The Life and Many Deaths of Harry Houdini

Rating:
Summary: Good but...
Review: I've read every biography on Harry Houdini and this one is good...but it isn't the best. (The best is Ken Silverman's Houdini! The Career of Ehrich Weiss.) Ruth Brandon seems to have read several old Houdini bios and, well, borrowed the information. Even her much publicized (and much maligned) "psycho-babble" comes right out of Bernard C. Meyer's Houdini A Mind in Chains (1976). Indeed, this excellent long out-of-print book seems to be Ms. Brandon's Deep Throat. Her chapter relating the events leading up to Houdini's death is taken almost paragraph for paragraph from the Meyer book. And do we really need to hear about the author's own childhood experiences with magic? Still, it's a good read, but for a serious and truly revealing Houdini bio go with the Silverman book.

Rating:
Summary: Decent, but there are better
Review: If you're planning on buying just one Houdini book, go with Kenneth Silverman. Although there are parts of Brandon's book which are excellent, I grew tired of her opinions and psycho-babble. Ultimately, I got the feeling that the author simply didn't like Houdini. Perhaps I should have been warned when reading Brandon's bio: "She likes to think of biography as a framework within which to look at cultural history." Houdini was a complex person, to say the least. Personally, I'd rather be presented with the facts so I could form my own opinion.

Rating:
Summary: Strongly Suggested Book
Review: This book is good. It has many interesting facts about Houdini. It explains his life and career. I strongly suggest it.