.:Elegance of Card Conjuring:.

Hey,

I got this book for 7 months or so. I’ve been reading it like crazy because, the writing style is Amazing!

Alot of beginner/magic introduction books were released in the market ( Royal Road, Handbook of Amateur Magician, Learn Magic by Henry Hey .. etc ), but the problem is that most of them are old ( 1940s ). Finally, a beginner magic book for the 21th century was written ..

The advantages of a *new* magic introduction book? The patter is not outdated, the methods are refined ( since methods improve over time ), and the creators are *modern*. Its nice to see names like Daryl, Paul Harris, Jon Racherbaumer and Looy Simonff’s in a beginner magic book. Also, the book talks alot about crediting, and how some people Xerox books ( and DVDs .. ), something didn’t quite exist in the past. So, some very valuble discussion on magic ethics is there, its great to see such information on a book aimed towards public.

Material:
Brilliant. It goes from very, very easy ( that its all acting. Involves optical illusions and the old body tricks. Still fun to do ), which is the subject of chapter 1, then in chapter 2 it teaches you three tricks that need a liiittle more work on your side, yet acting is still essential. The material ascends in difficulty, yet nothing hard is taught, even the card magic.

Me, as a card worker who almost never did tricks that doesn’t involve cards, I find the material taught here is fascinating ( I’ve read chapter 1,2 and 3. The latter being of magic with money. Effects are easy to do, yet still very impressive ). From chapter 3, I jumped to read chapters 10 and 11, both are the chapters concerned with card magic.

The ONLY card sleight taught is the false riffle shuffle that keeps the top ( or bottom ) stock in place. No, its not a Push Through Shuffle, its not the Zorrow, and its not the Steven’s Top packet retention. Its the basic riffle shuffle that keeps the stocks intact. Nevertheless, the effects taught in the chapters are still very good.

There is a very, very impressive card location ( magician fooler! I personally never read this before ). The You Do as I do, the same classic effect, is there. Then it teaches a neat ace effect, where you take the shuffled deck, put in your empty pocket ( checked by spectator ), then you produce the aces one at time. Then another basic trick where spectator cuts to the aces ( no, its not the one with alot of dirty work. This one is nice, and very suited for beginners ). A VERY impressive effect of Daryl’s called *Dream of a Card, Any Card*. The presentation is very, very good for a fimilar trick.

Jon Racherbaumer has a very neat trick here called Soul Mates, where spectator locates two mates of two cards, the trick is Karl Fuvle’s I believe, though the presentation is what Jon Added. Mike Maxwell’s Future Deck is also here, along with Shuffling Lesson by Chad Long ( appeared in Art of Astonishment vol.3). Sleight of foot ( the classic salt trick with a twist by Jamy Ian Swiss ) is a good card revelation. A clever prediction trick, and a spelling trick are taught here too. I personally think that these are taken from the list of best self-workers.

That was chapter 10. Chapter 11 teaches 4 card forces ( Cross Cut, Glide, Force using a Hank, and Countdown ), then many revelations of the selections you forced earlier ( interesting one is, where a King of Clubs is printed in the book, so you show the page of the book called Magic for Dummies as your prediction ).

A very good thing concerning the card work in the book, is that:
A) Little sleight of hand is used.
B) Even with little sleight of hand, the effects are all very impressive. No fillers.
C) Not that many *pick a card* type. Something older books might have alot of. Its good to have a variety.

As for none card work, alot of items here are anywhere anytime ( provided that the bills or coins, or pencils are there, obviously ). So far, I only learned the tricks on bills ( chapter 3 ). Tricks in this chapter involve breaking a pencil with a bill, or the simple bill penetration ( the one with the *V* shape? ). A very good story telling routine with 8 coins ( a very good coin trick actually, with no sleight of hand or palms at all ). The coin roll is taught too, along with a very good misdirection based quarter vanish ( which is a phase from Greg Wilson’s Recapped ).

There are alot of tricks contributed by alot of famous names. Greg Wilson, Harry Lorayne, Lance Burton just to name a few.

Teaching:
Here is where the book shines. The writing style is extremely clear, and the explanations are well written. It tells you whats the hard part of the trick, where is the misdirection moment, where is the part that needs acting, and whats the part that plays with psychology, and why it works.

When it talks about misdirection, it tells you why it works. When it talks about acting, it tells you what to act, and why do you act. When it talks on psychology, it tells you why it works. This is very important for a book for newbies, teach them to fish instead of giving them one.

The suggested patter is great, and its comedy based. I personally loved alot of the scripts provided.

A very good feature is the side banners. *Truths of Magic* side banners talk about magic presentation and methods in general, as how to setup the climax, and how a cut doesn’t disturb the order of the cards much. *Grace Under Fire* side banners talks about stories of magicians, that were asked to do a trick under bad situations, or stories of them failing at tricks. For example what John Cornelius did when he failed at his card to ceiling. These stories are shows you how magicians think and do some great *damage control*.

Bottom Line:
For the price ( 13$ at www.amazon.com ) you simply can’t go wrong. The price tag is low because its a beginner book, so more people will get interest in it ( my theory ). The material here is just awesome, and the teaching and writing style is the best I’ve read so far.

Next time, if someone asks me about *where to learn magic* and he/she is serious about it, I’m recommending this book instead of Royal Road. Royal Road is great at sleight of hand card magic, Magic for Dummies is great at everything else ( and sleight-less card magic too ).

Receives my highest recommendation. The perfect introduction for magic, teaches history, misdirection, pshology of magic, and magical moments from magicians ( Harry Lorayne throwing the deck towards the ceiling, for a card-in-ceiling trick, only to find out there is no ceiling ), my current best bang for buck.