RRTCM or Card College Vol 1

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fmos2

Guest
Hi,

Apologies in advance if this has been posted in the wrong forum, wasn't sure where else to post it.

I'm a beginner thats interested in learning card magic, ideally just to perform for family and friends rather than being serious about it and making a living. I'd like to learn from a book that is easy to read as well as being clear and detailed about its explanation of the various sleights, so that a beginner can master them without falling into bad habits. I'm not interested in learning every little sleight but rather mastering the ones that are not only fundamental but also of personal interest to me.

I've heard good things about both The Royal Road to Card Magic as well as Card College Vol 1. Based on my situation, what book would you recommend for me?
 
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Bean_Shooter

Elite Member
Jun 28, 2010
11
4
I would recommend RRTCM as a starting point, however both are excellent books. RRTCM is cheaper and will give you a strong foundation in card magic, it covers a lot of basic and important sleights along with some very powerful effects.
 
F

fmos2

Guest
Bean_Shooter said:
I would recommend RRTCM as a starting point, however both are excellent books. RRTCM is cheaper and will give you a strong foundation in card magic, it covers a lot of basic and important sleights along with some very powerful effects.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your advice. In your opinion, how easy is it to read and understand the explanations in it?
 
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Bean_Shooter

Elite Member
Jun 28, 2010
11
4
The book is written for beginners and most of the explanations and illustrations are clear and easy to understand. You may need to re-read parts several times to fully understand them, but I think this is the case with most books.

In order to get the most out of the book it is important to work through the full book, a chapter at a time, without skipping over any sections.
 
RealityOne

RealityOne

Elite Member
Nov 1, 2009
3,744
4,076
New Jersey
I'm going to differ a bit here. Royal Road is a great book for the price, but it is difficult to learn from. The book was written in 1948, so the writing is a bit more formal and the presentations are dated. There are some pictures which are difficult to understand and there are some minor errors in some of the descriptions. In contrast, Card College is very well illustrated and the sleights are well explained. Roberto Giobbi provides clear, step by step descriptions and handling tips that make the sleights even more invisible. If money isn't an issue, get Card College.
 
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fmos2

Guest
RealityOne said:
I'm going to differ a bit here. Royal Road is a great book for the price, but it is difficult to learn from. The book was written in 1948, so the writing is a bit more formal and the presentations are dated. There are some pictures which are difficult to understand and there are some minor errors in some of the descriptions. In contrast, Card College is very well illustrated and the sleights are well explained. Roberto Giobbi provides clear, step by step descriptions and handling tips that make the sleights even more invisible. If money isn't an issue, get Card College.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your advice. I probably don't intend to buy all five volumes since I my intentions are to undertake card magic as a hobby rather than a profession. But if I were to buy the first volume only, how would it compare to Royal Road? Would I still get a good grounding on the fundamentals or would I need to buy further volumes? Or better just to stick with Royal Road in that case?
 
F

fmos2

Guest
I just checked that I'd have to spend around $55 just on volume 1 alone since there are significant postage costs involved (I live in Australia), so investing in further volumes is probably not an option for me.
 
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