As a publisher whose clientele is mostly abroad, I can assure you that the shipping costs Christian charges are quite reasonable. I just sent a book - less than half the weight of Diamonds - to France and it costs me just over $40. Plus, I corresponded with Christian over several months, got to know him a bit, and found him to be absolutely honourable.
I bought these books off the back of this review- I would never have known about them had I not been subscribed to your channel so thanks for covering books like these that aren't in the mainstream.
I got reccomended Maximum entertainment by a friend and what a book that is improved my performance no end. So if Diamonds of performance is the next stage. Looks like I will have to invest in them and study them. Thanks Erudite magic for bringing diamonds of performance to my attention
Great review, Jeff! I bought these books back in August, 2023 based on a review in The Linking Ring, I think. With the shipping at the time, the 2-volume set was a little over $180. However, they are very interesting books and I appreciate having them.
00:02 The Diamonds of Performance, written by FISM winner Christian Bishoff, helps us understand the difference between good and bad magic acts. 01:36 Insights on self-published books in magic 04:23 Three diamonds of performance: trick, performer, situation 06:05 Understanding how the three elements create synergy for outstanding results. 07:50 Christian Engblom's performance insights and tips for magicians. 09:21 Implementing learned tricks for enhanced performances 10:50 Two editions available with different price points and additional items.
Great review. "Scholarly" is my take away. I always say to myself after hearing about books like this every magician should have just been a theatre major in college taking acting, voice, movement, playwrighting and design so these type of books are just redundant. Anyway, the diamond approach to his writing reminded me of this quote about creativity by Mark Twain- "There is no such thing as a new idea. It is impossible. We simply take a lot of old ideas and put them into a sort of mental kaleidoscope."
If we had all been theater majors, there would be no need for these books. And, we'd be missing a great deal of the diversity that makes magic so great, IMO.
Yeah, that's how it works when Europeans try and order stuff from the USA as well. Nobody wants to use the postal service -- they all want to ship via UPS or such like. And two volumes of a book will be heavy. I'm betting he's not making a profit on the shipping costs.
