'Best' is a subjective decision. I am not very good at those. However, I can sell you some of the best-selling books on the subject, or loan them to you while you remain in the bar.

"Leave off Blackstaff's gibberish," Enserric recommends. "The man had some very funny ideas about the order in which one should teach the fundamentals. I mean, really, did he expect every apprentice to arrive on the scene knowing the precise ontological differences between deception via illusion and via enchantment? What an utter prick."

Your friend's argument is repeated in certain contemporary reviews of the book in question, Bar notes. Although most appear to be his own writing.