Nowhere in history, has an author been so talked about or a fictional character become so famous. Its July and it’s the month when the last Harry Potter book will be published. Yes, it is "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows". The phenomena of Harry Potter is truly a, yes, phenomena. As the world of muggles awaits the arrival of another book of the adventures of the boy wizard, the world of magic is again on the centre stage. Children and adults alike would like to learn how to do magic tricks.

 
Magic has a history as old as man himself does. In the olden days, man believed in magic and there were several practices that were believed to enhance the magic powers of a person. Several people also practiced a science of turning anything into gold called Alchemy. The science that tries to discover the philosopher's stone is the story line of one of the Harry Potter books that was later made into a movie. Some of the famous people who believed in the powers of magic were Sir Isaac Newton and Phillip Paracelus.

 
The history of magic can be traced to the ancient Egypt and Chinese civilizations. In Egypt, a magician entertained the slaves who built the pyramids. Most of the magic tricks were things appearing, disappearing, and making stone gods talk. Many unexplained phenomena of nature were attributed to magic. Performers in the olden days tried to convince their audience that they had magical powers. Magic lost its glory with the advent of Christianity and magicians or persons claiming to have unnatural powers were branded as witches and hunted down. Magicians, wizards and witches were considered evil and outlawed. Magic died a natural death for a while and re-emerged in a new form in the 16^th century. This time, the performers and artists were careful in their re-branding and they called themselves entertainers, performers and artists.

 
With the new age, the magic tricks turned more sophisticated. They used coin and card tricks and rabbits appeared out of hats and disappeared into thin air. They were deemed to have no magic powers and their tricks had more to do with sleight of hand than supernatural powers. Some performers took to the street. Some of the street magic was juggling balls, hoops, chains and links, illusions and levitations.

 
Magic, in recent times have evolved into books, DVDs where anyone with an interest in the art can learn how to do magic tricks. Thus, many secrets are easily accessible and used by old and young alike.

 So enjoy the book, whatever age you are. And I am going to grab one too! Yes, I am the adult with no children around me, traveling in the train, reading a Harry Potter book.