talkmagic.co.uk

In his book "Random Acts of Magic" (2004), David Acer asked 25 "industry heavyweight" magicians to name their 10 favourite books.

From that list Acer compiled a "Top 12" most popular.
Thought some of you might be interested to see the list (numbers in brackets refer to how many of the 25 voted for that particular book):

1. The Dai Vernon Book of Magic - Lewis Ganson (10)
2. Stars of Magic - Starke/Karger (9)
3. Close-Up Card Magic - Harry Lorayne (8 )
4. Greater Magic - John N. Hilliard (8 )
5. Tarbell Course of Magic - Harlan Tarbell (7)
6. The Art of Astonishment, Vols 1, 2 & 3 - Paul Harris (7)
7. New Modern Coin Magic - J. B. Bobo (6)
8. The Trick Brain - Dariel Fitzkee (6)
9. Magic and Showmanship - Henning Nelms (5)
10. The Books of Wonder vols 1 & 2 - Tommy Wonder & Stephen Minch (5)
11. Encyclopedia of Impromptu Magic - Martin Gardner (5)
12. The Amateur's Magician's Handbook - Henry Hay (5)

I was surprised to see the disparity of opinions on classic books.
No book got more than 10 votes out of 25. And even Tarbell only received 7/25.
And there are surprising omissions - Royal Road, Hugard, Marlo, "Strong Magic", Derren, Card College, etc....

But I suppose if we all had the same opinions we'd all be doing the same tricks!

Anyway, as Mike Close says, the above list is "an excellent way to discover shortcomings in your library."

Well, that's my birthdays and Christmases sorted for the next couple years - thanks Saxmad!