not for everyone and the tricks are not for everyone but it's worth buying this book just to read it, not for the tricks, but for the shear imagination and subtle genius of Caleb Strange.

The tricks, although tried and tested by Caleb are not guaranteed, and you will not always be successful when performing these effects; but what's the fun in performing always guaranteed effects with no risk? If you reach the point where you're performing with no risk of failure whatsoever, you might as well put down your props and give up. There's no fun in performing with no risk and if failure is an option, when the effect is completed correctly, your energy will fill your entire audience.

Inside this book are 15-20 effects, each of which can be done as described in the book. But, you must wait for the right moment to present itself or else the trick will be nothing special. They are risky effects but the payoff is well worth the effort.


So, why buy this book if I myself even say the tricks are impractical?

I would not recommend Garden of the Strange if you're just looking for easy tricks that take no practice or performance skills and are guaranteed to work every time.

However,I would recommend this book if you're willing to read between the lines of the general effects for performance subtleties.

I would recommend this book if you need inspiration; If you have lost that spark that keeps all of us performing, this book will bring it back.

Finally, I would recommend this book if you're looking to develop your presentation. Caleb's tricks work for him and are designed for him. This book makes you think about who you are as a performer and develop tricks that work for you.


Trust me, upon reading the book you will be confused, but, when you finish the book and think about the effects; then go back and read in between the lines, you will understand the sheer and utter genius that the Garden of the Strange presents.