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Hi.

Firstly I dont know if I am about to do a repost, But the previous mesage I erote seems to have just disappeared.

My name is Kevin, I am 25 and I have just recently got an intrest in magic.
Was verry keen on it as a child but as I was impatient when I was young I never really went any and gave up when I was unable to tric anybody.

I sorry if I have put this in the wrong section, but I did not see a beginners section to put it in.
I am looking for advice on where to get started, and if books are the best option then what would be good for close up or "street" styled magic.
I use to have trics that required props such as rubber fingers or wooden boxes. But have no intrest in things that seem alittle Gimmicky.

Working with money makes coin trics really intresting and card tricks are really good at any level of competency. But I dont want to do trics that require rigged decks or specialy sorted decks. I allso dont want to carry around things like multiplying foam balls or wands and rings that conect to eachother. Like you see with clown magicians at kids parties. I purely want to spring out the odd unexpected trick at work or any social gathering I might be at. So my target audiance is abit more mature.

If you guys do know of any books I would prefer to find one that has the grounding I will need in one volume. And when I have gotten good enough with said baisics I will look for books that focus on one style such as just coins or just cards.

Secondly, if there is anything else that is impresive and gos well with coin and card magic please let me know.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Kevin.

Hi Kevin and welcome to TM.

Your other post is here: ftopic43115.php

In terms of what you want to learn, I don't think I'll be alone in recommending The Royal Road to Card Magic for an introduction to card handling and Bobo's Modern Coin Magic for your money tricks.

Both classics and very highly rated around these parts.

When i learnt regular magic i began with RRTCM and BOBO, both are very good. The Paul Wilson DVD set of Royal Road is also very good.

Thanks, and I think what happend with the post is it never gave me the posted but pending message.
I will look for those books mentioned. Thanks guys. Are there any good books on street magic. I found a book called A complete idiots guide to street magick. All the reviews I read on it were more like sales pitches and advertizing. So I'm reluctant to get it.

I'll post this here too in case you cant access the other post:

For card magic, i don't think you can get any better than Card College by Roberto Giobbi for learning from the ground up. It takes you from beginner to advanced, 5 volumes in total, but start with volume 1 which is £29 from Alakazam
http://www.alakazam.co.uk/product-Card- ... -Book.html" target="_blank

Royal Road To Card Magic is great, and its a lot cheaper than Card College, however i still stand by card college, the level of detail is superior, and improved my card handling a lot more than Royal Road has.
i am undoubtedly biased though (based on what it did for me) and so you shouldn't take my work for it, i did find this post which might be interesting:
http://sleightly.com/blog/2011/10/26/29 ... royal-road
he provides reasons for and against both, so this might be more useful in helping you decide, based on your own needs.

i'd be interested to hear anyone elses opinions between the two?

Seeing as nobody has mentioned it I vote for Mark Wilson's Complete Course In Magic.

Also don't be so quick to ignore gimmicks and sponges. Usually, those are the things that go over best. The question is are you performing for yourself, or for an audience.

The more limits you put on yourself and your props, the greater your disadvantage will be.

Totally agree with the recommendation of Mark Wilson's book. Again, I'm with bmat on the sponge balls, they're great fun as much for adults as they are for children and always go down really well. I performed at an Royal Artillary Officers dinner a few years ago and sponge bunnies were by far my most popular routine even with the macho army types.

Anyways, welcome along to TM

bmat wrote:Seeing as nobody has mentioned it I vote for Mark Wilson's Complete Course In Magic.

Also don't be so quick to ignore gimmicks and sponges. Usually, those are the things that go over best. The question is are you performing for yourself, or for an audience.

The more limits you put on yourself and your props, the greater your disadvantage will be.

Another vote for not avoiding sponges here, the best reactions I get from civilians are with sponges, rope and simple TT vanishes of salt/sugar.
Actually the best reactions I get are with the Liquid Metal routine but that's more mentalism than magic.

Civs get fed up with card tricks, do them but mix it up.

I use a "trouble with tribbles" plot for the sponges that goes down well with people old enough or geeky enough to remember the Star Trek episodes!

If you present an effect as fun and interesting your specs will go with the most hackneyed plots.