About this bookThis rather odd little book is in many ways a key predecessor to the Wyrd series, and is perhaps the one of which I'm still most fond, even though it took off like a lead balloon... It was an attempt to weave together a new approach to science, technology and magic: but like quite a lot of what I've written, it was way ahead of its time, and people seem to be discovering it now, just as it's about to drift into publishers' oblivion. Originally published as Towards a Magical Technology, the cover was so awful that most people thought it was supposed to be a joke-book, and eventually the publisher ripped the covers off and started again... a pity, because it's well worth reading.
The cover-copy states:
Have you ever wanted to be really original - to be more creative? This novel book describes how the minds of geniuses work - how new inventions are often born.
The trick is to abandon the plodding methods of the logical mind, and allow coincidences to happen. Inventing Reality is about putting these coincidences to use; rather like learning how to sense when some trouble is developing with your car, rather than relying on the handbook.
Ecology is teaching us to think of ourselves as part of nature, part of the environment. Magical technology is a way of working with the world as an extension of our own mind and awareness.
Through practical exercises using our everyday experiences, and through fields as diverse as computer programming and water divining, Tom Graves presents a framework in which synchronicities become a meaningful part of the reader's creative life.
Now out of print, but apparently still available through Amazon and some other bookstores... if you prefer a physical book, get one while you can! Full title Inventing Reality: towards a magical technology (Gateway Books, Bath, England), 1986/1990; ISBN 0-946551-64-2).
Preface, Acknowledgements and Copyright
What's in a word?
In which we note the many meanings of the words 'magic' and 'technology' - the
key concepts of this study.
Isn't it just coincidence?
In which we explore the nature of coincidence as 'co-incidence-ence', using two
very different skills as examples: computer-programming, and dowsing or water-divining.
Can't we explain this scientifically?
In which we politely push science off its pedestal as the sole arbiter of 'truth'
for technology, and come to view it instead as merely one of several useful ways of
operating within the strange swamp that's called 'reality'.
The subtle art of insanity
In which we see how some distinctly unreasonable attitudes can provide practical
tools for inventing reality - and for managing the subtle sense of 'insanity' which arises
in learning any new skill.
The practical art of magic
In which we find new ways to travel through the subjective swamp of ideas and
experiences, and explore a variety of tools and techniques for merging magic and
technology.
The joker in the pack
In which we review a cautionary tale or two, concerning the inevitability of
Murphy's Law - and the need for managing it in medical madness, mistaken magic and
mixed-up muddles of many kinds.
What's the use?
In which we return to the usefulness of technology, and of magic -
especially when merged together into a truly magical technology which is efficient,
reliable, elegant, appropriate.