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For friends, I decide what I'm going to perform ahead of time, run through it a couple of times before going out and then perform those effects. They could be old ones I haven't done in a while, something new I'm working on or a standard that I love. My shows are stand-up shows which involve a...

There shouldn't be an overlap from a presentational perspective. Mentalism is presented as real, magic is presented as an illusion. It is plausible that someone can discern a thought of card using muscle reading but it is not plausible that someone can use their mind to turn over the card...

Much of what David Blaine performed is found in old books. His "Here then There" is actually John Scarne's Switchcraft which was published in Frank Garcia's Million Dollar Card Miracles (1972). There are a lot of those effects in the old books - simple but amazing. On the topic of monte...

Actually, it was invented by Houdini. Although I generally agree with @ChristopherT , I'll disagree on some specific points. I think the distinction is that magic is the illusion of the impossible and mentalism the illusion of the possible. If we define "tricks" as methods, I think both...

It is Eddie Fechter's "Be Honest, What Is It" in The Magic of Eddie Fechter by Jerry Mentzer (1974).

Monogamy is overrated.

My sense is that our usual recommendations of Royal Road and Erdnase's Expert at the Card Table turn people off to books. I love books but I struggled through Royal Road - pretty much skimming the last third of the book. Great stuff in it, but the writing is dated. I've tried to read Expert...

@KingLouis - Going out and performing is a great idea regardless of what you perform. The more you perform, the better you become at performing. What you perform is very much personal to your style. You could easily do close-up, stand up magic (a better description of Street Magic) or parlor...

Books of Wonder Art of Astonishment Card College Series Anything written by Stephen Minch

I suspect that most would not buy it because those folks that view those sort of videos don't buy any magic. If the video wasn't there, they would just find some other free way to learn magic.

Let's say someone is wrote down the name Robert on a piece of paper and stuck it in their pocket. They are told to think of that person. You ask them "The person you are thinking of has a nickname or go by a shortened version of his name? They answer "yes." You say, "That is what I thought...

First off, let me offer my sympathies. @Al e Cat Dabra got it right. They are not magic coins but they may be rare coins or silver coins that are worth more than their face value. As for decks, there are a lot of guys here that can identify the collectors decks. I'd be glad to help you...

@Maaz Hasan , I posted about your idea in your other thread. The short answer is that it won't work because your product is the method and selling the method makes it no longer a secret. It is clear that putting up someone's video or book on the internet for downloading or view is illegal...

This is the fatal flaw in the idea. Good idea, but it won't work. When the method is a product it cannot be a secret. What you are proposing here is more contractual. There are two significant problems here. First, to sue someone for breaking that contract you have to prove damages --...

Lybrary is good. Conjuring Arts is good.

That isn't quite correct. A copyright applies to "works" such as writings, recording (sound and video), dramatic performances and software. It does not apply to ideas or, in magic, methods. It just means that someone cannot produce an exact copy of what you did. While someone cannot copy and...

Use a short card.

The most comprehensive is Darwin Ortiz's Strong Magic. Other good books are: Ken Webber's Maximum Entertainment (very practical) Darwin Ortiz's Designing Miracles Juan Tamariz's Five Points, Magic Way and Sonata (which is out of print) Larry Haas's Transformations Peter McCabe's Scripting...

Ryan: I'll echo what @VagueTheory said, don't try to create just for the sake of creating something. If you are new to magic, the best use of your time is to learn the fundamentals and then keep learning. The more sleights, principles and plots you know, the more tools you have in your...

It really comes down to a matter of design. This is where knowing a 100 controls and 203 methods of forcing becomes helpful. I don't think the force-a-card / name-a-card or the pick-a-card / find-a-card plots are particularly interesting to laymen. So that means you should perform something...