By Bill Giduz, editor Davidson, North Carolina

You might find Just Juggle as quickly in the "Self-Help" section of your bookstore as the "Sports and Hobbies" section. It's as much a psychological text as an instructional book, and attaches all sons of ego-boosting importance to the mastery of the three ball cascade.

But author and IJA member Steve Cohen from Miami, Florida, didn't write Just Juggle for expert athletes like accomplished jugglers.  In the past five years of teaching juggling to other people, he explained, he has met a lot of quitters.

"I've seen a lot of people who really struggled with learning, who get very self-conscious about it and quit without really trying," he said. "But I think everyone, especially people who don't think of themselves as athletes, has a lot to gain from learning to juggle. "

The book is directed toward those shy and introverted individuals. Cohen writes that "It's easy to feel freaked out" because "the world can be a deadening place."

If you share that view, this book's for you. Cohen presents a vision of a better world for people who learn to juggle. In the book's opening paragraph, he states, "Juggling objects at any level of difficulty can help a person better juggle those nettlesome though important intangibles that add gravity to daily living. "

With sweeping hyperbole, he writes later, "So you find yourself juggling.  The apparently impossible is real, it is happening.  You are doing something that you never thought you could do before; you are bringing order into a turbulent, imperfect world. Now, everything seems simpler. Life looks more manageable because poise, balance, and dexterity - the very skills sharpened by juggling three balls - are conveniently applicable to real life situations... Success at learning to do something you thought impossible has given you a shot of confidence in your ability to accomplish whatever you set out to do."

He goes so far as to suggest, "The unemployed might benefit more than most from juggling by learning to focus energy on coming to grips with employment challenges." Would anyone care to write a grant proposal based on that thesis?

This Zen-like description of goals, self centering, intellectual benefits, emotional benefits and establishing the proper setting in which to learn is repeated in many different words for 92 pages. In the final 70 pages, Cohen explains the steps of learning the three ball cascade, as well as briefly describing some more advanced moves.

I personally don't view juggling as such a soothing psychic balm. Only in extreme cases can I imagine a person finding as much benefit from it as Cohen hypothesizes.

But I'm encouraged that a big publisher has decided to give Just Juggle national distribution.  McGraw-Hill does a lot of market research before they print anything, and their confidence in printing 15,000 first-edition copies indicates they believe they can sell that many at the $7.95 price. I hope everyone who buys it joins the IJA. Cohen kindly talks about the organization in several spots.

Cohen said he approached 50 publishers with the idea of Just Juggle, and got responses from four. McGraw-Hill came up with an offer first, so he went with them.

The nicest part of the book is the animation Cohen achieves through a drawing of a stone-faced juggler in the top right comer of every page. Flipping through the book shows the character performing a three ball cascade, which will help non-jugglers visualize the steps Cohen explains. The numerous other drawings illustrate the movement of balls from hand to hand to accompany his detailed written description of those moves.

In summary, collectors will want to buy this book because it's about juggling. Non­jugglers will want to buy it because it can teach them how to juggle, if they don't mind wading through a lot of psychological sap first. But I don't believe most IJA members can find $7.95 worth of new ideas inside these pages.