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I must have been a very good boy last year as santa (the missis) left all 3 volumes of Paul Harris's Art of Astonishment neatly wrapped and tucked under a warmly festive tree.
This however has left me with a predicament. I have spent the last several days completely dumbfounded by the wealth of great material contained within its pages, so much so that I dont know where to start.

I did start with the Cros Twist as I have seen it done and wanted to know that (very nice and remarkably simple).

Any other gems that people can recommend.

p.s nice to be back after 12 days away...so many un read threads!

I found I had the same problem with Mark Wilsons Course, Corindas 13 steps to Mentalism, and about every other book I have acquired.

I find the only answer to be... start at the beginning.

Even if you go over material you know, you may find alternate presentational ideas or handling. Picking out bits at random gives me a headache trying to find new stuff so start at the beginning as you would RRTCM, just for peace sake

I ditto to start at the beginning, its the best option.

Although when I read the Art of Astonishment books, I went through and looked at the ungimmicked/ungaffed card magic to begin with, and then moved onto other things.

I'd reccommend doing "Reset" and "Invisible Palm" first, as the longer you know them the more time you have to perfect and change the routines wherever necessary.

Since I saw nightshades performed by Cyril I knew I have to practice it.
It took me a while to find a method how to do it on Israeli bills (which are horrible for this effect for many reasons), but when I finely got a way I just practiced it until it was perfect, and I couldn't believe how strong it hit people, I still walk around with a gimmick for a 20 Shekels bill in my wallet just in case, but sadly I hardly get the chance to perform it, because I don't do much close-up, so it's just for friends and family, and most of them seen it at least once.

But, take that effect, perfect it with practice, add a bill switch to it, and if it's for a cooperate/big audiences show, throw in a sleeved pair of sunglasses and some flash paper, and you got a miracle in your hands.

Of course there is a lot of great material in the book (most is better for inspiring you to make your own, even better, routines with the given methods), but this has to be my favorite of them all. It uses a borrowed object, it's extremely visual, and it's unbelievably unique compared to what people expect from magic.

Thanks for the sensible advice guys!

I have to quell my eagerness to do it all at once and go through it with a careful and thorough mind.
i suppose all real learning is like this.

I must recommend Galaxy (A version of OOTW) and Backlash.

Add to that Overkill - a brilliant self-working piece of card magic - I use it when working and it never fails to ..well... astonish.

Yes, although I have had problems with that effect once or twice with people cutting to the worst possible place =P It does have a nice triple whammy finish though!

As said above, I usually just work through a book from start to finish. Making notes of all the tricks that I like, I later go back over the list to see if I can incorporate any of those tricks into my routines.

Yes, that's what I've decided to do. I'm reading the effect part first and if it doesn't float my boat I move on to the next one.
I can imagine the tuts that this skimming through will produce from some readers of that sentence but be assured that once I have a few down I will go through the whole bunch as I am aware that certain effects that may not jump out at me may on further reflection be altered to suit or could spark off an idea.
Thanks for the suggestions so far and I like the idea of backlash..

In fact all of the ideas I've read on Art of Astonishment are remarkably simple concepts yet so effective. What a great collection of books and has stopped my C.U.P.S dead in its tracks. Finally I have written in threads in the past that I found it hard to learn from books and I need to retract this statement. I was just lacking imagination and effort.

greedoniz, glad to hear that missus santa was nice to you this Christmas.
"flapjacks" is a nice effect, and do not be fooled by the simplicity of "vanish 5000" it is a virtually impromptu miracle that has fooled magicians, show them empty hands in the TT style and then show that you aren't using one!
I'm always doing this in the local cafe or if out for a meal in a place that has the necessary to hand.

I know exactly what you mean...I have gone a *bit* overboard with buying books the past few months..I have on my shelves right now to read (including a few ebooks from lybrary)


List of books I have boughten in the past 3 or so months (excluding Swami/Mantra):

Art of Astonishment #1 - Paul Harris
Art of Astonishment #2 - Paul Harris
Art of Astonishment #3 - Paul Harris
13 Steps to Mentalism - Corinda
Prism - Max Maven
The Complete Guide to Restaurant and Walk-Around Magic - Kirk Charles
RRTCM - Juan Hugard and Frederic Braue
PK Revolution - Jim Coles
Grant's Illusion Secrets - Frank Zella (credited to Grant)
Gems of Mental Magic - John Mulholland
Anneman's Psychic Routine - Theodore Annemann
Anneman's Practical Mental Magic - Theodore Annemann
Anneman's Card Magic - Theodore Annemann
Swami/Mantra - Sam Dallal (reprint of the magazines Swami and Mantra
202 Methods of Forcing - Theodore Annemann



As you can tell...I have a bit of reading to do myself .

There is an effect in there that I really love, I am not exactly sure what it is called in the book but Wayne Houchin made a video of it called the "Invisible Palm". It is very good and gets great reactions.

Iummydd: I just recently saw the special myself where he performs Nightshades. When I read it in the book I pretty much ignored it because it seemed a little bit "out there" but when I saw him perform it I was dumbfounded by how good it looked.

Good luck getting through the books and always start from the beginning and work in order because if you don't, you will have trouble bieng organized (what you read or didn't read).

~David

Edit: Forgot 3 books

Next Lecture notes by Daniel Garcia
Dai Vernon: A Biography by David Ben
Absolute Magic by Derren Brown

David R. wrote:
13 Steps to Mentalism - Corinda
The Complete Guide to Restaurant and Walk-Around Magic - Kirk Charles

What can you say about these 2 books, David?

Woki wrote:

David R. wrote:
13 Steps to Mentalism - Corinda
The Complete Guide to Restaurant and Walk-Around Magic - Kirk Charles

What can you say about these 2 books, David?

Well, I cannot really say much as I am in the middle of reading them now but....

13 Steps to Mentalism covers every single aspect of mentalism, some aspects very deeply, but others it only touches upon (but unlike most books actually tells you where you can find more information on the subject). It has enough material to make 3-4 mentalism routines at the least and is a great resource for whenever you want to look up practically anything related to mentalism (not effects- although it has many- but "How to's" on things like muscle reading, sound reading, pencil reading, billet types, ect...). A definite must buy.

Although I just started reading Kirk Charles Manual of Restaurant Magic I can tell you what is in the table of contents.

Foreward
Introducing
Preparing
-Simple and Direct
-Inoffensive
-Easy to Carry
-Durability and Expense
-Re-setability
-Angles
-Surfaces
-Visibility
-The Act
Promoting
-Your Appearance
-The Photo Session
-The Press Book
-Business Cards
Selling
-The Fee
-Schedules
-Work Time
-Table Time
-Setup
-Dress
-The Audition
-The Contract
Working
-The Staff
-Secret Assistance from the Staff
-Approaching the Table
-Once You are There
-Getting the Tip
-The Give-away
-Leaving the Table
-Soliciting Outside Work
-Special Performace Problems
-Special Audiences
....Children
....Drunks
....Singles
....Repeat Customers
-Personalizing the Magic
-Publicity
-The Benefits
-Exiting Gracefully
Concluding
Appendix l: The Test
Appendix ll: The Contract
Appendix lll: The Press Release
Bibliography

So far it's recommended; both of these books are considered to be on the top of the list in their fields so I would get both.

Good luck,
~David

Try "Illusion", thats great