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7. The Secret Life of Houdini: The Making of America's First Superhero, William Kalush and Larry Sloman
6. The Good Fairies of New York, Martin Millar
5. Limeys: The True Story of One Man's War Against Ignorance, the Establishment and the Deadly Scurvy, David I. Harvie
4. The Secret Life of Bees, Sue Monk Kidd
3. Tatham Mound, Piers Anthony
2. Alas, Babylon, Pat Frank
1. Neverwhere, Neil Gaiman
A good book. I'd never read anything in depth about Houdini. I knew him as a magician, an escape artist. This book introduced me to Houdini the aviator (first man to fly in Australia), Houdini the spy, Houdini the public crusader.
The authors set out to prove, as the subtitle suggest, that Houdini was America's first superhero, the first superman. Houdini worked his whole life, beginning as a kid and eventually getting into vaudeville. His break came when he visited a police station in Chicago and asked to be allowed to escape from their highest security cell and ended up on the front page.
The government was looking for people with magician's skills before WWI, so Houdini, being the greatest magician and escape artist, got recruited. His shows allowed him an excuse to travel all over Europe and Russia; later, he traveled around America and caught bootleggers.
In the last part of his life, Houdini launched a crusade against the Spiritualist religion. Spiritualism was based around mediums who claimed to communicate with the dead, and Houdini couldn't stand the thought of innocent, bereaved people being robbed by fakers who claimed to speak to dead loved ones. Houdini devoted a third of his shows to debunking Spiritualist techniques.
Now, this is not the book to read if you want to know a little more about Houdini. This is an incredibly in-depth, detailed biography. The authors make extensive use of letters and newspaper clippings to put together Houdini's personal life. Unfortunately, much of Houdini's personal correspondence and papers were burned after his death, at his request, so while some original documents exist, many were lost. Kalush and Sloman met with a happy accident: they met the descendant of a major medium Houdini worked to depose--you might say Marjery was Houdini's nemesis--at a Houdini seance, and she agreed to give them access to her ancestor's private letters and documents (I can't remember if Marjery was the lady's great grandmother or great great). The research for the book is so extensive that foot/endnotes are not included in the book itself; the authors have listed a website devoted to the notes.
An incredibly well-researched book. Endlessly interesting. Very long (almost 600 pages). Very detailed. Very good. Even if it took me months to finish.
6. The Good Fairies of New York, Martin Millar
5. Limeys: The True Story of One Man's War Against Ignorance, the Establishment and the Deadly Scurvy, David I. Harvie
4. The Secret Life of Bees, Sue Monk Kidd
3. Tatham Mound, Piers Anthony
2. Alas, Babylon, Pat Frank
1. Neverwhere, Neil Gaiman
A good book. I'd never read anything in depth about Houdini. I knew him as a magician, an escape artist. This book introduced me to Houdini the aviator (first man to fly in Australia), Houdini the spy, Houdini the public crusader.
The authors set out to prove, as the subtitle suggest, that Houdini was America's first superhero, the first superman. Houdini worked his whole life, beginning as a kid and eventually getting into vaudeville. His break came when he visited a police station in Chicago and asked to be allowed to escape from their highest security cell and ended up on the front page.
The government was looking for people with magician's skills before WWI, so Houdini, being the greatest magician and escape artist, got recruited. His shows allowed him an excuse to travel all over Europe and Russia; later, he traveled around America and caught bootleggers.
In the last part of his life, Houdini launched a crusade against the Spiritualist religion. Spiritualism was based around mediums who claimed to communicate with the dead, and Houdini couldn't stand the thought of innocent, bereaved people being robbed by fakers who claimed to speak to dead loved ones. Houdini devoted a third of his shows to debunking Spiritualist techniques.
Now, this is not the book to read if you want to know a little more about Houdini. This is an incredibly in-depth, detailed biography. The authors make extensive use of letters and newspaper clippings to put together Houdini's personal life. Unfortunately, much of Houdini's personal correspondence and papers were burned after his death, at his request, so while some original documents exist, many were lost. Kalush and Sloman met with a happy accident: they met the descendant of a major medium Houdini worked to depose--you might say Marjery was Houdini's nemesis--at a Houdini seance, and she agreed to give them access to her ancestor's private letters and documents (I can't remember if Marjery was the lady's great grandmother or great great). The research for the book is so extensive that foot/endnotes are not included in the book itself; the authors have listed a website devoted to the notes.
An incredibly well-researched book. Endlessly interesting. Very long (almost 600 pages). Very detailed. Very good. Even if it took me months to finish.