talkmagic.co.uk

Another classic that I decided to review. There have been a lot of post about a good book to learn magic from, so I think this will be useful.

The Effect
This book basically contains everything that you need to know for card magic and more. This covers sleights, flourishes, effects, routines, patter, missdirection and more! There are chapters about legendary routines like the Abitious Card and the Rising Card. There are ways of stacking a poker hand where the setup takes about 5 seconds and a few shuffles. It is writen in as easy to learn format and will have you performing feats you would never have thought possible. There is just so much that you can learn from this book. In my mind, this is a book that is essentual to every magician's library.

Cost
$10.95 USD from www.penguinmagic.com (pretty good, considering that if you bought the effects and sleights as instant downloads, your wallet would probably be near empty)

Difficulty
(1=easy to do, 2=No sleights, but not so easy, 3=Some sleights used,
4=Advanced sleights used, 5=Suitable for experienced magicians only)
There is a chapter in the book on self working card effects, and there are effects that will require months of practice to nail. The book ranges from 1 to 4.5. Don't let this intimidate you, the book will guide you throught the steps towards being an Expert Card Handler.

Review
The only thing that wasn't covered extencivly in this book was the flourishes. Other than that, you couldn't ask for more. If you are a total begginer, I would suggest buying Royal Road to Card Magic and than this. Even if you are an experianced magician, it would really help you to buy this book. I've learned so many things from it and use that knowlage at every single performance.

Overall
9.5 out of 10

I picked up this book a few days and only flicked through it as busy with work for a change!! Ive read a few of the techniques and the misdirection/presentation at the back, and can sa that for £4 from Amazon, I can tell Im going to get a lot of use out of this book! Could maybe do with one or two more diagrams in it! However, I cant believe they stole some ideas from Ellusionist! How disgraceful!!

The best section is where there are no tricks at all. The large chapter on presentation will do you more good than any of the myriad tricks and sleights in the book. And the first few pages of that chapter are pure gold.
Especially take note of this sentence, "It is not so much the tricks that are so important as the illusion the magician creates about himself"

That may be the most important sentence in magic.