Sorcerer’s Apprentice

As a child, Tahir Shah learned the first secrets of illusion from an Indian magician. Two decades later, he set out in search of this man. Sorcerer’s Apprentice is the story of his apprenticeship to one of India’s master conjurors and his initiation into the brotherhood of godmen. Learning to unmask illusion as well as practise it, he goes on a journey across the subcontinent, seeking out its miraculous and bizarre underbelly, meeting sadhus, sages, sorcerers, hypnotists, and humbugs. His quest exposes a side of India that most writers never imagine exists.