Reviews: Read What Others Are Saying: page 10
224 ★★★★★ reviews
156 ★★★★★ reviews
99 ★★★★★ reviews
140 ★★★★★ reviews
Entropy Hack
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Kevin Needham (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Monday 28 April, 2025)
This is 100% pure awesomeness! I was surprised how well this works. Prepare to fool yourself as well as your spectators!!
Magical Adventures and Fairy Tales
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Virginia Hankins (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Tuesday 22 April, 2025)
Whimsical, enchanting, nostalgic. This is a key, historical, book in magical story telling and scripting that incorporates tricks rather than being a book about tricks that incorporates some patter. The writing in this book is reminiscent of the the style that Walt Disney himself used to use when he was alive. It's tight, vibrant, and an amazing example of what story telling can be like. It doesn't talk down to the audience in its scripting but is also non-pretentious. The printed work is around 103 total pages and has an easy to follow flow. Everything in it is well organized with the name of the effect, the script, and then the description of the trick / methods used. By following that repeatable format you can easily flip around in the book to the content of interest, read it, and then use the explanation to study and think about the use of words and scripting. The manuscript is right for a person who has a working knowledge of magic and can easily follow the "directions" that the writing provides. There are limited photos in it - you'll need to have a solid mental picture for context or be able to do YouTube etc. research to really break stuff apart to play with it. As an example, one section states "use the Slydini newspaper tear" or another sentence in a different part reads "You must have recognized our immortal Four Ace Trick immediately. For this presentation you need jumbo cards." Statements like that show that the author assumes that (a) you have a working knowledge of the body of magic, much like a proficient cook would know how to interpret a directive like "start with a white sponge cake" in a recipe and (b) you also know what the materials he's using are (like jumbo cards). As long as you are a well-read person of magic then you will be able to easily read and understand the contents. The English translation, while beautiful, isn't overly wordy and is succinct where it needs to be. Notes on why you need certain things or to say certain things are mentioned where they are needed. Keep in mind that this is a book of its own time in history that is reminiscent of beliefs, opinions, fables, and fairy tales from another time in history - such as the years during and around World War 2. Some of the stories / effects pull from Wales, England, Germany, India, Scotland, and China. Nothing in this book is modern, but it isn't intended to be.
The Master Code
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Jeffrey Whiting (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Wednesday 16 April, 2025)
Robert Nelson was one of the most prolific, and knowledgeable, writers in the field of Mentalism.
As an aficionado of two person telepathy acts, I bought this book to add to my collection.
Nelson has produced a carefully graduated course for anyone wishing to learn this specialist act, and brings the benefit of experience to the course as well.
There are certain parts of the code that may appear quite “stiff” to modern audiences. Times change, and the detailed footnotes in the text reflect this and offer the reader additional information or resources to personalise and modernise their act!
I especially liked the section on coding questions to the medium; Nelson has drawn on the pioneering works of C A Conlin to give you a list of 99 most common questions, and useful subdivisions for further elucidation.
Even if you never perform a Q&A act this way, the list of probabilities will help your Cold Reading!
Despite its generous 150+ page length, and encyclopaedic tone, Nelson’s book does not cover certain “positional” codes or silent ones. However there’s more than enough information here to create your own.
I’d throughly recommend the book for both the collector/archivist and the serious mentalist.
Dorny's Comedy Blackouts
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by jordan Byrd (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Tuesday 15 April, 2025)
Not really magic, but if your putting a show together, learning to utilize blackouts is a well worthwhile adventure.
Principles and Deceptions
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by jordan Byrd (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Tuesday 15 April, 2025)
A classic. Easily worth the purchase. Hidden wonders galore.
Hand Shadows
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by jordan Byrd (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Tuesday 15 April, 2025)
Beautiful little treatise on shadows. Nice artwork. Nothing to groundbreaking, but still worth picking up
Potter & Potter #13
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Paul Budd (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Tuesday 08 April, 2025)
I'm one of the last 38 people in the world who loves magic catalogs. Technically, this is an 'auction' catalog -- but it's filled with magic stuff. In terms of Potter & Potter auctions -- this is one of my favorites!
Psychabulary
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Brad Smithart (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Wednesday 02 April, 2025)
Psychabulary is a simple system for constructing scientific-sounding phrases to fake expertise in Psychology.
The generated phrases could be used to add some credibility to your patter. The document also gives a handful of hints and tips for using the phrases.
Scientific Cold Reading Intro
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Brad Smithart (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Wednesday 02 April, 2025)
This video was not at all what I expected.
Dave Arch, rather than being a mentalist, has a background as a pastor, an executive coach, and a magician. So he approaches cold-reading skills from the perspective of making everyday connections, rather than as entertainment.
As an introductory video, it doesn't actually get into cold reading, but rather provides an overview of additional products.
Abraca-Poof December 2017
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Brad Smithart (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Wednesday 02 April, 2025)
The article "Do As I Do - Not As I Say" makes the intriguing argument that the real offense in copying another magician's presentation is not primarily in the physical actions (which in some ways is limited by the effects) but by stealing the patter.
This issue also contains an interesting article about humility and taking criticism.
Abraca-Poof December 2016
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Brad Smithart (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Wednesday 02 April, 2025)
Since this is a December issue, it focuses primarily on wrapping up the year and beginning a new one. In addition to the standard articles about organization and planning, this issue includes a fun gag by Aldo Colombini, the "Failed Card Trick."
Duplicity
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Kevin Needham (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Monday 31 March, 2025)
Wow! This seems impossible. The magician selects a card and number FIRST. This is ANOTHER great effect from the mind of Tommaso Guglielmi. Highly Recommended!! If you’re not following his works….you should!
An Offering
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Elliot Gorton (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Wednesday 26 March, 2025)
This is my first look into Mr. Hildebrandt. I am sufficiently flabbergasted. This is dangerous material. I hope I'm brave enough to try some of it.
The DWS Principle
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Richard Weber
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Tuesday 25 March, 2025)
I used the DWS Principle as the method for my closing effect in my audition act for The Magic Circle yesterday evening. It fooled a room full of magicians. I have been fooling magicians with this method for the past five months. Only once has a magician returned to tell me a close guess.
You can have a lot of fun with this. As I presented it, each of two spectators chose a card from a small packet. These cards were replaced in the deck in such a way that ruled out any possibility that I could have been using any standard methods, such as breaks, crimps, marks, etc. Then each of the spectators shuffled and cut the cards. The quality of my spectators' shuffles were varied. I spread the cards face up, and in about 5 seconds, I had cut the cards back into my hands with the spectators' cards top and bottom. I then produced them as I tossed the deck from one hand to the other. This was all wrapped up in a story about a trick I might have shown Queen Elizabeth II when I sat next to her at lunch. The cards were horses from Her Majesty's stable and we were simulating The Grand National steeplechase.
The Unnamed Magician was kind enough to share this creation with me and involve me in helping him to investigate its workings by computer simulation of shuffling.
Samuel Cox Hooker and his Rising Cards
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Nick Black (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Sunday 23 March, 2025)
This ebook is written like a good mystery that you'll be thinking about long after you've finished reading it. Chris has compiled an amazing study of Hooker's rising cards, and threw in a wealth of information of similar effects. The only downside I found to this publication is that it made me aware of my shortcomings as a long-time student of magic.
The Professional Smoking Thumb Gimmick (Instructions)
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Allard Robichaud (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Wednesday 19 March, 2025)
Excellent!!! Fast service! Works all fine!
Double Cross ACAAN
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Kevin Needham (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Tuesday 18 March, 2025)
Another great effect from a brilliant creator! An impromptu twist of his effect called “Duplicity”. It can be performed over video or in person. There is an explanation on how to do the effect with one deck as well. Highly Recommended!!
The Holy Dixie Cup
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Jacob Johnson (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Friday 14 March, 2025)
This is a fun and clever effect! The explanation is clear and concise. The move will not take long to learn and will be quite an effective tool in your toolbox. I only gave it 4 stars because the link in the PDF to a YouTube video demonstrating the "move" was dead. The video isn't necessary but would have been the icing on the cake.
Magic no Mystery
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by jordan Byrd (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Friday 14 March, 2025)
A beautiful read with many hidden wonders waiting to be rediscovered.
Napkin Folding
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by jordan Byrd (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Friday 14 March, 2025)
Could maybe use an update, but still a clever, workable routine similar to Chapeaugraphy.
2 As 4 Count
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Barrett Sweet (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Thursday 13 March, 2025)
Excellent!
Wayne Dobson: The Definitive Collection
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Gregg Webb
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Thursday 13 March, 2025)
A friend loaned me this book to read, and I'd like to say that it is one of the best magic books I've ever read. Before his unfortunate handicap, he was a working pro, so he knew what worked in the real world, and he had the knack of making something catchy and his patter ideas were perfect. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in magic as one of the only books you need to own and study. Gregg Webb
The AI Magician's Handbook
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by John Kauth (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Tuesday 11 March, 2025)
Marko's book description is accurate. AI is the latest buzzword on the internet. AI apps start off with a description of what the AI is supposed to produce. These descriptions are called "prompts". There is an old computer programming adage, "Garbage in, garbage out." Bad prompts produce bad AI results. That is the value of Marco's book. He uses several magic tricks as examples that are copied into an AI app to create original presentations. He describes how to modify the prompts for various audiences. As with any presentation created by a human or AI the final result will need to be edited. Marco supplies links to two excellent AI apps to create presentations. This is the first AI book I have found that explicitly applies to magic. Marko's book is an excellent introduction to the topic.
The book falls short on music creation. It is only two pages long, and the prompts are brief and not as detailed as the performance prompts. Only one AI app is listed, and Marco stresses that most AI music apps cost money. There is an invaluable link to the legalities of using AI music in performances.
Chris Wasshuber runs a wonderful website with tons of useful information. In his review guidelines, he suggests leaving some brief bio information in the magic reviews. I am 76 years old. Five years ago, a cruise ship had a magic show. I purchased his promotional kit with a few tricks. The magic bug bit hard. I now own the Tarbell books, 13 Steps to Mentalism, and many, many books and videos on Magic and Mentalism, which I have studied. I lean toward Mentalism as fancy sleight of hand is difficult with arthritis. I mainly do thirty-minute shows for senior citizens living in my area.
Twisting Version 50
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Daniel Vicars (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Saturday 08 March, 2025)
Pure Pellikaan Prestidigitation! I'm gonna love frying folks' brains with this.
Another Roadside Attraction
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Frank Machniak (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Saturday 08 March, 2025)
The work of Jon Racerbuamer is legendary. And to have it in this form is just wonderful. The quality and service are first rate.