Paul Daniels Adult Magic - Book Review

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Paul Daniels Adult Magic - Book Review

Postby JustCraig » Jul 1st, '13, 18:20



Name

Paul Daniels Adult Magic

Author:


Barry Murry

Price:

A couple of quid from eBay

Date:

1989

Pages:

160

Contents

Anti Stress Play Magic

The first chapter (well second chapter if you count the introduction which also contains a simple bar bet type trick, but I digress....) contains a handful of puzzles rather than magic effects, but I am a huge fan of bar bet type puzzles so quite enjoyed reading it.

Effects include: The Irish Compass (I’m sure most of you have heard of this) - One to Four Countdown (A puzzle with coins) - The Seven Deadly Sins (another puzzle with coins with a twist) - RON: A Diversion (Not really sure how to explain this one – I guess you will just have to read it...)

Sales Magic

A handful of sales/business card effects that the book suggests you use to stand out from the crowd in the world of business and sales although I imagine some of these effects could be used/adapted by professionals to hand out their business cards to perspective clients.

Effects in this chapter include - Paul’s Puzzle Box (a simple optical illusion) - Spirit Card - No Cards Mental Test -The Mentalist

Favourite effect: Branded Tastes – A drink prediction effect with a very simple but quite clever method. Easily adapted.

The chapter finishes off with a few Magic square effects – I am a fan of magic squares - Effects include:

The Marvellous Magic Square - Instant Square - The Lucky Square

The Magician in the Office

Memo (A hands off card effect) - £50 to a penny (another bar bet type puzzle using a match but the wording of the bet could make you a millionaire - a novel twist) - At the end of the day (An interesting story of two men who are trying to get into heaven, you use origami to create their ticket to HEAVEN or HELL) - Calculating Magic which explain a few calculator based effects including an Age/Shoe size prediction among others.

The Kings Tour is mental effect using a chess board (or a piece of paper with a picture of a chess board on) where the magician says he can move a Knight around the board without touching the same square twice while blindfolded even though the spectator can select its starting position. Its not as easy as you think – (another puzzle using a pen with a string on the end) and finally Just one of the miracles we do which is a card prediction effect using a secret helper that is explained as a way of impressing prospective clients.

Magic Out To Lunch

A handful of effects that you can perform while at the dinner table including a coin penetration effect (which is described as the best trick in the book) and an effect where money appears inside a bread roll.

Magic After Hours

A selection of effects that I think can best be described as bar tricks and stunts. My favorite stunt in this chapter is the first one called If You Catch It It's Yours which uses a bank note – I have performed (and won drinks with) this many many times.

Small Wonders: The Art of Amusing Children

A nice little chapter with some nice effects to perform for children – The Animated Mouse is probably one of my favorites in this chapter but there are some neat little tricks and even teaches some basic origami such as a coin ring.

Basic Card Handling

This chapter is exactly what it says on the tin – Nothing mind blowing, just simple, basic card handling techniques and flourishes – Riffle shuffles, retaining the top and bottom stock, a simple card force, some false cuts and shuffles and a few fancy flourishes. Enough to perform all the effects in the book and probably enough to perform hundreds of effects.

Miracles at the Card Table

Effects in this chapter include:

With a borrowed Deck the spectators selected card ends up in the card case – well I say selected the selection process is quite long winded

The all fair miracle an effect using two decks where the magicians three selected cards match the spectators selected three cards)

Signed coincidence A signed card transposition effect

Are you sure? A card effect where the spectator is taken down the garden path but ultimately the magician comes good in the end and finds the selected card

You are magic (a 4 ace revelation created by the legendary Dai Vernon

Good Eye (A card prediction effect that uses an old deck of cards

Perfect Poker (A spelling trick using various poker related words that produce various winning poker hands)

Card Novelties

I found this chapter really interesting to read. There aren't really any tricks as such, just a selection of novelties and puzzles that will amuse and interest most card players.

Six Great Card Tricks

The final chapter describes 6relitively simple but effective card tricks. Most require some form of set up or extra prop (by which I mean cannot be performed with a borrowed deck).

Compulsion – A spectator is asked to shuffle a deck of cards and is asked to deal them one at a time on the table and stop whenever he feels compelled – before he does this an envelope is produced from the magicians pocket and placed on the table which is sealed, time stamped and dated the previous day. The card in the envelope matches the spectators selected card.

Half Cut Coincidence - I really like this one – It is an effect using a half deck of cards (when I say half deck – I mean the cards are literally cut in half) where two half cards are selected by two spectators and are found to be a perfect match whicjh make up a complete card.

The Crystal Gazer – A effect using a crystal ball where a card is selected from a face down spread, the spectator is then asked to look into a crystal ball and is asked what card he sees - the cards match perfectly.

Telepathic Do as I do – A pretty standard do as I do effect involving two decks where the spectator and the magician each shuffle a deck of cards - swap packs – select a card – shuffle – swap decks – shuffle and the cards match perfectly.

Dial a miracle – A long distance card revelation that can be done remotely over the phone. Never tried this one to be honest but it seems simple enough to follow.

The Lie Detector – Another one that I quite like where the magician finds the spectators card by asking them 3 questions which they can answer truthfully or lie.

Out of 10:

8/10 - More of a beginners book but some great material in my opinion.

Comments

I first read this book as a child and it was the first one I bought when I got back into magic as an adult. Despite its relative simplicity in terms of effects, I think there are some great little nuggets of wonder in there – if not for the professional (although I don’t see why not) most certainly one for the hobbyist.

JustCraig
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