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ot every magician is a Houdini or David Copperfield, but with lots of practice and a bit of misdirection some can be great.  It all starts with “Pick a card.”  From there this enjoyable tale of a not particularly successful female magician twists and turns.  Get ready to read about magic tricks and card cheats – throwing cards, cutting cards, controlling cards, false deals, dealing from the bottom, and even rigged cuts. Natalie Webb was a child protege winning the World of Magic competition for close up magic (sleight of hand with common objects) when only eighteen.  Then something happened […]

pen admission – I saw the Netflix version of this before reading it. Like The Expanse, it was better in some ways and worse in some ways. But Altered Carbon is still a great book, smooth as brandy in a detective noir tale (of which this pretty much is). In our nasty future, you can cheat death by being installed into another body (re-sleeved). Hey, isn’t that nice? But trust the author of this wonderful gritty tale to bring up the lousy way this could work out. For example, you get put away for a crime? Someone else can use […]

ohn Steinbeck’s novel East of Eden is a must read for any avid reader. Published in 1952, the language and references still relate to chaotic world of the 21st century. My mind quickly relaxed into the gentle rhythm of the novel, thankful for the opportunity to spend more time reading and less time on Google just to understand the narrative. Though Steinbeck’s writing style is simple, the underlying messages are complex and dense. To fully appreciate John Steinbeck’s masterpiece, one must prepare themselves for hours of contemplation on personal development and volition. Steinbeck artfully conveys a story that, by example, […]