Harry Lorayne's Apocalypse

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Harry Lorayne's Apocalypse

Postby Lord Freddie » Apr 22nd, '07, 14:33



The Effect
Will you get your money’s worth from Apocalypse? Harry Lorayne has always given much more than your money’s worth. Listen to a few of the many unsolicited remarks re: Volume II. “I’m the one who wrote to tell you that I would have paid the price of the book for only Two Shuffles Harry (Volume I). Well, I’d do the same for The Sting.” “I’ve been in magic for over forty years. I can’t remember enjoying any publication more.” And many more along the same vein. These four huge editions feature contributions from Dai Vernon, Ed Marlo, Brother John Hamman, Ken Krenzel, Slydini, Frank Garcia, Derek Dingle, David Roth, Trevor Lewis, Paul Harris, John Cornelius, Bernard Bilis, Max Maven, Phil Goldstein, Martin Gardner, Karrell Fox, Herb Zarrow, Paul Gertner, Terry Lagerould, Sid Lorraine, Jeff McBride, Tom Mullica, Louis Falanga, Patrick Page, Larry Jennings, Roger Klause and many, many more!




Cost
£51.99 from http://www.magicbox.uk.com/shop.php/sho ... /p_27.html



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)

Varies. I would say 3-5.



Review
These four books are expensive, but well worth it! My review is based on the first volume (until I get round to adding the other three to my collection).
For those who don't know, Apocalypse was a magic magazine produced by the great Harry Lorayne, and these mighty volumes collect them all together.
The first one contains Vol 1-5 covering the years 1978 to 1982 and is crammed so full of effects that you won't know what to study first!
The bulk of the effects focus on cards and coins, but there are also mental effects, rope tricks, sponge balls..a bit of everything.
Not having studied coins as much as I'd liked to, I have focussed on the card tricks in this volume and there are stunning routines as well as some useful sleights which I have not seen elsewhere.
In this book alone there are 535 effects including 250 card tricks and 140 coin effects.
You only have to look at the names of the contributors to realise the quality contained within these pages.



Overall

10/10
A few of the routines I have learnt from here slay the layman. Not for beginners, most of the effects use common sleights so anyone who is intermediate to advanced will have no problem with them.
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Postby sleightlycrazy » Apr 22nd, '07, 17:23

"Leave it to me"

Ha, excellent! C.U.P.S. inducing, in fact... :wink:

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Postby Lord Freddie » Apr 22nd, '07, 17:45

Tell me about it. Fifty quid each and full of so many goodies your eyes'll pop out!
CUPS is beckoning me to get the other three volumes.

The stuff in here is of a really high standard. Really high. And Harry's columns and editorials are a superb read.

There's a really simple, but funny, effect called "Duck-Two" which has a good story with it and is superb for a comedy routine.

One card effect, called Goody Two Choose, where two people pick a card from a deck and you name them, can be done when you're out of the room. One performer had the specs instructions playing on a tape recorder and ended with: "Now come and get me, I'm at the pinball machine.."
Great effect and really simple to do.

You can pore over this book for hours trying to take this stuff in. And the hardest thing is deciding which ones to learn first!

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Postby sleightlycrazy » Apr 23rd, '07, 00:30

Ordered!

I'm so broke now... :oops:

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Postby Lord Freddie » Apr 23rd, '07, 00:32

If it's any consolation, they look really nice on your shelves too!

Been reading this tonight...so much in there... :D

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Postby Magic1Jim » Apr 23rd, '07, 12:41

I bought Volume 1 a while back well worth the money havn't got round to getting the other three yet :cry:

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Postby Lord Freddie » Apr 23rd, '07, 12:46

Same here, thr first one's so good that the other three are an inevitable purchase. Not cheap, but worth every penny.

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Postby I.D » Apr 26th, '07, 08:03

Just ordered the first two volumes.

They better be worth it :lol: . No really, Ill see them as an investment, my boys can study them when they are older, assuming they get born at some stage!!

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Postby magicforfun » Apr 26th, '07, 08:47

C'mon you guys! I just started with card magic, halfway through RRTCM, and I already have the CUPS fever. I still "need" to buy Card College and now you come up with this? :wink: I just love books! When I'm more experienced I'll give it a shot, but it's difficult not to give in to CUPS. Thank you for a great review!

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Postby sleightlycrazy » Apr 27th, '07, 01:20

This book is HUGE. I skimmed through it last night and saw a ton of material only to realize I didn't even get a quarter ways through it. It contains classics as well as some obscure gems. My only problem with it is that the effect isn't always told before the method, so it's hard to tell what effect you're learning. Overall, if you've been into close-up magic (obsessively) for at least a year and a half, this book is a necessity.

Currently Reading "House of Mystery" (Abbott, Teller), Tarbell, Everything I can on busking
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Postby I.D » Apr 27th, '07, 12:43

Got these this morning. HUGE!!

I love two shuffles harry and Loraynes Poker Challenge.

There is some great stuff in here, a real collection of classic magic.

I think Ill get my head buried deep into this more so than with anything else, with the exception of card college

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Postby Lord Freddie » Apr 27th, '07, 12:47

Yes, there's so much in there! And some really great stuff.
Try the Instant Sandwich Catch (think it's called that) in issue no.1,
Simple and effective.
I just can't wait to have the spare cash to get the other three volumes!

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Postby I.D » Apr 27th, '07, 13:13

Im ordering the other three over the next few weeks I would imagine, just to be complete.

www.youtube.com/brum2redmagic !! Youtube Project started.. early days

Reading: Nothing right now
Studying: loving band redemption
Performing: Speechless, Stand up Monte, Coinvexed,
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Postby Magic1Jim » Apr 27th, '07, 13:18

I see CUPS has got the better of you again I.D :lol:

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Postby Lord Freddie » Apr 27th, '07, 13:21

The problem with books as good as these is you wonder what goodies lurk in the other volumes that you're missing.
Using the stuff in these books alone, you could have a killer, professional card act.

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