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what the subject line says really. I'm looking for new dvd or a couple of books on card magic or mentalism that are available on amazon, i've been having a bit of a poke around but havent found anything really. Anyone know any good stuff that they have? Obviously its not really the place to go, but i've got this voucher to spend...

thankyaz

What books have you already got?

I assume that you've already got books like Mark Wilson, Corinda, Annemann and Royal Road?

I'd really recommed filling your boots with as many of Karl Fulves Self Working books as possible. They cost very little and are chock full of little gems.

Lady of Mystery wrote: I'd really recommed filling your boots with as many of Karl Fulves Self Working books as possible. They cost very little and are chock full of little gems.

I have several of these & love both the simplicity of many of the tricks & the quality of the writing.

All the Fulves books have some mentalism. As well as the SW series, look out for "The Big Book of Magic Tricks" and "Easy Magic" (which has some great two-person effects).

A book which I keep plugging is Hugard's "Modern Magic Manual" - best for sleight of hand with just about anything, but there is a classic mentalism chapter. The Dover edition seems to be out of print but there are second-hand copies of earlier editions on Amazon.

Barry

If you want something that's not instructional you coudl try reading Hiding The Elephant, The Glorious Deception or if you fancy a bit of fiction then Carter Beats The Devil is great

Also try The Secret Life of Houdini

thanks for the suggestions guys! yeah i've got the bibles: anneman, corinda, RRTCM and expert card technique, havent got Wilson yet, bearing in mind I'm not really interested in ropes, cups and balls etc, would this still be a good purchase?
was just having a peek and the modern magic manual is only £2.50... can't go wrong at that price. Looks like i can get pretty much all of these for £25, hiding the elephant: £0.01 + £2 postage!
I was losing hope when peering around there yesterday, but now I'm all excited

fulves self working mental magic has got some pretty bad reviews on amazon, are they being overly harsh or is it really not that great? My mum got me mind magic by marc lemezma for xmas which i assumed would be a pile of you-know-what judging from the cover. Never judge a book by its cover! it has some corkers in there, my favourite being a heads/tails divination which can be made approximately 50 times more convincing with a rather small amount of brain crunching. back on track: is the fulves one getting bad reviews because people want to be david blaine/criss angel/derren brown and they think this book will do that and obviously it doesnt, or is it actually a bit lack lustre? (the link to the lemezma book is that i would assume that that also would get bad reviews on the same grounds as stated above, but actually has good stuff hidden in there if you know what to look for)

ramble ramble ramble, hope you lot can decipher all that.

Yep, from the reviews the Fulves book gets bad reviews because some of the material is dated, but mostly as you observe because it doesn't tell you how to be Derren Brown.

Heckler wrote:Yep, from the reviews the Fulves book gets bad reviews because some of the material is dated, but mostly as you observe because it doesn't tell you how to be Derren Brown.

I also think some confuse self working with it needs no practice or effort from you. There is no older trick than the cup & balls & yet the likes of Raymond Teller make it feel fresh & truly amazing to watch.
My wifes brother & mother were over for the new year & both said they disliked Penn & Teller. My wife showed them Penn & Teller doing the cup & ball on youtube. They watched it several times as they enjoyed it so much.
I know I have very minimal experience compared to most on here. But I do feel that those moaning about the content's of self working trick book being dated are missing something really important, presentation. Maybe it's a book on presentation they need not a book of items to put into that presentation.
I took a length of string in my pocket to a Christmas party together with a couple of other tricks. I borrowed a ring off someone & passed the string through the metal & it impressed so much I not only had to do it for other tables, but I was asked to do it again the next year. And that was a trick I think I had borrowed & adapted from my daughters Paul Daniels magic set.

The Fulves books are all great and well worth the price. I think that some of the people who are buying them are just looking for big bang magic tricks and aren't able to really see the little gems that are hidden in those books. I've got most of them and often go back to them for ideas.

At Halloween I managed to base an hour and a half of spooky magic, story telling and seance around a very simple idea that I found in Self Working Mental Magic. It's probably something that most of those that gave the book bad reviews just dismissed off hand.

As I have said many times before, dated material, ie "the classics", is so old that it will be completely new to younger generations.

The third effect in SW Mental Magic is something I use all the time (it's the starting point for the Hands-On session which I'll be presenting at The Magic Circle next week) and the last item in the book is a potentially a complete stage act.

Also take a look at SW Paper Magic - there are a couple of effects in there which made me take a sharp intake of breath when I first read them.

Barry

thanks a lot everybody. Here's teh final list for anyone who's particularly interested:

wilsons complete guide
fulves SW mentalism
hugard magic manual
3 way forcing deck (need the duplicates for an effect)
vintage 1800 bicycles
shadow masters from ellusionist


yeah yeah, posh decks attract suspicion, but i don't care, they look damn cool! I probably won't dare take them out to perform with anyway lol.

once again thanks for all the tips!