What is real magic? I can tell you this from my personal experience: When I perform sleight of hand magic, folks know I am the source of trickery behind the illusion. Often the reaction to this type of “skill-magic” is shock, amazement and applause; also, appreciation of techniques I have mastered and a respect for skill I have attained. But when I perform mentalism, the effect on the audience can be quite different. Often there is a stunned silence, a questioning of reality…was it real? I do regret not starting to study mentalism earlier in my life. Only after I turned 30 was this field of magic important to me. But I do have great teachers that have helped me catch up on my learning. When I asked Max Maven to teach a course on “21st Century Mentalism” with Eugene Burger, he said yes, but he would call the event “Handling Humans”, because that is what mentalism and close-up magic are really all about: managing people during a performance. Last year’s class was incredible and I’m expecting the one this March to be even better!