I don't normally write book reviews, but after reading Vortex, I felt compelled to. First of all, if you are not aware of who Tom Stone is, be aware. Tom is an excellent magician, writer, illustrator, and makes all of his brilliant routines into a piece of art. Before reading Vortex, I was familiar with his column in Genii, and really got to appreciate his work.
Vortex is a beautiful hard backed book with 254 pages, and over 500 illustrations by Tom himself. His illustrations are top notch, and helped me a great amount while reading the book. Between the detailed explanations and ample amount of drawings and diagrams, I didn't feel at lost at all while reading Vortex. Besides the text and illustrations, all the effects have a nice amount of history of how he came up with effect, his thinking process, and giving credit where it is due.
The book is set up in 4 sections/chapters. Close up material, stand-up material, parlor/stage material, and thoughts/theory. I found something great in each section, and especially enjoyed the theory section. A few of the topics were the Too Perfect Theory and Rejection.
I could write forever, so I'll just describe a few of the things that stood out for me.
Champagne:
This is a clever routine with a coin, that focuses on the final production of a glass full of some sort of beverage, and then your shoe. He goes into great detail on the shoe appearance and offers different ideas of how to work it into your repertoire.
King Castling:
This is an amazingly well structured version of Luke Dancy's Royale with Cheese. It isn't too difficult, and it is definitely a fooler. I expected a gimmick or duplicate to be used, but nope. Just a normal deck of cards with no set up. I'll definitely be using it.
Gap Drive:
A fun little knacky coin move that I bet you'll enjoy.
Tracking Mr. Fogg
Tom describes two versions of his version of Vernon's Travelers routine. The second version, Mr. Fogg, is just awesome! Not too much difficult palming, and a clever new concept I have yet to see in another Travelers routine. Not super difficult, but it will take some practice for sure.
Nullified:
A nice parlor version of Paul Harris' Re-Set.
A Toast for Charon:
A really cool coins across/silk and silver type of routine. Using only three normal coins and a silk. Oh, I almost forgot, the climax is an appearing wine bottle! Awesome!
Benson Burner:
Tom's version of Benson Bowl. This routine is just amazing, and if you attended EMC 2012, Tom performed it and talked a bit about it, but not much compared to the book. I'm currently working on the routine, and am super excited about it. If you plan on doing the same, expect doing some work/construction, a fun hunt for some materials that aren't widely available, and dropping some money on a ton of sponge balls and possibly some materials you may not have. It's worth it though.
So that's about it. This book very much inspired me, and is one of the only magic books I have read cover to cover and not been bored at all. It is very inspiring, and opens you up to Tom's way of thinking. Oh yeah, it has a nice introduction as well. I'm sure many of you would enjoy it, and its not overly expensive, only $55. A steal in my opinion. I highly recommend you check it out and find some videos of Tom's work online. 10/10
Benson Burner:http://youtu.be/2TfnVdycSuw
Mr. Fogg:http://youtu.be/ltrkRS6bODw
Vortex is a beautiful hard backed book with 254 pages, and over 500 illustrations by Tom himself. His illustrations are top notch, and helped me a great amount while reading the book. Between the detailed explanations and ample amount of drawings and diagrams, I didn't feel at lost at all while reading Vortex. Besides the text and illustrations, all the effects have a nice amount of history of how he came up with effect, his thinking process, and giving credit where it is due.
The book is set up in 4 sections/chapters. Close up material, stand-up material, parlor/stage material, and thoughts/theory. I found something great in each section, and especially enjoyed the theory section. A few of the topics were the Too Perfect Theory and Rejection.
I could write forever, so I'll just describe a few of the things that stood out for me.
Champagne:
This is a clever routine with a coin, that focuses on the final production of a glass full of some sort of beverage, and then your shoe. He goes into great detail on the shoe appearance and offers different ideas of how to work it into your repertoire.
King Castling:
This is an amazingly well structured version of Luke Dancy's Royale with Cheese. It isn't too difficult, and it is definitely a fooler. I expected a gimmick or duplicate to be used, but nope. Just a normal deck of cards with no set up. I'll definitely be using it.
Gap Drive:
A fun little knacky coin move that I bet you'll enjoy.
Tracking Mr. Fogg
Tom describes two versions of his version of Vernon's Travelers routine. The second version, Mr. Fogg, is just awesome! Not too much difficult palming, and a clever new concept I have yet to see in another Travelers routine. Not super difficult, but it will take some practice for sure.
Nullified:
A nice parlor version of Paul Harris' Re-Set.
A Toast for Charon:
A really cool coins across/silk and silver type of routine. Using only three normal coins and a silk. Oh, I almost forgot, the climax is an appearing wine bottle! Awesome!
Benson Burner:
Tom's version of Benson Bowl. This routine is just amazing, and if you attended EMC 2012, Tom performed it and talked a bit about it, but not much compared to the book. I'm currently working on the routine, and am super excited about it. If you plan on doing the same, expect doing some work/construction, a fun hunt for some materials that aren't widely available, and dropping some money on a ton of sponge balls and possibly some materials you may not have. It's worth it though.
So that's about it. This book very much inspired me, and is one of the only magic books I have read cover to cover and not been bored at all. It is very inspiring, and opens you up to Tom's way of thinking. Oh yeah, it has a nice introduction as well. I'm sure many of you would enjoy it, and its not overly expensive, only $55. A steal in my opinion. I highly recommend you check it out and find some videos of Tom's work online. 10/10
Benson Burner:http://youtu.be/2TfnVdycSuw
Mr. Fogg:http://youtu.be/ltrkRS6bODw
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