47-2,p36

Reviews

Charlie Dancey's Encyclopaedia of Ball Juggling. By Charlie Dancey. Published by Butterfingers (Bath, England), ISBN 1898591-13-X, 193 pp. In the US, available from Serious Juggling and Infinite Illusions for about $23; in the UK, from Butterfingers, 12.95 pounds. Reviewed by Martin Frost

Published last year, this is a substantial but lighthearted book that attempts to document all aspects of ball juggling, including patterns, tricks, props, site swaps, terminology, etc. There is plenty of humor and a bit of light philosophy thrown in, making it easy reading but educational, with almost 200 entries.

Although the title mentions ball juggling, much of the discourse naturally applies to clubs or other objects as well. And not just solo but also some passing patterns are described. The book is basically devoted to toss juggling (including bounce patterns), so you won't find tricks described for props such as the devil stick (but see "devil").

The encyclopedic form, that is, alphabetical order, seems unusual at first, since one might expect all the similar tricks to be described together. However, with the large number of cross references, the alphabetical form makes it very easy to find each entry you're interested in. Every time the text mentions a trick, prop, etc., that has its own entry in the Encyclopaedia, the referenced item is printed in bold type, so you instantly know when you can look up another term. But peruse the book at random and it will lead you to many concepts, some of which just might grab your fancy.

The book, 7 inches high by 10 inches wide, lies open nicely so that you can look at an entry while you do what it is explaining. Patterns are explained well, both in words and in diagrams, with extensive use of friendly cartoonstyle drawings which show the paths of the balls. Ladder notation is also pervasive, with its concise picture of the movement of the balls. (For samples from the Encyclopaedia, see the jugglers Workshop article in this issue.)

The numbers representing throws in site swap notation are used throughout the book to describe throws concisely. Fortunately, these numbers are explained in the Encyclopaedia's first entry. If you haven't learned site swap notation, never fear, because all you have to learn about it is what the numbers 1,2,3,4,5,... mean, and it's simple enough that you might as well learn it in this book. General site swap notation is also explained, quite well in fact, including extensions for simultaneous throws and for multiplexes. For the dedicated explorer, there is an appendix listing over 1000 site swaps of up to length five.

Everyone from beginner to even the most advanced juggler can learn from and enjoy the Encyclopaedia because there are lots of ideas presented, and they're presented in a fun way. And I'm looking forward to Charlie's forthcoming book, the Compendium of Club Juggling.

Mastering Devilstick (part one). By Chris Dore. Published by Circustuff 1995. ISBN 0-9520300-7-1. Available in N. America from Infinite Illusions and in Australasia from Juggleart.

This book adds a new prop to Circustulfs offering of instructional manuals, which already includes four books on diabolo by Donald Grant, as well as club and cigar box books.

Mastering Devilstick follows a standard format of instruction, moving from the basics of the art toward more complex moves. Since this is heralded as volume one, it's logical to expect a follow-up second volume that includes the truly difficult stuff.

Volume one, however, carries the novice through body moves, propellers, helicopter, buzzsaw, single sticking, traps and arm rolls, chopsticks, balances and cigar box moves (resting the devilstick horizontally across both hands ticks to flip and catch them).

The illustrations are large, with humorous characterizations of devil sticks and straightforward illustrations of stick manipulations. The text is sparse but clear and there is ample white space on each page, making for quick turning of the book's 75 pages.

A short section at the end talks about putting it all together' into a routine, emphasizing the value of speed changes, movement and humor, standing sideways for better view, and using alternate props such as umbrellas, tennis rackets and fire sticks.