15/10/2026
Did you miss the chance to get Paul’s book after his lecture?
Fear not we have some copies here in Hull.
Priced at only £75 + £5 p&p.
Contact Karl Hemmingway to get your copy.
This book collects the first eight years of Paul Draper’s column from M-U-M, the magazine of The Society of American Magicians. Across these essays, Paul explores the craft of magic and mentalism from the perspective of someone who has spent his life performing for real audiences, in real venues, under real pressure.
This is not just a collection of routines, although you will find strong, practical material inside. It is a book about performance, meaning, audience connection, theatrical thinking, and the choices that turn a method into an experience your audiences will remember.
Paul Draper is one of magic’s most thoughtful working performers. On Second Thought.. moves between practical advice, personal stories, historical context, theatrical structure, mentalism, scripting, psychology, and the small details that make a performance land harder. Each piece gives you something useful to think about, whether that is a new routine, a better way to frame an effect, or a deeper understanding of why audiences care in the first place.
The columns are presented chronologically, following Paul’s thoughts, experiences, and discoveries over eight years of performing, teaching, studying, and refining his work. You get to see how his thinking develops over time, while each essay still stands on its own as a complete and useful piece.
There are also guest contributions from respected experts, offering additional insights, sources, and perspectives that expand the ideas even further.
What makes this book especially valuable is that it comes from someone who has both studied magic deeply and performed it professionally. Paul does not write from theory alone. He writes from years of standing in front of paying audiences, discovering what gets laughs, what creates mystery, what builds trust, and what makes a moment meaningful.
That is why so many respected names in magic have praised this book.
