Google’s homepage doodle today honors Harry Houdini, the famous magician, escape artist, and — through his attempts to contact his dead mother — a perhaps unintentional debunker of psychic charlatans, who was born on this date in 1874. A few years ago, when my younger son was interested in magic, we spent a lot of time learning about Houdini and finding resources for kids interested in learning sleight of hand.
Here was what Anthony had to say at the time:
* The easiest tricks to start off with are rope tricks.
* Once you know the trick and the secret move, practicing is fairly easy. I try to practice as much as possible whenever I learn a new trick.
* It’s best to talk over the part where you have to make a secret move, so people don’t know what you’re doing.
* I love the look on people’s faces after you perform a magic trick.