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And this book covers a ton of ground, detailing the tricks he used, the projects on which he focused, and the turbulent relationships he had with his wife, family, friends, and occasional indiscretions. Harry Houdini was unquestionably a brilliant man, an intellectual genius, with founts of drive and resourcefulness beyond anything I've borne witness to in my own life, ever. A bit more on why he did it would have been welcome.These may sound like quibbles, but they do sometimes distract from the greater arc of the story, which is unfortunate.
This tome covers his ancestry and birth in Hungary as Ehrich Weiss, his family's emigration to the United States, his growing fascination and obsession with magic, his long and phenomenally successful career as the greatest theatrical performer of the first half of the 20th century, as well dropping loud hints about a potential side career doing espionage work and how it evolved into an obsession with debunking spirit mediums and fortune tellers that he pursued with single-minded zeal right through to the last moments of his all-too-short life.The research is strong, there are plenty of good illustrations and photographs scattered throughout the text, and the writing keeps things moving. His obsession with aviation, and with being the first to fly an airplane in Australia, is just far enough outside of logic that it requires an explanation about why he sacrificed so much time, money and effort to try something so briefly, only to drop it and come home after a couple of successful flights. Honestly, this is the only book on Harry Houdini most people will ever need.
A hundred years ago, halfway around the world was a far longer trek than it is today. But I didn't stay with this book to read about his potential affairs or his marital spats; I did so to find out more about about his magic and illusions, his spy work, and his research debunking the claims of the paranormal, because it is in those things -- the actual stuff of being the real superhero advertised in the title -- that this otherwise impressive biography falls short. It does, however, suffer from glossing over some aspects of Houdini's story.
The implication that Houdini did some spy work for the United States is dropped repeatedly, with no actual follow up facts to corroborate it, except that gosh, he sure seemed to be able to get in to meet with a lot of police captains to check out their local jails.
The authors had talked to enough people who could give them the insights that they were looking for, but when it all came together is when it all came apart. The story jumps all over the place and the further into the book you go the more jumbled it becomes. A real full study into Houdini's live was more than over due.
Was it rushed for some type of deadline. There was a lot of great information, some good insight into Houdini's life, solid questions being asked to keep the discussion going, but when you have to go through a major mess to get anything worthwhile it really makes it hard to enjoy this book. Did the two authors work together at all in this project.
This book had the potential of being something great. But what it means is that this book needed an editor. Now if they decided to actually get an editor and put it all back together than this could really be a great book.
The research appeared to be there. That is not to say that there is not enough information, or that the work behind the book was done poorly.
The authors have taken the time and care to present to the world our first true Superhero. This book is very well researched and written, by far the most informative and enjoyable to read.
I will leave the rest to the readers. The most amazing part of Houdini's story is the story itself. I stumbled upon this book at a local bookstore and having just finished Chabon's 'Kavalier and Clay' was intrigued by the title. After five minutes of reading and skimming I was hooked and ordered it immediately from Amazon.
It's not that I don't believe the possibilities of this "assassination" or the book's earlier contentions of Houdini's "spying" but I would expect them to be better supported by evidence before giving them as much credence as this book does. Once again the author's attempt to "gild the lily" by suggesting Houdini was killed as a payback from the "spiritualist movement" with little evidence. These chapters are truly the most intriguing, as the gradual decay of Houdini's friendship with Arthur Conan Doyle is mixed with Houdini's valiant attempt to enlighten people to the deceit of the spiritualist movement.
I would say George Washington or Daniel Boone fit that bill long before Houdini was born and a few others probably could be named as well. Houdini's life is a marvelous combination of hard work and ego; in his quest to be famous he achieved a kind of immortality, his life filled with all the human failings of hubris and weakness, but he was always supplemented by a tremendous will to overcome whatever he was confronted with.The later chapters, dealing with Houdini's battles with spiritualists, like Margery, are particularly telling. The subtitle "The making of America's first superhero" really doesn't hold up very well.
These attacks on spiritualists, who seemed to have really earned his enmity by having the temerity to try to trick the master of deception, are fascinating examples of how Houdini was able to combine his personal feelings with commerce as he was able to tour and lecture on their fraudulent practices. Despite these attempts to add another dimension to Houdini's biography, the book still stands as a valiant effort to bring Houdini's life and legend to a new generation. The authors also pursue a questionable line of research when they try to put Houdini in the position of master spy with very little research to back it up; mainly supposition and conjecture derived from a few sources.
I guess they were trying to add a bit more spice to a figure who has had more than a few biographies written about him, but I didn't find all the "bells and whistles" necessary to enjoy this well-written look at one of the few individuals whose name has become part of our lexicon.
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