Next step / Intermediate books

Feb 17, 2018
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Hello all, i hope you are all doing well.

My brothers wedding was last week, now i only performed tricks for one person but that person enjoyed every trick i did, the reason i didn't do it for more people was because as i was looking around the room everyone seemed to be in their own groups and i didn't feel to confident walking up to them, but in any case i feel like it still went well performing for the one person.

Now i have about 9 books all mainly for beginners, now they are amazing and have a wealth of knowledge and information, but i know that they also have some of the same information in a couple of them.

Now i haven't read every book cover to cover, but i would like to get your opinions on which books I should start looking at next.

Now i know that some of you will likely say to read the books i have now cover to cover, i know i will at some point but i would like to start looking for the next step in books as i like to go to harder tricks or slights and at least try them, I'm not the type of person to stay at beginner level for long.

I'm not saying i won't come back to them again, I'm only saying that I would like to challenge myself and see both what is out there and also what I'm capable of doing

As always I don't always explain things well so if you don't understand what I'm asking then please let me know, I'm always happy to answer questions from all of you.
 

RealityOne

Elite Member
Nov 1, 2009
3,744
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i would like to start looking for the next step in books as i like to go to harder tricks or slights and at least try them, I'm not the type of person to stay at beginner level for long.

Don't equate more complicated and more difficult with better magic. Some of the best effect I perform are extremely simple. Try to view magic from the audience's perspective, not the magician's perspective. You can do amazing stuff with the books you have. But if you are like most of us, you will need to spend several hundred dollars on "new" material before you go back and realize how much you already have.

Now i have about 9 books all mainly for beginners, now they are amazing and have a wealth of knowledge and information, but i know that they also have some of the same information in a couple of them.

From a different thread:

I have 9 books at the moment...

But at the moment i currently have;

Encyclopedia of card tricks

Modern coin magic

Card manipulations

Street magic by Paul zenon

Expert card technique

The Royal road to card magic

Self working card tricks and self working close up card magic

And finally I have the complete course in magic.

Royal Road provides a good set of fundamentals in terms of sleight of hand and Expert Card Technique is an advanced study in sleight of hand. There is a lot of good stuff in those books. In Royal Road, check out Designed for Laughter, Do as I Do, Intuition with Cards, A Tipsy Trick and Ewephindit. In Expert Card Technique, it teaches very advanced material regarding passes, double lifts, palms, false shuffles, changes, glimpses and reverses. All important stuff if you want to progress. Encyclopedia of Card Tricks has a lot of great effects that don't have a lot of sleights (which are great for performing) and gives you a lot of ideas of how to use various gimmicks such as short cards, rough and smooth, gimmicked decks, etc. Modern Coin Magic has everything you need to become an expert at coins. I perform two routines from that book. The best way to avoid looking like every other magician, to avoid performing effects that are revealed on Youtube and to avoid paying a lot of money for a new cool looking effect (which is an old method repackaged) is to learn the stuff in these books. Mark Wilson's book looks like something for kids, but the methods used in that book are the real deal. The more that I've learned in magic, the more I appreciate how much good stuff is taught in that book. Just reading it cover to cover gives you a sense of what magic is really about.

I'm not saying i won't come back to them again, I'm only saying that I would like to challenge myself and see both what is out there and also what I'm capable of doing

Honestly, it would be more of a challenge to work through what you have than to pursue other material.

i would like to get your opinions on which books I should start looking at next.

I understand that the books you have are difficult reads due to the style of writing. My first recommendation is always to focus on the fundamentals. With that in mind, if you want to learn card magic, I'd recommend getting Card College 1 and Card College 2 as well as Card College Light. Card College 1 and 2 provide you with the fundamentals in an easy to understand way. If you get them, pay attention to how you are doing things because there are a lot of things that people learn incorrectly such as the various grips of the cards. Card College Light is worth the price of the book for the first two effects. In the Light, Lighter and Lightest series, Roberto Giobbi shows how self-working can be powerful.

If you want to learn coins, get Eric Jones' Metal 1 and 2 DVDs. They are a great accompaniment to Bobo's Modern Coin Magic. The other exclusively coin magic books I'd recommend are unfortunately out of print.

Once you get the fundamentals down, I 'd recommend the Art of Astonishment books. There is a lot of great stuff in those books. However, you will be frustrated with those books if you don't have the fundamentals down because there are a lot of effects that don't explain the mechanics of the basic sleights.

Finally, let us know what effects you have been performing and what areas you really want to learn... there are thousands of magic books out there and without knowing what you like, we can only recommend what we like.
 
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Feb 17, 2018
41
28
Don't equate more complicated and more difficult with better magic. Some of the best effect I perform are extremely simple. Try to view magic from the audience's perspective, not the magician's perspective. You can do amazing stuff with the books you have. But if you are like most of us, you will need to spend several hundred dollars on "new" material before you go back and realize how much you already have.



From a different thread:



Royal Road provides a good set of fundamentals in terms of sleight of hand and Expert Card Technique is an advanced study in sleight of hand. There is a lot of good stuff in those books. In Royal Road, check out Designed for Laughter, Do as I Do, Intuition with Cards, A Tipsy Trick and Ewephindit. In Expert Card Technique, it teaches very advanced material regarding passes, double lifts, palms, false shuffles, changes, glimpses and reverses. All important stuff if you want to progress. Encyclopedia of Card Tricks has a lot of great effects that don't have a lot of sleights (which are great for performing) and gives you a lot of ideas of how to use various gimmicks such as short cards, rough and smooth, gimmicked decks, etc. Modern Coin Magic has everything you need to become an expert at coins. I perform two routines from that book. The best way to avoid looking like every other magician, to avoid performing effects that are revealed on Youtube and to avoid paying a lot of money for a new cool looking effect (which is an old method repackaged) is to learn the stuff in these books. Mark Wilson's book looks like something for kids, but the methods used in that book are the real deal. The more that I've learned in magic, the more I appreciate how much good stuff is taught in that book. Just reading it cover to cover gives you a sense of what magic is really about.



Honestly, it would be more of a challenge to work through what you have than to pursue other material.



I understand that the books you have are difficult reads due to the style of writing. My first recommendation is always to focus on the fundamentals. With that in mind, if you want to learn card magic, I'd recommend getting Card College 1 and Card College 2 as well as Card College Light. Card College 1 and 2 provide you with the fundamentals in an easy to understand way. If you get them, pay attention to how you are doing things because there are a lot of things that people learn incorrectly such as the various grips of the cards. Card College Light is worth the price of the book for the first two effects. In the Light, Lighter and Lightest series, Roberto Giobbi shows how self-working can be powerful.

If you want to learn coins, get Eric Jones' Metal 1 and 2 DVDs. They are a great accompaniment to Bobo's Modern Coin Magic. The other exclusively coin magic books I'd recommend are unfortunately out of print.

Once you get the fundamentals down, I 'd recommend the Art of Astonishment books. There is a lot of great stuff in those books. However, you will be frustrated with those books if you don't have the fundamentals down because there are a lot of effects that don't explain the mechanics of the basic sleights.

Finally, let us know what effects you have been performing and what areas you really want to learn... there are thousands of magic books out there and without knowing what you like, we can only recommend what we like.

Well that is definitely an interesting reply and i will be coming back to it more than once so thank you for that.

I would like to say that i have autism, it's not so severe that I can't do anything but it does affect me in certain situations, now i don't say this for sympathy or special treatment as i don't believe that i deserve it personally, i mention it because i don't view things the same way as a lot of people.

In my head the more advanced books won't make me any better at magic than something that shows self working tricks, i view them as a tool in which to read or learn different tricks i haven't seen before, so i can look at something and see how i can add something or change it in a way that works with my abilities / mind set.

The books i have i do read and i repeat the same thing until i have it down, say controlling a card to the top or bottom of the deck, now by no means is it perfect but i have used it and it's worked, nobody has said about seeing a move or knowing how it's done (i practice on my family a lot) i have had one instance where someone suspected that the card was controlled, i stopped that trick, did a couple different ones and came back to which by that time they were more interested in the trick and what i was about to do rather than where the card was.

As far as things that i want to learn or like, i personally like tricks that have a story that can be told with it, a trick in particular is the card trick by Joshua jay that he performed on penn and teller fool us, that trick to me is amazing and something i would like to learn.

I also like tricks where the card is reversed in the deck (sealed deck) or it's signed and appears in an impossible place. An example of this that comes to mind is shawn farquhar, again he performed this on penn and teller fool us from what i can remember.

Tricks like those i personally enjoy a lot and would love to learn, i know they require some if not a lot of practice or slights and i don't believe they are even available to buy, but if i can at least understand how they are done i can create something myself that i can work with.

I will be going back through your reply to look for the tricks you mentioned and looking them up in the books i have.

Thank you again for the reply and your advice.
 

Gabriel Z.

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. there are thousands of magic books out there and without knowing what you like, we can only recommend what we like.

Did you come up with that one yourself David? I never even thought of that. People get wrapped up so much in what they are doing and what they like. Most of there responses will never even affect us.. Genius!
 
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RealityOne

Elite Member
Nov 1, 2009
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Did you come up with that one yourself David? I never even thought of that. People get wrapped up so much in what they are doing and what they like. Most of there responses will never even affect us. Genius!

I came up with it as a result of my process of acquiring lots of books and seeing how very different each book is. I like a lot of different books all for different reasons - some have amazing sleight of hand, others have unique gimmicks, other have diabolical methods, other have amazing and meaningful presentations, others have historical significance and others are just well written. Layer in the different aspects of magic -- stage, parlor, close-up, stand-up, etc. -- and the different props -- cards, coins, rope, bills, everyday objects classic props, etc. -- there really isn't a one size fits all. If you hang around the forums enough, you see two types of recommendations... book that other people recommend (I see this a lot with Royal Road or EATC being recommended by people who don't have it) and books that people like (which often is one of five books they have). So, since I have a lot of different books I like, I try to make recommendations personalized (although I often recommend the same books to beginners).

@Unownmagician1990 One of the things about learning magic is that it is easier for us to see and effect perform and then go learn it than for us to read an effect and then decide to perform it. That is especially true with the books you have based on their writing style. It is hard to find excitement in those books -- but there are effects in there that can be reputation makers. It does take some imagination to figure out which ones are that good and which ones are garbage. Based on the effects you listed, I think you would like the Art of Astonishment series - there are a lot of effects where you just laugh to yourself about how clever the method is. I'm sticking with my suggestions on what to get next -- the first two Card College Books, Card College Light and Art of Astonishment Volume 1.
 
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WitchDocIsIn

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Sep 13, 2008
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Some of the best effect I perform are extremely simple.

All of my best stuff is extremely simple. Almost all of it is completely lacking in sleights.

But if you are like most of us, you will need to spend several hundred dollars on "new" material before you go back and realize how much you already have.

To quote the internet, "I did not come here to be attacked in this manner."

Anyway - to piggy back on David's point - I almost never do card magic these days, but when I do, I still perform two of the same tricks I learned when I first started card magic. One of them is a version of Poker Player's Picnic, which was taught to me by Patrick Snowden, because I was still doing the version from Royal Road.

Learning advanced/difficult sleight of hand can be fun, no doubt about it. I practice stuff I'll never use in performance simply because I enjoy the fine motor skills involved in doing the moves. But there's no sleight in existence that will make you a better performer. Only performing will do that. And the more you perform, the more you're likely to realize that a simple method that allows you to focus on the performance is often the best way to go.
 
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Feb 17, 2018
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I have been reading everyone's replies and looking up the tricks mentioned.

One trick that @RealityOne mentioned (designed for laughter) that is another style that i like, it appears that the trick has gone wrong or failed but the ending still has everyone on board with the magician by the end.

I have had this a couple of times when practicing with my family and 2 particular tricks i did seemed to of gone wrong but in fact worked and got a laugh at the end.

There's something about letting people think you did the trick wrong that appeals to me and i really enjoy it, especially when by the end it's gone exactly how you planned it to go and everyone is either laughing or confused when it's done.

As always thank you to you who have replied and given me either advice or even effects to look at, it really is appreciated and looked through every time.

If there is something that i don't have that you may think help me then recommend it, i already have a lot to work through but that's the joy of it to me, finding something that needs something particular to work, i will go back and practice that one thing until i have it as close to perfect as possible, at that point i will go back to that effect and learn it fully.
 
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