Magic Tricks

One of the things that I have found over the last year or two as a fairly regular Penguin shopper is the value in instructional DVDs. I feel disappointed that this one wasn't obviously marked as for beginners (which it is).

The reason for the low score, however, is because this DVD doesn't really provide any instruction. Disembodied hands gesture to indicate how the effects are achieved, but without actual explanation, we are left to suffer the melodramatic background music. There are times, too, when the gesticulations that are meant to serve as instruction do little to clarify how the effect is meant to be performed.

The medium of DVD - unlike instructional books - can use both audio and visual information to enlighten the viewer. "Underground" completely fails to take advantage of this fact. In doing so, it comes across as the mere exposure of secrets rather than the teaching of magic.