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You should be able to find the Card College books in German.

Volume 1 of the books is $33 on Penguin Magic. Start with the first Volume and get the rest later if you like it. Although expensive, the cost per trick is much less than DVDs and downloads. Some friendly advice... A lot of the teaching on YouTube is bad. I think that it would be difficult...

Paul Harris's Art of Astonishment series.

When buying something that is expensive (for me, expensive is over $50), the test is "am I going to use this?" If the answer is yes, then the next question is "how am I going to use this?" If I come up with a presentation that I like, then it is worth spending the money. If I really can't...

The best cards are those that fit your performance style and that have a design that you like.

Bicycle Rider Backs in Blue... no Red... Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Welcome! Despite what non-magicians think, magic isn't about having fast fingers. As for flexibility, that just comes with practice. Depending on your budget, I would start out with the following books: Classic Books (Less Expensive) Royal Road to Card Magic Scarne on Card Tricks...

For a larger rose, I would use the Flip-stick move from Tarbell, Volume 7, p. 221. A good method using a shorter rose is Jeff McBride's Zoro-Rose from Larry Haas's book Gift Magic.

I love how deceptive and simple that method is.

Anthony: Focus on her and not the trick. Once you pull out a deck of cards, that takes the focus off of her and on to you. Additionally, you will be nervous because of asking her out and more likely to screw up any effect. There is a magic to the moment of asking someone to go with you to a...

The Hoffman books are available on Amazon - Modern Magic for $18, More Magic for $16 and Tricks With Cards running around $23. The Art of Magic is around $17. Hugard's Coin Magic and Encyclopedia of Card Tricks are also inexpensive. Encyclopedia of Card Tricks is your best bet. John Northern...

The Mental Card Trick is very nice. There are some great effects, Calling the Cards, Upside Down Deck, Traveling Aces, Swimmers (which I do a version of using the numbers off lottery tickets), Nomenclature, Scarne's Drunken Poker Deal and The New Deal Poker Hand. There also are a lot of...

There isn't a specific book on using wax in magic. There are a number of effects in a variety of books that use wax as part of the method. Some of them are listed HERE.

Ultimately, the "best" of anything is what a performer feels comfortable with. I had Christian Engblom use the Cooler five feet away from me and was totally fooled. I learned a great seated deck switch from Greg Wilson at one of his lectures. I've use the Chazpro deck shell to switch in a...

For self-working, get Card College Light and Scarne on Card Tricks. If you want some fun stuff to move into after you get the fundamentals, Art of Astonishment, Volume 1, John Bannon's High Caliber and John agustaferro's One Degree. With those, you are set for at least a year. Also, I'm always...

As @DominusDolorum said, you shouldn't rule out anything that is self-working. What is important is the illusion of impossibility that the spectator sees, not the difficulty of the method used to obtain that illusion. The is true for gimmicks and gaffs. Combining sleight of hand with self...

@Maaz Hasan, it is a good idea. John Bannon does something similar in Counterpunch (in Six.Impossible.Things. and High Caliber) in that the spectator selects an Ace and then the magician goes on to say that he will use the four aces to find the spectator's card. There also are a lot of plots...

So, I've been thinking about this all day and I have to disagree... a little. I'm big on the design of an effect. You develop the plot and then design the method to accomplish the plot. Within the design there are a variety of possible methods. For example, you may have to force a card...

I agree that magic is not the trick. I agree magic is the comprehension that what you have seen is impossible. However, with a video of a performance, camera tricks become a possible explanation and then there is no magic. To me, magic is a live performing art and video is there to capture...

What type of stuff do you like? What is your experience? Do you typically perform standing up or at a table? If you tell us more about yourself, we can make better recommendations.