Beginner/Intermediate level Books?

Dec 20, 2009
343
0
Mumbai, India
Hey Guys,

I need some help, I wanted some beginner/intermediate level Card & Coin magic Books. For coins I've selected JB Bobo's Modern Coin magic, But for card magic Im still debating between the following



Expert at the Card Table
Expert card technique
Royal Road to card magic


Also I am interested in mentalism and id like to start somewhere but im not sure what exactly to get, I was thinking Derren Brown's 'Tricks of the Mind' but im not really sure, anything you guys recommend please let me know



Thanks

- Jenai
 
Last edited by a moderator:

RealityOne

Elite Member
Nov 1, 2009
3,744
4,076
New Jersey
For cards, I would recommend Royal Road to Card Magic first and then Expert Card Technique and then Erdnase's Expert at the Card Table.

For mentalism, a good place to start is Annemann's Practical Mental Magic and/or Fulve's Self Working Mental Magic and/or Bob Cassidy's Fundamentals. After you have gone through one or two of those, then get Corinda's 13 Steps to Mentalism.
 
Jul 14, 2008
936
0
I agreed with Reality One, I have all three books for card magic and I think you should go from Royal Road to Card Magic, Expert at Card Technique and Expert at the Card Table
 
Apr 8, 2009
59
0
Depending on how much money you are willing to spend I would defiently suggest Card College. There are 5 volumes in the entire set and each one is roughly $30 but the expert explaining of the content is well worth the price. And If you by chance do decide to buy it pick up one volume at a time that way you don't try skipping a head.
 
Dec 20, 2009
343
0
Mumbai, India
Depending on how much money you are willing to spend I would defiently suggest Card College. There are 5 volumes in the entire set and each one is roughly $30 but the expert explaining of the content is well worth the price. And If you by chance do decide to buy it pick up one volume at a time that way you don't try skipping a head.
The store Im buying from has really great deals but card college is out of stock now, Im hoping to pick that up once its back.


- Jenai
 

RealityOne

Elite Member
Nov 1, 2009
3,744
4,076
New Jersey
The store Im buying from has really great deals but card college is out of stock now, Im hoping to pick that up once its back.


- Jenai

Card College is great but there is no reason you can't start with Royal Road / Expert Card Technique and then start the Card College series. Actually, that's what I did.
 

WitchDocIsIn

Elite Member
Sep 13, 2008
5,877
2,945
I would actually suggest starting with the smaller books and using Card College later. Kind of as a college level course in card magic.

The reasoning behind this is that you'll be able to work through RRTCM and ECT in reasonable amounts of time. Card College is an undertaking. A couple hundred pages in each volume, I believe. It's easy, when confronted with that amount of information, to feel overwhelmed or like you have to get through X amount before you are any good. But if you work your way through RRTCM and apply some creativity, you'll be well on your way to being a good card magician. Then you move on to ECT for the next developments in techniques and more sleights, and you get that much better. Then maybe you go on to Expert at the Cart Table and you learn those techniques. Then you start expanding out from there, and really start developing the encyclopedic knowledge of the Big Guys.

But that's just my thinking.
 
Sep 6, 2009
285
0
Cincinnati
No. Get the Tarbell course.

Instead of limiting yourself to coins & cards, you'll learn effects with cocktail napkins, rubber bands, and lots of good magic. It's a great place to start.

Oh yeah, if you're into mentalism (and If you're just midly interested, don't get into it. It's a lot more presentation-focused than magic. If you're a move-monkey, you have no place being a mentalist) then I would go with Corinda and Annemann. Osterlind put out a DVD set called "Easy to Master mental Miracles" Which is phenomenal.
 

WitchDocIsIn

Elite Member
Sep 13, 2008
5,877
2,945
Why? If he's interested in cards and mentalism why should he worry about branching out yet?

To quote Frank Herbert, "Beginnings are a delicate time."

When beginning something as huge as magic, it's best to have one or two things to focus on, I think. This takes a massive thing and breaks it down into manageable chunks. You can learn about presentation and audience management when doing card tricks. You can learn misdirection and timing and showmanship. In every 'genre' of magic, as it were, you can learn all the skills necessary to perform magic. Then it's just a matter of learning the skills relating to other genres.

Starting with only one or two types of magic can keep one from drowning in information. It helps someone focus and get really good at one thing, and then they can always branch out later.

Also the Tarbell Course is quite an investment if someone is new to this. The whole collection runs what, $250 last I checked. Not to mention the amount of time required to actually study that whole course. I bet a year a book is not unreasonable. That's a huge committment to someone just learning the basics.

I say start small and work your way up, and then, if you want to, branch out.

Once again, I agree with the RRTCM, ECT and EATCT thought train. Bobo's will take care of coin magic learning for years. Bob Cassidy's Fundamentals, Self Working Mental Magic, 13 Steps and Annemann for mentalism.
 
Dec 18, 2009
399
1
Thanks! ( Word count)

No problem. Erdnase has been long out of copyright. I also highly reccomend Scarne on Card Tricks. It contains 155 self working effects. Some favorites of mine are The Four Royal Flushes, Poker Misdeal Card Trick, The Traveling Aces, etc. None of the effects in the book require sleight of hand. Careful though, Scarne has another book called Scarne on Cards. If you're into cheating then consider this, but not for magic (the On Cards one that is. Card Tricks is great.) Hope this helped!

-Corbin
 
Dec 20, 2009
343
0
Mumbai, India
Thanks for your suggestions everyone!.

Corbin, I checked out Scarne on card tricks it seems interesting, I will pick it up but i think ill get Royal Road to Card Magic first.


Thanks

- Jenai
 
Dec 18, 2009
399
1
Thanks for your suggestions everyone!.

Corbin, I checked out Scarne on card tricks it seems interesting, I will pick it up but i think ill get Royal Road to Card Magic first.


Thanks

- Jenai

Oh yeah sorry I didn't mention that. Royal Road is much more of a necessity than Scarne. Eventually, I reccomend getting both. Good luck with your study. Also, if you go on google books or borders.com and barnesandnoble.com you can read previews of it, If you search it, along with royal road and expert card technique.

-Corbin
 

WitchDocIsIn

Elite Member
Sep 13, 2008
5,877
2,945
I've recently had it suggested that the Card Magic of Paul Lepaul is a good step between Expert Card Technique and Expert at the Card Table.
 
Dec 12, 2009
273
0
London Uk
The card magic of paul lepaul is all mixed ability stuff, and in there is a lot of improved sleights, so a good intermediate knowledge of sleights would be helpful.

Here is a set of books that I love:
-royal road to card magic
-Expert card technique
- card manipulations 1-5

in the uk you can get those for just over 30 pounds. Me personally after reading those I read expert at the card table, and loved it. I just cant handle a pdf so i just bought the book. Some nice mental related card effects one should pick up Mental Magic with cards, alot of great information.

I think while card college is great, those 3 books are much more a bang for your buck!

Have I mentioned I love Jean Hugard and Fredrick Braue.
 

RealityOne

Elite Member
Nov 1, 2009
3,744
4,076
New Jersey
I checked out Scarne on card tricks it seems interesting, I will pick it up but i think ill get Royal Road to Card Magic first.

I'd suggest getting Scarne on Card Tricks along with Royal Road. The stuff in Scarne is easy to learn and it will give you something to perform while you are working through Royal Road.
 
Dec 20, 2009
343
0
Mumbai, India
I'd suggest getting Scarne on Card Tricks along with Royal Road. The stuff in Scarne is easy to learn and it will give you something to perform while you are working through Royal Road.
I've been doing magic for about 6 months now, I have the 'Trilogy' by Dan and Dave Buck, I know that wasnt the best choice for a beginner but I got sucked into all the hype. Although, I must add that I am not at all disappointed. So far, I have performed some of the effects on the 'Tricks disc' such as Hand to mouth, Queens,Tivo 2.0 etc but I want to get one of these books because I hear that it is necessary for every card magician to have atleast one of them and I am a little bit technologically challenged and I prefer books, DVD's are great to learn but keeping on rewinding and fast-forwarding annoys me :p. Also. I noticed in the Trilogy, Dan and Dave mentioned certain sleights (I cant recall which ones) that they referred to as common knowledge but I had no idea about. So I think such a book will give me access to all those basic fundamental sleights. The 'everythingelse' disc on the trilogy does teach some such sleights but im not sure thats enough.
So do you still recommend 'Scarne on Card Tricks'? I do have stuff to perform, is it one of those "MUST HAVE" books since im kind of on a limited budget
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Searching...
{[{ searchResultsCount }]} Results