talkmagic.co.uk

I think in this or another thread it was said to change the routines for a mordern audiance.

But at least you come round to our way of thinking.

If you learn to play an instrument you learn the same basic chords and techiniques that every musician has begun with since the dawn of time.
You then take the basics and do sometihng of your own with them.

Magic is very much the same. The basic principles are a grounding which you can develop whichever way you wish. Personally speaking, Mark Wilson's book and the Tarbell series taught me most of the fundamentals of magic.

The more information you have at your disposal, the more your imagination has to work with. A lot of the material in these books still impresses lay people.

The guitar is a good example which works for both of us.

Some people will first learn to play chords, 12 bar blues and some rock tunes. Some people will start by learning classical or Latin guitar techniques.

Both are guitarists. Both could become equally good Jazz players, but by different routes. Even the power chord players are still guitarists of sorts.

If we say that a magician is a guitarist, then you don't have to learn 12 bar blues if you don't want to. You can still be a guitarist.

Staus Quo claim to have survived all these years despite only knowing/using 3 chords. Which is 3 more than I do but you get the idea.

You wouldn't like to say they were good musicians though, would you?

Er, I enjoy a lot of their stuff and it's certainly entertaining but to offer any comment like that I'd prefer to be a safe distance away at the time just in case!

What ever you want ... What ever you need.

anyhoot back to the book. Smarvell has agreed the card section is good. Only all we need now is for him to read the rest of the book

I think the whole book is supurb, there's some brilliant tricks in there if yoou look through. It's nice to be able to move away from the cards and coins once in a while a bring out something totally different.

Yes, I have it Hard covered, cost me $37. It's huge and has great detail with every trick. it covers all of the shuffles, false shuffles, trick sections like card, coin, sponge, stage, home-made, and a lotttt more. It is definitely worth buying even if it is old school.

This was my first ever magic book and I can honestly say I love it. It is a single (albeit large) book covering all areas based on no previous knowledge.

I think it gives the basic constructs of a huge swathe of magic. How can it be given such a low mark. For someone already an expert in say "card magic" then it is not going to give you much. But then again how could it?

It does not really go into presentation much so it is up to you to provide that part of the performance in any case.

Well… I am sure I am right in saying I purchased my copy from the same shop at the same time as Mr D Brown got his.

Cost in Canada (2006) CAN$35.00



Difficulty: 1-3
(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

When I bought MW's Course, I knew pretty much nothing about magic. To me, this book seemed an encyclopedia of magic because of the way it covered so many topics.

MW has been wise in this book aimed at the tyro to not expose some of magic's more advanced sleights and techniques while still managing to give the reader enough information to stimulate interest and begin practicing. A wide array of subjects are covered: cups and balls, silks, money magic, sponge balls, billiard balls, rope tricks, stage illusions (although this section is seriously outdated, some basic principles are still there), impromptu magic and, of course, 100 pages dedicated to cards. Somehow paper magic received its own chapter (maybe it was popular when the book was printed). This book, with its many drawings and more-or-less detailed instructions, is perfect for the beginner who is ready to commit a substantial amount of time to learning the art of magic.

It's not the perfect book. It should definitely be supplemented by other sources that cover some of the art's history and origins as well as guidance regarding the more theoretical aspects of magic such as misdirection and other psychological factors magicians make use of to present their illusions. Another down side is that this book covers so many topics and so little of these topics that one who is seriously interested in any one area of magic more than other areas will find themself with a lot of useless material and a lack of depth in their area of interest.

Nonetheless, I am very happy that I have bought this book. Without the confidence its relatively easy tricks gave me, I would have not made the transition to more advanced texts such as the famous Tarbell course and the also popular Expert Card Technique. Without having to concentrate so hard on the easy sleights, I had the opportunity to concentrate on the acting part of the tricks.

Overall: 8/10

Certainly, this book has taught me a lot. For the experienced conjurer, books of this sort hold very little value, yet for the tyro, it si an indispensable text.



Philémon

I agree with your assessment, Philémon, and further would concur that 8 out of 10 is a fair score but disagree with the statement, "For the experienced conjurer, books of this sort hold very little value..."

The reason that I have to stop short of that statement is purely because Lance Burton performed one of the effects from those pages - move for move. Nothing added, nothing taken away. And, he performed it on national television.

No, even for the experienced performer, Wilson's course contains some absolute gems.

Mike.

I bought this book (on recommendation from this forum) and found it extremely useful (being a beginner) This book is great because it gives you a feel for so many different parts of magic. This allows us beginners to see what type of magic we are interested in. I defiantly enjoyed reading it.

This is a good book for getting started. It's a little short in giving credit to the originators of tricks but that will come when they get more adept in performing what they have learned and then move on to the more advanced magic like Concepts and Theorys of Packet Trick Magic.
Al