talkmagic.co.uk

Title :
Great Scott! It’s Magic! The Magic of Scott F. Guinn : Volume One: Card Magic

Cost $25 + shipping
http://www.greatscott-itsmagic.com/product.php?id=012

Difficulty From 3 to 5
(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)

Review
This is a review of the expanded edition with 134 pages, the older version had 75 pages.
Firstly let me start with what is in the book,
3 utility techniques.
15 routines with a normal deck.
4 effects that use an additional prop.
13 items with a secret aid.

Right, that is all from his site, what do I think as somebody that has only recently finished Royal Road To Card Magic?
Well firstly I have to say the above figures are correct and the book is a goldmine of information for the more advanced cardsman.
This is not a book for the beginner in the card field, I think you would have had to work through Royal Road or Card College to be able to understand or fully apply these teachings. Having said that this is a great next step, Scott is, in my opinion, a great teacher with a simple, easy to follow way of writing. This way of writing does not make the content any easier to do if you don't already have some experience though, something to consider if you are interested in this book.

From the introduction from Aldo Colombini, to the last word by Scott this book oozes class and good ideas, even if you knew all the effects you would still learn a great deal from the routine help that is included and Scotts thoughts on them.
All the hand drawn pictures have been replaced in this new edition with photographs, the explanations are complete and well thought out. They are obviously given by somebody that uses them and enjoys them and this can make all the difference to the reader. It isn't a bland reproduction of facts it is an insightfull and complete presentation of a magicians experience as well as the effects and the skills required to pull them off.
It is also very nice to see a large amount of effort going into crediting the originators of these moves, respect due here.

So what will you learn, well the easiest way to answer that without giving much away is to list the chapters for you :
Chapter 1 : Selected Tricks
Chapter 2 : Coincidentally with Sympathies
Chapter 3 : Transportations and Teleportations
Chapter 4 : Mind Games
Chapter 5 : Magic with Cards & Stuff (great title for a chapter in a card book)
Chapter 6 : A Card with a Different Colour
Chapter 7 : Are You Mental? (is that the best ever title for a chapter?)
Chapter 8 : Cavorting Cards
There are 2 other chapters/parts covering gaffs and "secret stuff" but I will leave those as a surprise
It is well worth mentioning here that you will not have to buy any gaffs or extra items, everything you need is explained and will no doubt be easy to find down the back of most sofas. Or is that just my house?


Overall
A great book, intended for the intermediate to advanced magician, I haven't seen anything in this book I wouldn't want to use.
The routines and effects have been rewritten and are clearer, easier to understand and are more complete. The pictures replaced by photos and the work has now been organised into chapters. Even if you have the old copy surely a good buy, if you like your card magic, as card magic is all you will find.
I have learned a great deal from this book and yet I still have a lot to learn from it. It gets 10 out of 10 from me and I believe anybody that reads these boards would welcom this as part of their collection.
A magician of any skill level would be able to pick things out and work them into their routine but as said the book would be more use to somebody with a little time behind them in cards.
If you have many card books already you will doubtless recognise many of these effects but the variations given on them make them almost as new, I have though geared this review towards somebody looking for the next step, probably without an already bulging bookcase.

I say give it a try but I will leave the last word to Scott, taken from the end of the book :
"Now it’s up to you. This book is like my child: I birthed it, I raised it and I brought it to maturity and now I am sending it out to the world. All I can do is hope the people who come in contact with it find it worthwhile and treat it well."
I will Scott, I will

Hope that helps somebody,
BaB

ps - I can list all the tricks/effects if anybody needs me to but this review is already too big and its the whole package that I am trying to review not personal scores of each trick, the ones I have mastered and used have got a great reaction and I can see the ones I haven't used yet would do the same, let me know if more detail is required for this review

Nice review bum, and I agree with everything you say.

I will add though that yes these aren't self working card tricks, and so consequentally do need a little work and practice to pull off, but they aren't actually that difficult.

I am by no means a great cardician (heck, I'm not evena good one!) - but I do find that many of the tricks in this book are variations/combinations of existing tricks but with the "Keep it Simple Stupid" principle applied. (In other words they have been simplified where it doesn't take anything away from the trick, and this is really good for me

I have this book as part of the Limited edition "Great Scott it's magic" trilogy (Card, Coins and More) and certainly wouldn't be without it. It also includes the infamous "Guinn Utility Backslip" which is a very versatile and suprisingly simple technique that can be used to acomplish or replace all sorts of sleights. I'm not sure if the Card Magic Book by itself includes this, but if it doesn't then the "GUB" can be bought as a sepearate manual.

I agree with everything you said
I was trying to get that across but didn't quite manage it, lol.
The tricks aren't impossible, after all the fingers can only do so many things (and some of them are to do with cards, inuendo by special request of Mandrake) but it isn't a self working trick book, why didn't I think of that phrase?
I guess I went a little overboard on the trying to warn the unpracticed, thanks for balancing the review out.

The GUB is in the book yes, this is taken from that section :
"The GUB is an extremely versatile and surprisingly simple technique, which can be used to accomplish or replace all of the following sleights:
Control card to top, Control card to second from top, Control card to bottom, Control card to second from bottom, Multiple Shift (all of the above done with two or more cards), Sidesteal, The Pass, Secret Reversal, Top Change, Multiple Top Change, Bottom Change, Multiple Bottom Change, Color Change, Lap, Gambler’s Cop, Tenkai Palm, False Deals."

Anybody want the book yet

I hope this post is ok and doesn't break any rules, I am still trying to work out what we can say and would hate to be stoned by Paul Daniels.

BaB

EDIT : This is ONE of the utilities mentioned in the review, there are two others.

Sounds like one for me. Can you get it anywhere in the UK?

Hi Fletch,
I just did some searching, as I did when I wrote the review and can't find it in the UK but maybe somebody here might know more than I do.

I found mine in a second hand book shop so it was a little more affordable (£5, YaY for me), if you buy from the site given it's +$10 to get it flown over.
I couldn't find it as part of the trilogy either, I wish I could be of more help, I would say that even for the price it is worth it though.

BaB

As far as I know the only place to get these manuscripts is at Mr Guinn's website

http://www.greatscott-itsmagic.com/books.html

Picking it up for a fiver from a second hand book shop sounds like one heck of a bargain (why can't any of the bookshops I visit have gems like this?)

lol
Because you don't live in Manchester, the land of "HOW MUCH!?! You're having a laugh surely!"

We have, in the city, a corner of town that has a second hand book store every other door, I love it
Just to make you feel better I also, on that day, picked up the ETMCM1 for £9 and RRTCM for £4, he he.

But then as a price to pay I have to live in a City that has so much rain we are born with webbed feet.

BaB

Thank you, sir, for your very kind, wonderful review of my book. And thanks to Bananafish for backing it up!

The book is currently only available (new) from me. However, if you mention this forum, I will pay the postage to try to help you with the costs.
It's 133 pages with 346 photo-illustrations, and every routine in the book is either currently in my working repertoire or has been in the past.

While it is not intended for the beginner, I do explain all the required sleights (albeit briefly sometimes) within the book, so I think that people who are, to coin a phrase, "Upper Beginners to Lower Intermediates" should be able to learn the material fairly easily.

Just FYI, here are the ten routines from this book that I perform most often right now:

AC Routine, Down's Home, Coincidental, Idaho Travelers, What in the World, Triumph in Plastic, Red Hot Mama's Lips, Dark Shellshock, Parallel Universe, Transpofusion.

Of course, this list is subject to change, but at the moment, those are the ones that get the most "play" in my performances.

Thanks again, gents, for your kind words.

Thanks for the kind offer Scott, I hope some take it up as I gained a lot from this book.
I liked the book, you have endeared yourself to me and you have more books for sale, damn you clever salesmen, out comes the wallet again...

Seriously, glad you liked the review and thanks for answering, if I don't see you before then, have a happy Christmas

BaB