I rarely see this book reviewed on juggling sites, where everyone extoles the virtues of books no longer in print. I bought this one on a whim. Turns out it is one of the best juggling books I own. I am a pretty adept, casual 3 ball juggler. So I didn't get too much from the chapters on learnign the 3 ball cascade. However, those same chapters turned my friend an avid anti-juggling maniac into a juggling fiend. The author got past the blocks I never could in teaching her to juggle. (And I have taught more than a two dozen people the 3 ball cascasde.) What intersted me was the chapter on 5 balls (still working on it) and detailed instrucitons on juggling with clubs. I am also working on a 3 ball Mill's Mess.

Definately worth a look see. The pictures are big and bright, the instructions are clear. I liked it.. it never makes it back to the bookshelf in my house... it is always on the coffee table because we are always looking at it for something or another.

PATHWAYS IN JUGGLING will keep you occupied from first, tentative steps in three-ball juggling through more complicated work with diablos and devil sticks. It's appropriate for many different skill levels, from novice to advanced intermediate. After you've mastered all the book's knowledge, you'll be ready to perform impressively before public audiences.

This learning process is made easier by the book's style. It's a very handsome, well-designed volume, whose instructive abilities are greatly enhanced by the use of full-color photographs. In many cases, the imagery is so clear, you don't absolutely need to read the accompanying text to understand how to perform the trick. Even so, each trick is carefully explained, and tips are liberally mixed in to help students overcome common problems.

But for me, one of the best features is simply the book's size. PATHWAYS is a large enough volume to stay flat on a table, so you see the can glance at the photographs while holding your juggling objects. The large format also means the photographs are themselves large and easy to see from a distance. This saves tremendous time, and is certainly one of the strongest reasons I pull this volume before others when I want to practice.

What's in this volume? You get six major sections, covering something on the order of 50 distinct tricks. First is an introduction to juggling three balls, followed by variations on three-ball juggling, club juggling, juggling more than three items, stealing and passing, and, finally, using devil sticks and diablos. The how-to sections are followed by the weakest part of the book: an all-too-brief discussion of equipment and a two-page section on performing in public.

These last sections are almost wholly inadequate, in my view. Though the equipment section does introduce you to the basic tools of the trade, it does nothing to tell you how to get that equipment. While it may have been that the authors were trying to avoid appearing to endorse particular sales outlets, or maybe that they thought that listing specific addresses might have "dated" the book, their lack of specificity is truly woeful. Juggling outlets are not uniformly placed throughout the world, and some ideas of where to go for supplies would've been extremely helpful. Likewise, the equally scant section on performing doesn't go a long way to explaining how to put together an act. As far as it goes, it's a good enough essay, but it, too, is hardly explicit. In future editions, the authors would be well-served by including at least a "further reading/viewing" section to direct their students to examples of fine performance, so as to show ways that individual skills might be put together into a coherent whole.

These two flaws aside, however, PATHWAYS IN JUGGLING is a highly recommendable work. If you have any aspiration of becoming a competent juggler with a deep repertoire, this is the book you want.

Contained the best explanation of Mill's Mess I've found. Easy to read with lots of color, I liked the pictures. Entertaining and useful.