![]() He was a creative genius obsessed with overcoming any form of helplessness. Born Ehrich Weiss, Houdini was passionate about rising above the poverty and pain of his past. Cox is a wonderful storyteller and makes this biography come alive with interesting facts and trick descriptions, including Houdini's famous Milk Can Escape. Houdini was the greatest illusionist and escape artist of the early 20th century. This biography is written for younger readers and covers the ups and downs of his tumultuous life in such a way that readers are not fully exposed to much of the darkness and despair he also suffered with. The story of Houdini is a fascinating combination of genius, determination, and obsession. His business acumen and indefatigable determination made him a legend and continue to set the standard for showmanship. A storyteller as well as a skillful artisan, he and his co-star wife, Bess, embellished the facts of his amazing feats with lurid and untrue details that invited international press coverage, opportunities, and ultimately the fame he so desperately craved. In contrast, he also indulged in public grudges and tantrums, often manipulating the press to ruin others’ reputations as vengeance. Houdini was a fascinatingly complex human who, having come from nothing, was justifiably proud of his achievements, enjoyed the luxuries of his famous lifestyle, yet also shared generously with those he loved. ![]() Written with a younger audience in mind, Cox’s account depicts the icon as almost pathologically braggadocious, yet always entertaining, and hard-working to the point of many near-death experiences. ![]() This book was great and this has been my review on the book.Ī fascinating study in megalomania, Clinton Cox’s biography of Houdini portrays the man whose name is still, almost a century after his death, synonymous with magic, daring and, ironically, the supernatural world he worked tirelessly to debunk. Going into the book I really didn't like biographys but afterwards i'll have to give them a second look. This book taught me a lot about Houdini and i really enjoyed reading it, i would sugest this book to anyone interested in Houdini but doesn't know much about him. But alas that is later in the novel, Houdini's name actually was the idea of a friend of his, for Houdini's hero growing up was a man who went by the name Houdin, and houdini's friend told him that in French the letter 'i' on the end of a word means like, so his name was like Houdin. He was actually friends for a time with my favorite author of all time, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (author of the famed books of Sherlock Holmes) But he was not friends with him for a very long time, they became bitter rivals when it came to the beliefs of spiritualism, Houdini thought a hoax of it while Sir A.C. ![]() He wasn't born into greatness, but he found it none the less, his interests ranged from literature to magic to technology and everywhere in between. The book was very fascinating, I really didn't know much about Houdini previous to reading the book, and for example I didn't know that his name wasn't even Harry Houdini. ![]()
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