Good magic book suggestions?

[Lord Magic]

You guys know all the awesome stuff Dynamo and David Blaine do?
Great right?
But I wanted to buy some books which will introduce me better to the sleight-level instead of just performance level.
So intead of them, can you guys recommend me books which will get me on the Eric-Jones-with-coins level?
Or Shin-Lim-with-cards level?
I would love to perform some of the sleights those guys do because of two things:-
1) Those guys have the most beautiful sleight-of-hand, and when they do ANYTHING, it looks just beautiful. I don't know about mind-blowing or AMAZING (which almost every good magician is)...but they are just beautiful. Pure beauty of magic there.
2) I would love to know how to make raw sleight-of-hand real art.

So recommendations please?

 

[RealityOne]

I'd start with mastering the basics. Card College for Cards and David Roth's Expert Coin Magic for coins. Get the foundation and build on it. If you want more challenging stuff, Troy Hoosier's Moments and Destroyers is great for coins as is Chris Kenner's Totally Out of Control. For challenging card stuff, Stephen Minch's book By Forces Unseen the magic of Earnest Earick fits the bill.

 

[Al e Cat Dabra]

Agree with RealityOne. IMO, the first step to mastery of sleight of hand (of any art form, really) is mastery of the basics, the fundamentals. So, there is the technical skill, which is absolutely essential, but LM's post mentioned either the word, "beautiful" or "beauty" four times. In other words, technique will not result in the aesthetic component that takes something from a craft to pure art - the beauty - and this must be cultivated from within.

 

[Mythos]

I agree with RealityOne about the basics. Card College or Harry Lorayne's Close up Card Magic may be good starting points for cards. For coins, how about J.D. Bobo's Modern Coin Magic.

 

[Lord Magic]

I agree with RealityOne about the basics. Card College or Harry Lorayne's Close up Card Magic may be good starting points for cards. For coins, how about J.D. Bobo's Modern Coin Magic.

I do have Bobo's, and am really happy about that.
It has some great stuff.

 

[JarrettC2]

Jason England has a video up on his top books and they’re all solid picks as well. https://store.theory11.com/products/what-to-read-jason-england

On that note however some of those books will be hard to find in physical form or even digital. So if you want to physically own them, expect to pay a hefty price. The Fine Art of Magic for example can be $80-$200.

Here is the real catch though. If you want to get to that level of good, practice. Don’t overload yourself. Start a book or dvd, take the first thing you’re

 

[JarrettC2]

Gah accidentally hit submit on mobile and missed the edit window.

Practice one thing at a time until you have it mastered. Use a webcam or a patient friend if needed to cover all the angles. Don’t spread yourself too thin trying to learn 10 things.

Also even if you think you know something well enough already, still give it a polish. Sure you might learn one really perfected technique at the pace of someone learning 10 mediocre ones but it will pay off when they’re inspired and blown away by your sleights.

So to sum things up: good learning sources + time, practice and patience = success. Great books help but the examples you listed put serious time into their art, as you already know.

 

[Maaz Hasan]

What books do you already have, and how comfortable are you with the material?

 

[Lord Magic]

Not many books.
I have Bobo's coin magic, RRTCM, Paul Zenon's Street Magic, Tom Ogden's 'The Complete Idiot's Guide to Street Magic, Anneman's Practical Mental Magic, Karl Fulves' Self-working Mental Magic.
I was thinking of buying Dynamo's recently released book and Tricks of the Mind when I get the chance.

I am comfortable enough with Tom Ogden's and Bobo's stuff (not ALL the stuff Bobo has, the ones which I saw I can do...because I don't have coin boxes NEITHER can I do a back palm).
Karl Fulves I have to keep returning back, those effects tho great, require modifications.
I barely scratched the surface of Anneman's book. I am almost, what, halfway through RRTCM, in the sense that I can actually perform them well (because I knew a lot of the mentioned sleights already).

So...I know I need to browse thru the books even more.