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'Meant to Be' is concerned primarily with the 'Any Card at Any Number' effect. While there are some other tricks in the book, they revolve around John Born's 'Any Card...' method that is the core of the book, and I'll ignore them for the purposes of this review.

So, what of Born's method for the 'ACAAN' effect? Well, the way it appears to the audience is that any card is freely named with no restrictions, then any number from 1-52 is freely named with no restrictions. The magician removes the deck from its box and immediately and cleanly hands the cards to a spectator to count down to the chosen number where they find the chosen card.

The method is not easy. I don't think I can go into any specifics without bordering on exposure, except to say that like many or most 'ACAAN' effects you do need to have the deck memorised. (You could get away with new deck order I suppose, but I wouldn't recommend it). On another forum I've seen people question whether the effect is too difficult, but my early experimenting suggests that it is perfectly practical if you are prepared to work at it - and I am far from technically gifted.

For me, such a clean-looking version of this effect would be enough to be happy with the book, but there is plenty more here. There is a reasonably interesting essay called 'On Creativity', which ranges further than the title suggests. There are some other effects, as already mentioned. There are discussions of a handful of sleights including a Zarrow-esque fake shuffle.

But best of all, if you are interested in the 'Any Card At Any Number' effect, there is a collection of other versions of the trick contributed by the likes of Ken Krenzel, Allan Ackerman and Barrie Richardson (his excellent version from 'Theatre of the Mind'). These nine other versions vary considerably in method and appearance.

If you are a fan of the 'Any Card at Any Number' plot, I would describe this book as essential. Born's method strikes me as excellent, if difficult, but if it's not to your taste then you may enjoy one of the variety of other methods collected here.

The book is a nicely bound hardback with photo illustrations, diminished only slightly by a rather 'desktop publishing' look to the actual text.

Though not a fan of giving marks out of 10, I'll relent and give this a solid 8. And if you're a particular fan of 'Any Card at Any Number' then 9.

Nice review! It does look like a great book!

Can you tell us any UK suppliers? Or did you get this from the US?

Cheers,

Todd

I did buy it here in the US (I'm an exiled Brit) but you can order it from

http://www.johnborn.com/products.html

for $65, about 32 quid. I've heard orders are processed quickly, but don't quote me on it.

misterblack wrote:I did buy it here in the US (I'm an exiled Brit) but you can order it from

http://www.johnborn.com/products.html

for $65, about 32 quid. I've heard orders are processed quickly, but don't quote me on it.

Many thanks!

Todd

Hey DrTodd did you ever buy the book, and if so what do you think?

Anyone else taken a look?