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Review of The Complete Juggler

Scott Seltzer - 29th February, 2004.

Review of The Complete Juggler

by Scott Seltzer


The Complete Juggler

by Dave Finnigan (aka "Professor Confidence")

Illustrated by Bruce Edwards
With special contributions by Todd Strong
Technical Consultant: Allan Jacobs
Published by JuggleBug

Review below


Table of Contents:
Acknowledgementsix
Juggling and You3
Scarf Juggling7
The Basic Cascade26
Advaned 3 Ball Juggling34
Juggling 4 and 5 Balls89
Ball Mastery108
Juggling Rings155
Juggling 3 Clubs168
Juggling 4 and 5 Clubs201
Club Mastery210
Cigar Boxes259
Devil Sticks279
Diabolo318
Hat Manipulation353
Plate Spinning371
Ball Spinning384
Balance and Auxiliary Equipment407
Performing416
Juggling Games437
Teaching Juggling452
Making Money with Juggling496
Juggling and Health516
Spreading the Joy of Juggling525
Visiting a Juggling Convention536
Achievemnet Awards548
Appendix 1: Useful Resources and Addresses557
Appendix 2: Glossary of Juggling Terms and Index of Names563

Review

The Complete Juggler is a huge reference on many different tricks using many different props. The book also covers teaching, performing, the history of juggling, and more. The style is very straightforward with concise descriptions and thousands of clear drawings throughout. Every chapter in the book is preceded by drawings of juggling greats demonstrating props in that section.

Finnigan's method for teaching others to juggle starts with scarves. He spends 17 pages teaching scarf juggling and providing a number of tricks/skills for the budding juggler to explore before moving on to balls. A few more pages teach 3 balls and then shows over 50 tricks for 3 balls. There are a few pages and tricks with 4 balls and then 6 full pages of learning 5 balls "the easy way" followed by several tricks with 5 balls. He goes on to teach partner juggling with 3 balls (steals, runaround, siamese, running 3 balls), ball passing and ends the ball section with multiplexing up to 7 balls. The chapter on rings is fairly short but covers all the basic tricks and work with up to 7 rings. Clubs are introduced with 9 pages on getting them started followed by over 20 three club tricks including backcrosses, alberts, and treblas. The basics with 4 and 5 clubs are then covered. Next is a section on club interaction starting with 3 clubs and 2 people and moving up to lines, feeds, and other patterns with up to 7 jugglers. The basics with cigar boxes, devilsticks (1 and 2) and diabolo follow. Interestingly the diabolo section covers a bunch of tricks with the novel one-wheeled diabolo. Then hat manipulation. plate spinning, and large ball work (spinning, body rolls, and heading) are covered. The final skill section is about balancing peacock feathers, sticks and shorter objects, and objects on objects.

I constantly refer to the sections on "Performing" (including putting together routines, a nice list of "novelty routines in the public domain," showmanship, comments on plagiarism, school assemblies, and audience training) and "Making Money With Juggling" (including persona; promotion; publicity; business aspects; street performing; and booking schools, private parties, parks, shopping malls, cruise ships, colleges, nightclubs & casinos, commercials & movies, trade shows, theme parks, and more). It's always confused me that Finnegan squeezed a couple chapters between these 2 sections, though.

Finnegan's expertise is teaching juggling and he gives 23 complete lesson plans as well as tons of great advice on motivation, organization, teaching methodology, class control, making sure props aren't stolen, and correcting many common juggling mistakes. He teaches 15 different juggling games (many of which are original) which are appropriate for conventions and as a good source of variety in any juggling class taught (there are games for all levels and different numbers of participants).

The section on organizing juggling clubs and conventions ("Spreading the Joy of Juggling") has a lot of practical advice that's been very valuable to me over the years. I also love reading about juggling history and Finnegan exellently weaved together historical references with modern practitioners in the chapter "Visiting a Jugglers' Convention."

This book is complete to say the least (nearly 600 pages). It's not as clever as Charlie Dancey's books, nor is it as in-depth but Dancey only covers one prop at a time and does not cover as many non-skill issues like performing, teaching, and organizing clubs/conventions. I think that this a a great all around juggling book. Not only do I recommend it to any beginning or intermediate juggler striving to learn skills, but anyone interested in teaching juggling, performing, or learning more about the art.

Read also a Review from Winter 1986 Juggler's World.


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16th Mar 2006
Good Book
This is a great book i just bought it. Don't bother buying the nylon scarves though, napkins or toilet paper workes just fine
19th Oct 2005
I havent read the whole thing,...
I havent read the whole thing, just flicked through it, I thought it wasnt very 'fun' centred, with its lists of things to achive for each dicipline. didnt seem to be much about 'playing' with objects.

however this review has made me want to read the non juggling parts of the book, as I had a hard time reconciling this book with the excellent 'zen of juggling' and hope ther is more to it.
22nd Aug 2005
I have read the book and as a ...
I have read the book and as a complete novice I found it usefull. Yes the tricks are hard and some of the diagrams could be improved. For someone to just grasp the basics and a little more, then it has done its job
11th Jun 2005
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10th Sep 2004
It's an awful book...
It's an awful book
29th Aug 2004
No, this is a great book. Cons...
No, this is a great book. Consider such thoughtfull commentary as 'go for it', regarding how to learn 5 clubs. Really, 5 clubs deserve more than 5 sentences in a 500 page book. I love staring at pictures for hours trying to derive meaning out of them. Thats the best way to learn really. That and I hate this book, and i challenge Finnigan to a juggling duel.
1st May 2004
This isn't a true review but r...
This isn't a true review but rather an assessment on what the writer likes about the book. There is no criticism and The Complete Juggler much though I like it can do with some criticism for example the level of difficulty of tricks is not clear and there are tricks at the three ball level that after 16 years of juggling I still can't do (ok only one trick - the penguin) but no suggestion that this trick is any harder or easier than anything else. There are also I think technical flaws in some of the teaching techniques which do not help the beginning juggler.
It is quite possible that after this length of time Mr Finnigan would change a fair amount of his book as his teaching techniques are likely to have changed over the years.
I like the book for what it is, a good start to juggling but it needs updating and personally I think that the certificates are too reliant on the tricks that Mr Finnigan happens to be good at.