Customer Reviews

Houdini: Master of Illusion

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This book is a very concise biography of Harry Houdini. The book begins at his child hood and continues to his death. This book has great descriptions of Houdini's life. It displays the ways that he completed his stunts and tricks of illusions. this book is fun to read and easy to read. Also if you enjoy magic, this is the book for you.

This book was the best books I have ever read! It shows how Houdini did his stunts and what happened in his life. The book started out with Houdini as a boy who wanted to be a magician. As he got older he learned how to pick locks and master locks. Then he was able to pick any lock that was thrown on his wrists. Soon he was named "Houdini King of locks." If you want to know how magicians do their tricks you should read this book.

Harry Houdini, the master of all escape artists, walked through walls, released himself from straightjackets while hanging upside down from tall buildings, jumped into rivers while bound by handcuffs and chains, and once escaped from the stomach of a large animal! Clinton Cox has done a thorough job of researching Houdini's career and personal life. He reveals an unbiased view of the unusual and often shocking feats of Houdini, also known as Erich Weiss, and his eccentricities. The book contains several photographs of Houdini performing escapes, with family members, and poster ads for his shows and movies. Reveals fascinating information about Houdini's venture into exposing spiritualist mediums as frauds. Easy-to-read for juveniles, but intriguing enough for adults.

Harry Houdini was a master magician, escape artist, and is as popular today as he was back in the early 1900's. But still, much of his life remains a mystery. Fact or fiction? Houdini told many lies about himself, and this is the book that uncovers what really happened.

Houdini: Master of Illusion is about the life of Harry Houdini, the great magician and escape artist. It takes us through his humble beginnings and Houdini's deathbed promise to his father that he someday pour golden coins onto his mother's lap. After learning magic working as a photographer's assistant with his brother, they performed together for a short period of time before setting out on their own. Harry thrived on his own, reaching fame through vaudeville performances and European shows. In every city that Harry visited, he went to jails, broke free from cells, and escaped from handcuffs. Harry worked almost all of the time and soon lost physical ability. He looked at least ten years older than he really was. After he was through with vaudeville, due to movies, Houdini did a lot of work with mediums. After Houdini was convinced that they were phony, he spent tons of time and money trying to let the public know about this phoniness. Harry spent much of his private time grieving over his lost mother and visiting graveyards. Finally, after many years of doing countless escapes and feats, Houdini died. He died on Halloween, 1926, at 1:26 PM, of a ruptured appendix, for it flooded his stomach with advanced peritonitis. Houdini is just as popular today as he was back then, so in a way, he still lives on. This is a great book because it has happiness, sadness, and was interesting.

This book is happy, because it is about a success story of a poor boy. It was happy when Houdini made the first flight ever in Australia, when Harry and Bess finally buy a house, and when Harry made an elephant vanish, a feat that made everyone want to head out to see Houdini.

Houdini had many sad things happen to him in his life. One was growing up in poverty, also when he was getting too old and tired to perform, something very sad for a performer. But, the saddest thing of all for Houdini was when his mother died. He had always had a bit of an obsession for her, but it truly showed when she died. Houdini grieved for her the rest of his life.

Finally, this book was interesting. It was interesting to learn that Houdini told many lies about growing up, where he learned magic, and his education. It was almost like he was trying to change who he was. It was also interesting to find out that when Houdini performed his great milk can escape, he had fake chains on the milk can. All Houdini had to do to get out was get out of handcuffs while squeezed inside of the milk can and push up. Another interesting part of Houdini's life was that he almost instantly lost fame when movies came along. Vaudeville houses were becoming less and less popular. Houdini decided to get into the movie business, but didn't do that great because other actors could do the stunts that Houdini did without risking their lives. That meant that Houdini wasn't as unique as he had been.

Houdini: Master of Illusion was a great book because it had happy parts, sad parts, and above all, was interesting and was hard to put down.

This book was not bad but it did have some slow parts. I really liked the way Harry Houdini does all of his great tricks. To the way he hangs upside down in a strait jacket then gets out to the way hegets hung by his feet inside a tank filled with water with hand cuffs on and then gets out. Through out the book ge does many tricks but my favorite trick is when he gets out of a "burglar proof" room. But it was a pretty good book.

The book I read Houdini by Clinton Cox was a good but not great book. The book Houdini is about Harry Houdini and his fasinating life. The book tells about his great accomplishments thougout his entire life and career. Houdini in my opinion is one of the greatest magicians and dare devil next to Evil Kenevil. Houdini was the best at picking locks. Did you know that he could pick 5 shakles and hand cuffs in fourteen seconds flat. In my opinion Houdini is a really great book. On a scale of one to ten i would rate Houdini at a eight or eight ana half. If you would like to read about Harry's great accomplishments or you are just looking for a book to read that would keep you interested, then you should read Houdini.

The book I read about the mysterious Houdini was quite odd but exhilarating at the same time. What caught my eye in this book had started with introduction as the first words of the introduction were "Houdini was the most famous escape artist and magician the world has ever known". Houdini was performing all of his tricks at the start of the Golden Age of Magic; he amazed people by walking out of locked jail cells and escaping from chains wrapped around his whole entire body. Cox simply made this book full of surprises and as he exposed secrets behind many of Houdini's tricks. He emphasized on not only Houdini's insane tricks but yet his brilliancy and wild imagination that made him one of the greatest masters of illusion. Also, he describes Houdini's devotion to his mother and how he never recovered from the shock of her death. He fallows Houdini from his impoverished childhood to how conquering worldwide fame with his simply impressive talents. The mysterious Houdini was a genius and every aspect of his life is described in this book, how he evolved into one of the greatest magicians ever. Another great way that the author of this book caught attention of the readers was he talks a lot about Houdini's spectacular stunts, like fascinating backstage revelations and how he pulled these almost impossible stunts off. This caught most of the younger reader's attentions because almost everyone as a child was fascinated by illusion, or should a say Magic. Overall this book and the author impressed me in several different ways. Cox's mysterious writing techniques and how he describes Houdini's life so thoroughly as if he were Houdini. I sincerely enjoyed reading this book and finding out some pretty thoughtful facts about Houdini and all of the aspects of the life that made him so brilliant at what he does. I would suggest this book to anyone that loves to find out a mystery of such a mysterious person like Houdini.

Houdini:

Master of Illusion

"IT HAS NOW BEEN POSITIVELY PROVEN BEYOND ANY CONTRADICTION THAT HOUDI IS THE HARDEST WORKING ARTIST THAT HAS EVER TRODDEN THE VAUDEVILLE STAGE," said an ad that was praising Houdini, the man who defies prison. In Houdini: Master of Illusion, the author tells about Ehrich Weiss A.K.A. Harry Houdini's life growing up in poverty and dying a rich man. "Harry" became fascinated with Robert Houdin, the father of modern magic, and named himself Houdini, or like Houdin. Ehrich married a woman named Wilhelmina Beatrice Rahner, who he called "Bess", and she performed and traveled with him for the rest of his life. I liked this book because it told about all of Houdini's death defying tricks.

One reason I liked Houdini: Master of Illusion was because Houdini thought of himself as "supernatural" and that he wasn't able to get hurt. That example teaches a lesson. On October 19, about a week before he died, a boy asked if he could endure blows to the stomach. The boy began to hit him in the stomach very hard and after a few hits Houdini said that he could stop. The next day at his show he had a fever and his stomach was aching, but he didn't let the pain show. He later fainted and was told to go to the hospital, and after much arguing he decided to go. He died a little more than a week later.

Another reason I liked Houdini is because of his passion for magic. In his life - time he had procured many books on magic for his personal library. If he was trying to learn a trick like breaking out of a straight jacket, walking through walls, or even making an elephant "disappear" he practiced and practiced until it was perfect. Houdini was also interested in spiritualism. As its popularity began growing he studied it and even tried to contact his dead mother. He spent a lot of his life trying to foil all of the frauds that claimed to be mediums.

Also, I liked this biography because Houdini never let his lack of further education slow him down. He wrote booklets that told some of his secrets, and he printed a magazine (spelling mistakes and all), and a book, A Magician Among the spirits, in the spring of 1924. Houdini often told about his lack of education in the speeches he wrote and in conversations. Houdini was proud of where he came from for the most part. Even though he was born in Budapest, Hungary, he claimed he was born in Appleton, Wisconsin. He probably told this lie because of his love to exaggerate the truth.

This book was interesting because Houdini showed people that you could do anything you set your mind to. In this book, it was said that Houdini's father never came to see him on stage, but he didn't let that discourage him because he knew his parents were proud. Houdini survived the police officers' verbal attacks saying that he was a fraud because he could always prove them wrong. He survived the hecklers in audiences saying that he didn't know what he was doing without addressing them at all, which took self - control. I liked this book because it showed us to be Houdini-i, which means to be like Houdini, who showed self - control and that was like Houdin.

S.Moore

Escaping cells, unlocking the world's strongest handcuffs, freeing himself from impossible positions, Ehrich Wiess, better known as Houdini, had an exciting life full of lies and deceiving. The book <u>Houdini: Master of Illusion</u> tells you all about the real Houdini.

It all began Ehrich Wiess making a promise to his father on his deathbed. He promised to provide for the family and treat his mother like a queen. He started as a photography assistant to his brother. They learned magic tricks in their spare time together and they gradually began performing together. They started out performing at any place that they could. 'Houdini' started out at a teen with clothes made with medals and buttons. He did card tricks and a version of "Metamorphoses", or where people magically change places in less than three seconds. Houdini is actually a combination of his nickname, "Ehrie", and his role model's name, Robert Houdin. By using his nickname as the first name of his 'nom de plume' and Houdini (meaning like Houdin) as his last, he created one of the world's most known name. He had a very depressing life and he never did get over his mother's death. A very unknown fact about Houdini to today's population is that he did act in movies for some time. Also he busted false physics after one lied about contacting his mother and father. He deceived many about his tricks and stunts, but to his mother he was always Ehric. He died after a young man, named Whitehead, asked to see how many blows Houdini could take. Houdini stood and took the blows and simply told him that was enough. It is believed something ruptured internally. Even when he had a 104 degree temperature, he refused medical attention. He died a few hours later. I would recommend this book, but there are a few reasons I like it that may make other people dislike it.

I like this book because it states his life before he was Houdini and what he was like. For example, the promise to his father that inspired his legacy. He promised riches to his family, which was at that time poor. Also it tells about his real name, and more importantly how he made it.

I also like this book because it was happy in some parts and it showed how Houdini fulfilled his promise. At one of his shows in England he had his mother sit on a throne to watch the show and she was treated 'like the queen.'

Another reason for recommendation is the secret ways he preformed his tricks. It stated he had naturally bowed legs, so when they tied him up he was wider in the leg region. When he straightened them the ropes 'magically' feel to the ground. He hid keys in his throat in order to get out of the hand cuffs. He even had a specially made box for him to be thrown into the sea while 'locked inside' made out of boards meant for the Titanic with false nails.

The best reason to read this book is because of the personal stories. On his final trip before his mother died he was asked to bring back size six slippers for his mother. He had gotten the news that his mother had died of an illness. He still bought the slippers and laid them by her side. Overall this is a very personal biography with wondrous stories about the real Houdini. This book is a definite must read.

-LL

The book I read is Houdini Master of Illusion. The most remarkable thing I read was how he escaped from all those handcuffs. My subject is important because it teaches you to keep trying. Other people who would like to read this book are amateur magicians.

The book I read was organized in a special way. The cover has the title, author's name, and a picture of Hudini's eyes. You can easily notice italics when they state a specific item or place. The book flap tells you a brief summery. And the text pretty much tells the whole story.