by Renato » Oct 2nd, '05, 15:57
The Giant Book of Card Tricks by Bob Longe
Around £8 from Amazon
Difficulty: 1 - 2
First off, how many of you recognise the name Bob Longe? I ask because I’ve seen his name crop up about once in magic discussions. His books are, primarily, aimed at the beginner, and this book is no exception, straddling the beginner/intermediate skill range. The book details effects in the following categories:
The Peek
The Glide
Controlling a Card
False Cuts
Shuffles
Forces
Drop Sleight
DL
Prediction
Transposition
Estimation
Face-up, Face-down
Spelling
Gambling (inc. Gambler’s Bonus)
Grab Bag
Mind Reading
Preparation
Discovery
Set-up
There’s roughly a hundred descriptions which include sleights, ideas and effects, as well as some thoughts on different topics of magic. Handy index at the back, over 200 full-size pages...
Don’t be put off by the title or the fact that this is a book aimed more at beginners. True, very few of these effects are new, none of them are full of expert finger flinginginess, but there are some interesting takes on old effects which I sometimes use. For example:
Using ‘mind control’ to influence a spectator’s choice of cards so that you are left with a winning hand - and you predict just what that hand will be...
A prediction effect using an old method but with a new twist which is nice and astounds audiences - with a slight change in handling and presentation it now appears as if I can suggest a card successfully every time, or determine what card someone is thinking of, or estimate where someone will cut...
A seemingly impossible transposition of two Queens, one sandwiched between two cards, the other on top of the deck.
I’m not going to go on. There are loads of great, simple and quite clever effects in this book. It’s great for the beginner, good for the more advanced card worker - change the presentation slightly, perhaps modify the handling somewhat and you’ve got some brilliant card effects. What more can I say - it’s not a professional book, with incredible effects, but IMO with the right presentation these can be incredible.
If you've been in to card magic for a while, like I have, you may find this a nice book to come back to to remember just where you began in card magic, and maybe consider some of the more basic effects out there.
Like I said, there are not many new effects. You will probably have come across a lot of these before if you've been in magic for a while, but there are some nice alterations Bob Longe and others have made along the way, and it's always good to have a lot of the 'classic' effects gathered together in one book.
Not bad at all for the price, IMO certainly better than some beginner's books, but as I said - this is more for the advanced beginner than the total beginner.
So come on, guys, what do others think of this book? And how many of you have heard of Bob Longe before?