The Effect.
Many different effects, 29 in total, including mentalism, Cards, Kids magic, Stage and close up.
Cost
10 Euros, which is £8.68 at the moment
Difficulty
All levels of difficulty are found in this ebook but I don't really think it would be for a biginner in magic
The Review
This ebook is published by the Southern Brotherhood of Magicians and all funds from sales go towards the Magic Uncorked convention to be held in Cork, Ireland, in April 2012. It's available here
http://www.magicuncorked.com/book.phpOverall I think it's well worth the price and there is probably something here for everyone at some level but I was disappointed with some of the effects requiring the reader purchase other publications to be able to learn the effects. This felt a little like buying information and it telling you where to buy the information you thought you had just bought. For the more experienced magician this is probably not so much of a problem but for me, it felt disappointing.
The effects that stand out,
The magician texts the participants phone after discovering their number.
This requires the participant to place their phone number in card form into the pack in the correct order. Call me sceptical but whatever slights you are able to pull off after this are killed dead by having to have all these cards returned to the deck in the correct order. Having said that, I know there are great people out there that could pull this off and still amaze everyone but I'm just not one of them.
Cold reading
Some good solid basics in cold reading but if you know what cold reading is you probably already know these basics.
Fun with a modelling balloon.
Includes the effect of swallowing a balloon and lots of joking around which I thought was really good stuff written with real experience. My only worry would be performing anything which involves putting things in your mouth as I would not want to be responsible for kids trying it and getting hurt. Actually this effect would be funny for adults too so just depends where you could fit it into your act.
The ultimate add a number.
A very good effect for stage mentalism and leaves the audience totally unable to work out how it was done. It's sort of thing you might expect from Derren Brown.
Electronics
There is only one electronics effect and to be honest, I thought it would be more trouble than it's worth with no WOW effect at all.
Head Chopper
I found this effect in the ebook quite pointless.
Firstly you need expensive equipment which I'm guessing if you have then you already know how to perform this most basic of routine.
Secondly, putting a child’s head in a chopping machine and telling them it's going to be chopped off might not go down to well in this day and age. Don't do it.
Paperweight,
A nice idea from Diamond Jim Tyler for having the cards cut and knowing exactly how many cards where cut. Once you understand this you might be able to come up with other versions that you prefer.
There is also a rather strange entry from John Lenahan. Maybe he wasn't ready to part with any of his knowledge because his entry doesn't include any illusions at all. He just tells us that he once busked and the police didn't arrest him? a very odd addition to the ebook indeed.
Overall
How can you go wrong for £8.68? You can't. It's well worth the money but don't expect these experienced magicians to be giving away their best material either because they are not. And don't forget that the money you pay goes to running the Cork magic convention and that's got to be a good thing.