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Tarbell Course in Magic Vol. 2

Lesson 20: How to Please your Audience
Lesson 21: Magic with Wands
Lesson 22: Double Paper Mysteries
Lesson 23: Magic with Coins
Lesson 24: Cigarette Magic
Lesson 25: Sleight of Hand with Cards
Lesson 26: Selected Card Mysteries
Lesson 27: Rising Cards
Lesson 28: Egg Magic
Lesson 29: Billiard Ball Manipulation
Lesson 30: Handkerchief Magic
Lesson 31: Rope Magic
Lesson 32: "Ghostlite" Mysteries
Lesson 33: Illusions

Lesson 20: How to Please your Audience
In this very valuable lesson, you learn how to present you effects and performances so your audience will get full enjoyment out of your performance. You learn things like how to speak, how to dress and showmanship. The section on showmanship is particularly good as it covers the showmanship of individual magicians.

Lesson 21: Magic with Wands
This lesson is devoted to various effects and routines that can be done with wands. Most of these effects require gimmicked wands, but they are very good for stage openers.

Lesson 22: Double Paper Mysteries
This lesson introduces various types of double paper used for vanishing and producing objects. You can make each of these yourself and they are great for vanishing things like silks and coins. Basically, a peice of paper is shown on both side and rolled into a cone or other shape. The object is placed inside. when the paper is opened, the object has vanished. For producing an object, the paper is shown, both sides, to have nothing on it. It is rolled into a cone and the object is produced from inside the cone. The effects you can create with this simple apparatus are unlimitted.

Lesson 23: Magic with Coins
This lesson covers varrious effects and methods for perfroming Coins Across effects. All of them are good and well worth reading. It also features a classic Miser's Dream routine that should be in the repitoire of all coin magicians.

Lesson 24: Cigarette Magic
Though I do not perform cigarette magic, I have read this chapter over and it is very good. If you are interested in learning cigarette magic, this lesson will keep you very busy! There is more than enough material in this chapter to come up with a good, solid cigarette routine. I recomend reading this chapter even if you don't intend to perform cigarette magic. I have used the material from this lesson in emergency situations where I had nothing on my (I was golfing, borrowed a golf tee, and started performing cigarette magic).

Lesson 25: Sleight of Hand with Cards
A lot of this chapter deals with Cardini-style card manipulations (producing and vanishing cards/fans of cards). This chapter gives you more than enough material to put a good card manipulation act together. You also learn to deal bottoms and seconds (various methods are offered). Finally, there are a few flourishes taught in this lesson like the Cascade and Cards from Mouth.

Lesson 26: Selected Card Mysteries
This chapter is devoted to a few effects that are based on certain systems. There are a couple of great effects that can be done over the phone (a devestating effect and perfect for if someone thinking of booking you is phoning). This lesson also features varrious card discoveries and a great spelling effect named "Any Name Called For"

Lesson 27: Rising Cards
In this lesson, you learn methods for performing the rising card effect. For certain effects, multiple selected cards rise in the deck. For others, the card actually rises up through the air into the performer's hand. There are even a few card fountain effects which are very pretty.

Lesson 28: Egg Magic
In my mind, the greatest effect in this chapter is the Unbreakable Egg. In the Unbreakable Egg, the egg is wrapped in a handkercheif and smashed, but when the spectator removes it ,the egg is whole. This lesson provides two methods for performing this effect (Humphy Dumphy Outdone and Tarbell's Unbreakable Egg).

Lesson 29: Billiard Ball Manipulation
This lesson teaches you a very good billiard ball routine, a multiplying golf balls routine and a rainbow billiard ball routine. Each one of these is a great routine and anyone interested in manipulations will love them.

Lesson 30: Handkerchief Magic
This lesson deals with silk and handkerchief classics such as the Handkerchief to Billiard Ball. There is also a very good description on using a handkerchief ball (in my mind, this is the best way to produce a silk).

Lesson 31: Rope Magic
This is one of my favorite chapters in the book. This chapter cointians brilliant effects like the Jumping Knot, Thread to Rope, Cigarette to Rope, Hindu Knots and many cut and restored rope effects. You will learn new principles in this chapter that you can apply to other effects and create your own effects. This lesson uses the knots learned in Knotty Silks (Vol. 1, Lesson eighteen) to create brilliant effects with ropes.

Lesson 32: "Ghostlite" Mysteries
This lesson describes different effects that can be achieved by using chemicals to make a ghostly light. Though I personally do not use any of these, I can see how they would be very useful, particularly when a magician wants to reveal a word or something in a spooky manner on the stage.

Lesson 33: Illusions
The final lesson in this book explains a few illusions that can be put together for a low cost (hence the title, low cost illusions). They are ment to be performed on stage in front of a large crowd. The illusions are very good, and once you read what is going on, it is not hard to come up with your own ideas for illusions using the principles taught in this lesson.

Overall, you can't go wrong with this book. I am sure that you could read it every day for a year and still learn something new from it the next day. As with all of the other books in this serries, there is just so much information.

10/10

Nice review! Again, there is so much in this book.
I particularly like the Sleight of Hand with Cards and Cigarette Magic sections.

The card vanishes and productions in this volume are really worth the time and effort it takes to master them and with the right angles look just like miracles.