This small book includes what appear to be articles written by Harry Houdini. Since Houdini had fiction written in his name by H. P. Lovecraft, these articles might also have been ghost-written. Unfortunately the editor does not provide information about when and where they were first published.

The main subject of these articles is debunking psychics, mediums, and stage magicians who make false claims regarding their 'powers'. Of course, stage magic is deceptive, but claiming supernatural ability was going too far for Houdini.

After a brief discussion of how he does his escapes, the author discusses tricks used by thieves, swindlers, and impostors. Then he circles back again to magic.

His discussion of fire-eaters reveals some of their techniques for avoiding injury: this is not exactly deception, other than making their act seem more dangerous than it is. The discussion of sword swallowing does not fit the formula of the rest of these articles because their is no deception: the performers actually 'swallow' the swords. Houdini seems to admire these performers particularly because they are like him: their act is based on will and skill, not trickery.

The payoff of the book for me (you might call it 'the prestige') is the biographical note at the end. The writer of the Foreword to this book does not note the discrepancy between the facts and Houdini's public autobiography except to mention that Houdini was born Erik Weisz. Let me pull aside the curtain and show the deception. In the autobiographical paragraphs of the article "Houdini on Houdini", Mr. H. says he was born in Wisconsin in 1873. The note at the end says correctly that he was born 'the son of a rabbi' in Budapest in 1874.

So we have the intriguing paradox that the great debunker and revealer was less than candid about himself. I am not calling Houdini a liar. Taking a stage name was a common practice and helped to avoid antisemitism. For a public figure to puff his autobiography was also common. Houdini was not in the category of the fake psychics he exposed because he actually performed his tricks and did not claim to have supernatural powers. Nonetheless, one wonders if Houdini was projecting his feelings about his own fakery on others. ( )

A short but fascinating introduction to Houdini's writings. He was clearly a man with a very high opinion of himself, and a very low opinion of many, many other people. It was interesting to hear his own explanations of how he did things along side his disparaging descriptions of how his contemporaries faked what he did for real. I was however left asking myself if perhaps has was protesting too much?

Whatever the truth of matters, if you are interested in magic and escapology then I'd recommend this book. ( )

An interesting set of articles written by Harry Houdini. Mostly interested in debunking other magicians and showmen and so comes across as a bit petty. But worth reading for some of the scams he unveils. ( )

This is a book that I received free from Hesperus Press via LibraryThing. This is part of a series of books in which Hesperus Press aim to enlighten us on a particular topic by publishing a collection of writings on that topic by a particular writer. (You can read Freud ‘On Cocaine’, Hemingway ‘On Paris’ or Virginia Woolf ‘On Not Knowing Greek’.) It’s an interesting idea, but (while I certainly appreciated the free book) I have to admit that I didn’t really enjoy reading it. This is obviously a personal preference, but I didn’t feel that the book hung together very well, which is hardly surprisingly since it is essentially a selection of writing thrown together posthumously.

It is a slim volume – only 76 pages, including the introduction by modern illusionist/ stuntman Derrren Brown – and is intended to be a kind of introduction/ basic set of ideas to outline common methods of deception. There are six sections, each of which is longer than the preceding section. The longest is thirty pages, but this is split into sub-categories. None of the sections took much time to read, so in that sense it was an easy read, but I personally found it rather dull. It was especially slow going for me at the start of the book, which meant that each longer section produced a groan and I read most of the book in one sitting, not because I was enjoying it but because I had been putting it off for a while after reading the first few pages.

My first reservation was the fact that it was introduced by Derren Brown, who I know is generally well thought of but who I think is a bit of a twit. In it he discusses the contract between the magician and the audience, including (somewhat irrelevantly to Houdini) between the audience and the psychic. This does briefly contextualise Houdini, which is useful, and also prepares us for the odd relationship between Houdini and other practitioners of the art of deception. It is short and easy to read and likely to appeal to fans of Brown.

The next section, ‘Houdini on Houdini’ introduces the writer talking about himself in what is initially an engaging manner due to his conversational style. He tries to have a dialogue with the reader, stating things like "I think I hear you ask". Ultimately, this section lacks focus and is perhaps a bit too short, although it certainly does give us some insight into how Houdini perceived himself, which is likely to be interesting to fans. Although if you are a fan, of course, you won’t learn anything new from this introduction. A bigger problem for me was the lack of context. There were three notes at the end of the book contextualising various period details, but absolutely no indication of where these writings were taken from. Surely a key object of an introduction is to refer you on to sources where you can gain further illumination? And surely a text with any academic pretensions (which this beautifully presented slim volume clearly has) needs to reference its source material?

In the next section Houdini looks at thieves. He briefly identifies various tricks used by fraudsters of his time, but this is very list like and even the anecdotal stories of crimes committed are very short. There is no real sense of drama to the events described or any connection between them. He gives limited advice for how to avoid some of these scams (although I couldn’t help feeling like The Hustle does it better!) Ultimately I found this section too dry and brief, although glancing back over it I have to admit that the details catch my attention and I do find the description of the scams more interesting. Although some of the tricks are set in their era, others would be adaptable today and it did make me think that I would want to read more about the con artists of this period.

Continuing in his quest to expose fakes and frauds, Houdini spends the final sections enlightening the reader about how various tricks are performed. If you’ve ever wanted to know how to swallow fire or knives, this is the section of the book for you. I did find this section much more interesting, although I found the autobiographical details sketchy and I would have preferred to read about these incidents in full.
There was one entertaining account of a duel but ultimately it all felt a bit too list like. Personally, I wanted more from the articles. I would rather have an account of an act followed by an explanation of how it worked and some kind of scientific reasoning, but Houdini’s motivation in writing was simply to show his brilliance and denigrate others’ supposedly magical abilities. It does show in the disjointed nature of his writing. He is frenetic, shifting from snake poison (how to survive a snake bite) to eating hot coals, all in a quest to expose those he considered to be lesser than him. His arrogance does not (necessarily) make him less likeable, as the details are sufficient to intrigue, but I think it does result in a less polished read. Some accidental deaths are related to show the danger of the kind of tricks Houdini exposes and these were horrid to read, not because they were gruesomely written but simply because they were quite horrible ways to die!

The book concludes with a brief biographical note (which in part contradicts ‘Houdini on Houdini’!) which summarises Houdini’s life. I felt that this was a useful overview.

Conclusions

Although the subject matter was interesting, I felt that the book was poorly written and that this detracted substantially from my enjoyment, to the extent that I raced through the book just to finish it. This does not mean that other readers will not enjoy it and is a rather subjective criticism of a non-fiction book. There is a clear overview of a range of methods of deception, although obviously these are sometimes specific to the early 1900s when Houdini was writing. Unpicking how the tricks works does remove some of the magic if you are the kind of person who likes to watch ‘magic’ shows or shows like Derren Brown’s to be mystified. However, if you enjoy having ‘magic’ debunked then you may well enjoy this. If you’re a big fan of Houdini already I don’t imagine there’d be anything new here, but if you’re just developing an interest then this would be a good overview. Despite my complaints about the lack of ‘story’ and detail, this is intended to provide an introduction to the topic and the book does achieve that. It is a slim book and it only took me a couple of hours to read, but the RRP is £7.99 so unless you are sure you’ll enjoy this I would look for a second hand copy.

A note on ghosts

Some reviewers have suggested that these essays were actually written by a ghost writer. Was claiming credit for these articles simply a final piece of deception? I’d like to think a ghost writer would have produced a final product that was better written, but even if Houdini did not pen every word himself, you will still get an insight into his personality by reading the essays. ( )

This review is based on a Library Thing Early Reviewers' copy from Hesperus Press of On Deception (2009) by Harry Houdini.

This is not a book on how to perform escapes or how to do magic tricks. It is an exposé of fakery with a good bit of autobiographical information thrown in for good measure. The book was first published in 1906 by a self-aggrandizing, 33-year-old Houdini, "Handcuff King" and "Prison Breaker." Humble he was not, as this book will clearly reveal.

The unmaskings begin with exposés of the methods of thieves -- overcoat thieves, Venetian blind thieves, church thieves, wedding thieves, van thieves, satchel thieves, and diamond thieves -- tricksters of the worst sort. The book concludes with exposés of the methods of circus entertainers whose sensational performances endanger life and limb -- fire-eaters, sword-swallowers, and snake-handlers -- people to whom Houdini ascribes the less than flattering title of "Miracle-Mongers."

In between his exposés of the worst and best deceivers among us, Houdini debunks the work of frauds of all sorts: divine healers, counterfeit doctors, spirit mediums, clairvoyants, astrologers, confidence men, fortune tellers, East Indian fakirs, magnetic healers, and Voodoo doctors.

Occupying the space normally given to a book's preface is a short chapter entitled "Houdini on Houdini." In the spirit of exposing deception, I must point out that Houdini's statements about his birth date and birthplace are illusory. He wrote, "I am an American by birth, born in Appleton, Wisconsin, U.S.A., on 6th April 1873." Au contraire. In a biographical note appended to the last chapter of the book, we learn that "Harry Houdini was born Erik Weisz in Budapest, Hungary in 1874." That would make him 32 years old when he wrote this book, not 33, and an immigrant, not a natural-born citizen of the U.S.A.

Despite the fact that Houdini did not write this book to tell his readers how to become escapologists, he nevertheless reveals some of his own deceptions in this exposé. For instance, his secret to prison breaking and handcuff escaping calls for the concealment of master keys, skeleton keys, and lock picking implements. It's as simple as that. Escaping from straitjackets is another story. Physical strength, dexterity, and persistence are the requirements. No deception is needed.

If you want to know what Houdini was about, this book will clue you in. He began his career in show business as a circus performer and ended his career as a debunker of spiritualist frauds. Along the way, he became the highest paid and most legendary Vaudeville performer in history. ( )