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The Effect

They say:

A celebrity of television and stage in Spain and South America, JUAN TAMARIZ is known internationally among magicians as a true master of his art, and one who generously shares his time and knowledge, both in print and in person, with the magic community. He is the author of three critically acclaimed best-selling books in English: The Five Points of Magic, The Magic Way and Sonata. Along with Arturo de Ascanio, Tamariz has spearheaded a school of thought in close-up magic that has produced FISM award-winning champions and deeply influenced the craft of magic worldwide.

Among those things Juan Tamariz is most recognized for, among magicians, is his trailblazing work with the memorized deck a tool with extraordinary potential for creating utterly baffling magic. Over the past two decades, Tamariz has been the recognized leader in its use and, with Simon Aronson in the United States (who contributes an introduction to this book), the most influential.

Tamariz's memorized deck stack, "Mnemonica", has become a legend with card magicians throughout the world, and within this book he reveals at last its complete workings, as well as teaching the reader how to memorize the stack-forever in as little as three hours. Accompanying this information are more than a hundred tricks and routines that radically expand the range of effects commonly thought possible with a memorized deck, and an annotated bibliography that leads the reader to an amazing body of additional material on the memorized deck, making Mnemonica the most complete study of its subject ever done.

Mnemonica is a virtual encyclopedia on the subject of memorized-deck magic, by the world's leading exponent and one of magic's acknowledged masters. It is a book crammed with magic from the working repertoire of Juan Tamariz, magic that leaves everyone, public and magicians, utterly astounded. It is a book capable of changing the reader's entire approach to card magic, and a work that supports Juan Tamariz's reputation as one of the most important and creative thinkers in magic today.

Cost

approx £35 - £40

Difficulty
(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)

4 (faro shuffle, false cuts, glimpses and memory)

Review

Having been working on full deck controls I had been looking at a number of stack systems and noticed the rave reviews Juan had been getting for his Mnemonica book. The first thing I noticed when it arrived was the size of the parcel that landed on my doorstep. I was not expecting as thorough and detailed investigation.

Juan introduces the stack, discusses his motivations and the other systems. As somebody that does not learn parrot fashion but by understanding the principles behind a concept this is brilliant. He advises methods of learning the stack and how to shuffle to it. Then the fun starts he details a large number of tricks, the descriptions are clear (for a translated text quite remarkable). One thing he does do is advise the tricks that have inspired them. There are some handling tips and adaptions of classics followed by a detailed biography with commentary which is of value in its own right.

Throughout the text Juan genius and enthusiasm shouts inspiring possabilities equal to ones first introduction to magic.

Overall

Fantastic, get this book !! This is a modern classic.

9/10 (nothings perfect)

do you think this is better then osterlind system?

IMHO yes it is.

Many magicains have done some great thing with the Osterlind BCS but the Tamariz has a number of extra bits, such as instructions on how to shuffle it in from new deck order (and out at the end for a great finish:). The stack is well structured for a number of tricks such as how to deal ANY poker hand. (there is about 100 tricks in the book which are quality not fill). I would say that this is a complete guide to using stacked decks.