Reviews of products by Will Goldston

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Stage Illusions

Overall customer rating: ★★★★★

reviewed by Frederic Clement (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Monday 22 April, 2024)

There are the good old illusion books, like the ones of U.F. Grant, which are full of good ideas that are, for the most, still accurate and usable today, and there are other old illusion books, like this one, which have become completely useless for today's performers. Save your money for better books. Even for 6$, you probably won't get any valuable information in this book, for which almost every illusion uses a very complicated setup with trapdoors in the floor, big wire rigs with pulleys passing under the stage, etc. Almost all the methods used would make no sense for today's stage conditions and anyway, today, we have hundreds of better methods to have better effects without all the trouble of those nonsense enormities. Usually, I like reading old illusion books to get inspired for new ideas, but to be honest, I didn't find anything inspiring in this book. Plus, the explanations in a very old English style are often hard to understand and the blurry illustrations, scanned in very low definition, are hard to decrypt and often times, it's even impossible to read the words, letters and numbers written on them. This is the second worst illusion book I have ever read, just to give you an idea of how bad it is...

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Exclusive Magical Secrets

Overall customer rating: ★★★★★

reviewed by Don Jarrard (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Friday 19 August, 2022)

As an amateur close-up magician, I just seriously got more into illusions. Most books before 1970 had a lot of build-it-yourself tricks. Illusions were expensive and complicated. There are a few using fake legs or some simple sneaky moves. You might find more close-up tricks useful. Maybe 2 illusions at the most. They are no worse than the Osborne illusions or Rand Woodbury books. A lot cheaper really. The history here is the best lesson.

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Tricks and Illusions

Overall customer rating: ★★★★★

reviewed by Don Jarrard (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Friday 19 August, 2022)

Mostly illusions covered in other old books. There are some winners like the escape ideas not taught by Abbottsmagic. Most illusions you will not build. Same with the small stuff. You will find a few tricks to use. For the price not bad.