talkmagic.co.uk

The Effect- Self Working Table Magic by Karl Fulves



Cost: $7.00(3 and 1/2 pounds I think) Can be bought just about any books store, amazon, magic dealer, etc.



Difficulty: I'd give the tricks in this book a one, maybe a two.
(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: The front cover says: 97 foolproof tricks with everyday objects. This book is more for beginners to magic overall. If you have some basic knowledge in magic there won't be much in here that you'll find you like or can use. Some of those reading who are just beginning in magic should take the advice that if the book starts with "Self Working", even if your pretty decent at magic, they're cheap and you should get them.

This particular book is divided into 10 categories :

1. Money Magic: This contains basic coin tricks, under the theory everyone carries a coin around, (which I'm sure they do) this is an excellent category for everyday magic.

You use two objects, a coin, and a handkerchief. There are nine tricks in this section and they cover your basic coin tricks e.g. The one where you slide the coin on the table.

I think this is a good section for the beginner because coins are a large part of close up magic. So of course it's important to know a couple tricks with coins. This is a beginning (a rather small start at that) in coin magic. So it's good to know some of these for any aspiring magician.

If you wish to delve further into coin magic there is an excellent book that will get you through the basics and advanced sleights and tricks. It's called "Modern Coin Magic by J.B. Bobo. There should be a review on here for this book.

2. Magic Show In A Matchbox: This section is designed to give you a fifteen+ minute show using nothing but a matchbox. There are 12 tricks in this section, and a couple of them are more of puzzles as opposed to tricks to leave the audience fooled.

I personally did not like this section most of the tricks were the "You see five matches on the table without breaking any make sixteen circles". That's an exaggeration of course but that was what a lot of the tricks in this section were but they're still interesting.


3. Dice Dexterity: Basically, if you haven't worked it out yourself yet, it has to do with dice and tricks involving dice. There are 9 tricks in this section. This was my least favorite section as most of the tricks are obvious to anyone who is at all familiar with dice.

What could make these worthwhile is mixing them in with a gambling routine? They could, like the matches, be used in the context of a puzzle? It all depends on your style and your preferences.

4. Conjurer's Collection: There are 13 tricks in this section and it was the most appealing section in my opinion. It covered Cups and Balls, Balloon magic, apples, and many more items.

One or two of these tricks are "Betcha" tricks. The rest are tricks that can be put into a routine, they all don't exactly tie together, but they are rather good beginner tricks that every aspiring magician would love.

5. Psychic Tricks: There are 10 tricks in this section and these ones have a basic cold reading aspect to them, one of the effects is depending which way it spins, you tell them an aspect of their personality.


These are rather different from the other tricks as most of the tricks aren't what you'd expect in a close-up act, or at least I wouldn't maybe you have a different idea of a close up show, that is why I liked this section a little more than the others.

6. Elastic Illusions: This section is all to do with, you guessed it, rubber bands. There are nine tricks in this section. Seven of them involve just rubber bands, the other two one uses a paper clip, the other uses a note card and a pen.

A couple of these are, again, "betcha" tricks. They involve how to untwist a rubber band with out letting go and several other ones. I forgot to mention that another one of them uses a pair of scissors.

This is something you'd expect in a close-up act and it is good and you could use the matchbox and this section and create a decent beginner close-up show. Or just for walk around at a restaurant or at a party.

7. Hanky Panky: This involves handkerchiefs and all those crazy effects you can perform with them. Now I don't know who carries around pocket handkerchiefs nowadays but you can bring your own.

I personally don't perform silk/handkerchief magic because it just doesn't fit my preference. You may like silk magic so this section may appeal to you but it didn't appeal to me.

There are 11 handkerchief effects in this section and they are disappearing knots, vanishing knots, comedy vanish, all the effects you'd expect to find in a beginner's book on magic.

I have delved into this realm of magic, and I don't like it but, like I said, It's up to you whether or not you'd perform this.

8. Close-Up Illusions: There are seven "illusions" in this section. These are rather simple "gags" that can be included in your show. Don't take "gags" the wrong way, it's just rather hard to describe what is in this section but that section is there so I had to include it.


9. Linking Pins: This has 8 tricks in it most of them involving the pins, unlike you'd think, unlinking.

I didn't like this section because of all the, like most magic but this just peeved me a bit, specific holding of the pins.

Like most of this book it all comes down to personal preference though so it's up to you.

10. Pen-Ultimate Magic: This, yes you guessed it, involves pens. This has nine tricks in it all involving. As you may have realized the reviews have gotten less in-depth, because these are my least favorite of the sections again it depends on your preference.


OVERALL: This is a rather good book for beginners, or if you just feel like getting it it's rather cheap.

Pros: This covered a lot of basic ground for close-up magic. It has something for everyone at an affordable price so it's good for those on a budget.

Cons: It all depends on personal preference which can't technically be considered as a con, but I 'd thought I'd put it on here because this is the only thing I could find that's bad.

It was overall a good book. I didn't appreciate it when I first received it two years ago. I do now It would've been good if I actually read through it when I first got it. But I didn't and you live you learn.

So I write this review encouraging you to, if your a beginner, read whatever "self working" books you can and actually learn them. They are well taught and well illustrated.

9.5/10 I took off half a point for the pin section.

I always love Fulves books, they cost next to nothing and you're bound to find at least a couple of good ideas that you can use in them.

Last time I looked, most of the Fulves books could be snapped up on amazon used and new for under a quid!

I like the Karl Fulves stuff, full of simple ideas perfect for beginners, but which can be enhanced further with skills learned later on. And if there's nothing of interest to you in them they're by far the cheapest way to make your magic book collection 6mm bigger

Cheers for the review.

some of the best secrets of magic can be found in these books as well as them being the best value for money

I agree these books are phenomenal and often overlooked.

They're overlooked because they are cheap. A bit like me in that respect.

I have a few of his other Dover books not in the Self-Working series - all low-priced and highly recommended:

Easy Magic (ridiculously cheap)
Big Book of Magic Tricks
Charles Jordan's Best Card Tricks


Barry