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Street Magic by Paul Zenon

Available from MagicTricks

Cost £14.99

Difficulty 1/2

The Review

It should be noted that this is a book aimed more at beginners - anyone who's been in magic for a while will find little new here.

So why did I pick up a copy? Well, I was browsing my local book shop and saw this on the shelf. There'd been a lot of talk about it and so I bought it, mainly as there's been some uproar about the secrets revealed within and I wanted to see what all the fuss was about.

It's a beautifully produced book as well, but more about that later.

I'll go through the book chapter by chapter...

Introduction
Not so much a chapter, more an, well...introduction.

Welcome to magic etc. etc., followed by a brief history of the art which touches upon a few of the greats and then gives some basic rules to being a magician.

Chapter One: Auto-Magic
As Paul himself writes, these are to help beginners to make the leap in to the magical world. 5 effects contained within.

There's not really anything new here; they're pretty standard beginner's effects, however they're not all the ones most magic books tend to go for. Some presentational twists here and there, any beginner will easily pick these up and so long as they can spin a good presentation they'll probably play well.

Chapter Two: The Midas Touch
Magic with money - 7 effects.

The chapter begins with two pretty essential but basic coin sleights - again, clearly explained with helpful photos accompanying. With those two sleights out the way there's a nice quick coin and pen routine, a very visual coin-through paper effect in which it seems as if a large coin travels through a tiny hole (probably not the method you're thinking of), a few nice changes (which I think Mr. Mulhern once used on one of his Tricky TV's) and then 'Jazzing with Coins', a nice section which gives tips on improvising with coin magic and the like - nicely done and something I can see being of use to a beginner.

Chapter Three: Top Secret Gadgets
This is the section that I think people had an issue with.

Basically some classic and favoured gimmicks are exposed and shown how they can be used. There's some that you'd find in any kid's book of magic and then ones which a lot of performing magicians use such as a certain gimmicked coin and the TT; this is where I found it a bit odd that Mr. Zenon had included them here, seeing as you need to buy the gimmick anyway to perform them. Surely it would have made more sense and avoided controversy to include the simpler gimmicks that people can make themselves and either include his presentation for the gimmick effects in an extra chapter or print his presentations in a magic magazine?

Still, it's unlikely that anyone uninterested in magic is going to actively seek out this book just to expose the secrets and it's nice for a beginner to get a head start on these gaffs so to speak.

4 'gadgets' revealed, 3 you have to buy yourself.

Chapter Four: Hands on Deck
9 card effects.

This is a nice chapter as it offers several more 'unique' (for want of a better word) effects, with some basics such as a sandwich effect and a locating effect as well as a nice spelling effect, a nice way of finding a card in a fairly unique way, a penetration and a few poker effects which are also quite nice but nothing too new.

Anyone who's been in to cards for a while may find the odd thing or presentation of use but won't find anything ground-breaking.

Chapter Five: Shark Attack
An interesting poker effect, another poker effect which is not new but has an interesting handling, a nice reveal of a card and some basic sleights/controls finishing with the Ambitious Card - again, basic handling but will be of use to beginners.

Chapter Six: Cruising
Here we get to all the fancy stuff - not too much to say really, but this section covers some moves that anyone can master with some practice and do look impressive - the sort of thing people expect you as a card handler to be able to do, plus a little more.

Chapter Seven: Mind Magic
This is basically standard mentalism effects that you find in most beginner's books; nothing ground-breaking here either but some good presentations and a very nice magic square.

Chapter Eight: Street Scams
3 scams.

This is a bit of fun; usually I don't like these sort of sections in magic books but Mr. Zenon teaches two pretty standard scams and one more unusual and very clever scam involving a chain. The first and the last were nothing new to me, the second though, the chain one, was. Good for party fun!

Chapter Nine: Party Tricks
6 miscellaneous effects.

There are some standard effects here, most are covered elsewhere in other books but again, there's a good level of detail here and more helpful photos. Two in the hand, one in the pocket sort of magic and then a paper balls over the head 'effect'; so-so, pretty standard stuff if you've been in magic for a while but then something that really did surprise me - a spoon bending effect, and not a rubbish one but one that's actually quite decent. For a beginner's book this is good material - I just hope that people appreciate this and treat it and perform it well. This is another one I think the pros were angry about.

Chapter Ten: One For the Road
1 effect.

This is supposedly the greatest magic trick ever. Not quite, but it's a Curry classic that every magician should know.

And finally a glossary which covers the essential magician's terms.

Overall
Please forgive if the above's been a bit brief, I'll try and remedy that here. Firstly, if you are new to magic or have only been doing it for a while this is worth a look. You'll probably find several new things here. These aren't really filler effects either - most of it is material I'm sure you'll make good use of, and with the right presentation it's strong enough to get you good reactions.

That said, some of it is pretty standard magic so people may have seen some of it before.

If you've been in magic for a while though you won't find much new. I've been doing magic for many years now and didn't find much new, but I was pleased to find some new (or at least they were to me anyway) effects and presentations.

The price, as above, is £14.99. Now for me it was a tad too expensive - but that's because I knew most of the stuff here before. For a beginner though I think that it would be worth it; it's a gorgeously-produced book, glossy pages, and Mr. Zenon is a good instructor with clear, easy-to-follow descriptions; he's also quite a funny guy, as anyone who's seen his specials will know. Nice, clear and helpful photos throughout as well.

As I said before, there has been some anger at some of the things Mr. Zenon tips. On the one hand it is good that he lets beginners in to a few of these secrets as they give beginners a good start but on the other hand there is the risk that those less interested in magic will give this a read, do a few effects, not bother with magic again and then maybe expose the secrets of some pro-effects.

There are a few nice tips as well that will be of use to a beginner.

For a beginner, recommended.

Overall Rating 7.5 - 8/10

Pretty darned good, and an interesting read even if you do know most of the things in here.

(It might be of use to here from some relative beginners who have studied this book to find out what they think of it, how useful it was for them etc. Personally I think it's a good book.)

And like I said in an earlier post. Only £4.99 from the works! I use the poker scam in this book now and then already (the one which utilises the jonah card), but this version uses a few subtleties that I will use. I agree, the section on the gimmicks is pointless.
Although it is aimed at the beginner, there are things in it that will benefit everyone. Such as the poker scam mentioned above, OOTW, the original ungimmicked 3 card monte and a fantastic mental force (as used by andy nyman in his effect mr saturday night.
Worth £4.99 of anyones money.

£4.99!

At that price this book is a bargain. Great value.

Got this today from The Works...although it is £5.99 not £4.99 (still over the road in another book shop it was £14.99).

Have to say as a beginner myself this book is amazing. After only a few hours I was performing some of the tricks and adding bits to my current routines.

A MUST have for anyone starting out!

Any chance you could say which Works it is.

I've tried there web site which is pretty useless & there doesn't seem to be a way for them to check which of their shops have it?

Pretty useless eh, but want this but don't want to pay £14.99 when it's available for £5.99!
Cheers.

You'd need to go into the shop to check what they have on sale. Our local 'The Works' are out of Street Magic and the sales staff have no idea if they'll be getting any more as they just get shipments sent and have to display and sell whatever is sent to them. Chances are that more stock will arrive eventually but it's a waiting game at the moment.

Dur the waiting game, how I hate that, I want things now!!!

I've enjoyed Paul's other two books but as this book is aimed at beginners I don't think it's worth the £14.99 so on with the waiting game...

Phew the waiting games over. They have this book at the Works in Worthing, £3.99. Bargain!

I just got a copy from my local "Works" ofr £3.99! If you know one in your area you have to buy it, you can't afford not to!

Actually you should just buy this book to get the darn thing off the shelves along with Pauls other two books, too many secrets available in this book...

Lol yeah too true! I was surprised at the amount of stuff given away. Why explain cigarette through coin if not just to releave the secret? I mean you can't do it unless you go and buy it...

it's £7.99 in my local book shop, browsed through the pages, nothing really hit me as being worth £7.99, what do people reckon? to buy or not to buy?

craigcox893 wrote:it's £7.99 in my local book shop, browsed through the pages, nothing really hit me as being worth £7.99, what do people reckon? to buy or not to buy?

Depends what level you class yourself as? If you are a beginner then yeh its worth every penny. If you are a pro then you will know most things in there anyway.

Mr Zenon has written this very well and its a good read. Even if you already know the tricks in it.

I would say its worth having in your collection.

well i wouldn't say beginner, but no where near pro. might have to go take another look, see what the wallet says.

I cannot say how strongly I hate this book. I have never particularly liked paul zenon's style, any time I see him on tv his performance seems to say "look at these things I got from a magic shop yesterday!" rather than presenting anything mystifying. If thats how you spell it.

The book might be okay for a begginer, but I would hope that they find their own style rather than presenting these tricks as he does - i.e. very badly.

There is nothing for the skilled amateur or above, and when a bad magician gives you his worst tricks, run away and recite the incantation "I hate david blaine, I hate david blaine".

Anybody feel the same?