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Ive only really been into magic over the last 3 years, and although i have bought some of the classic beginners books, the majority of my collection is on dvds. Recently i had an email where an e-book of the Classical Magic of Larry Jennings was on sale, so i thought i would take a gamble. I can’t believe how much more material there is in here compared to most DVDs that i have bought, and the quality of the routines is top notch. Admittedly it is more difficult to learn, as the description can be more complicated than seeing it on the tv, but this makes them more rewarding when you perform them. With 80ish routines and countless sleights, this really puts some modern DVDs to shame with their ‘control the card to the top using your favourite method’ approach.

So the real reason for this thread, can anyone else recommend any other books like this to read sometime in the future (when ive finally finished reading this).

Ps heres a review on TM i found in hindsight of the book:

ftopic31393.php

What other books do you have?

RRTCM, Card College and Woody Aragons 'a book in english'

Cardshark by Darwin Ortiz (but good luck finding a copy!).

Anything by Jerry Sadowitz

I have always sworn by the Royal Road to Card Magic. Quite frankly you don't need much else. Having said that I also think the books on card magic by Harry Lorayne are absolutely wonderful. The clarity of description is quite something.

Hi Relish.

I highly recommend the works of Jean Hugard. For the most part these can be picked up very cheaply and are exellent value. In fact anything from any of the old masters (vernon,jennings, marlo etc).

In a week or two I'm ordering a copy of "Stars of Magic" (and a nice new set of hanks for the knotted silks). It is shameful that I don't alreay have this book but there you go. While I can't really recommend it before I actually read it, everything I've heard about this book has been good. There is some card material in there which I know is good - the contents of the book are on Macicbox.

Barry (magicofthemind) usually recommends some good classic books, I'm sure he'll mention a few aswell if he sees this thread.


Jim

Did you enjoy the Aragon book? If so, i highly recommend Thinking The Impossible by Ramon Roiboo.

Cardshark by Ortiz is great but can be expensive second hand, he is releasing a new book available for preorder now, but i can't vouch for the contents.
Equally difficult to get hold of, but equally as great is Martin Nash trilogy.

I constantly go back to The Collected Works of Alex Elmsley, there are so many great pieces in there, it was very difficult to get hold of but luckily L and L have recently released them in ebook form (along with the classic magic of larry jennings) at $19.95 per volume.

jim ferguson wrote: Barry (magicofthemind) usually recommends some good classic books, I'm sure he'll mention a few aswell if he sees this thread.

Thanks, Jim! I'm not really into cards - I grew out of them about 45 years ago - but I can recommend Walter Gibson's "Complete Illustrated Book of Card Magic". For non-sleight stuff there's Encyclopedia of Card Tricks and Scarne on Card Tricks. Henry Hay's Amateur Magician's Handbook is pretty good too. Does that help?

Barry