Reviews: Read What Others Are Saying: page 13
195 ★★★★★ reviews
135 ★★★★★ reviews
85 ★★★★★ reviews
131 ★★★★★ reviews
Behind the Back Location
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Michael Cook (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Thursday 30 November, 2023)
This isn’t a bad trick at all. For the price it’s a steal. I just wish that in the description it would state that a certain something is needed because not everyone has this. I’ve been into card magic for over 25 years and I’ve never owned what’s needed to perform this. A little disappointed but otherwise a great trick. I just wish creators would specify what’s needed to perform certain effects because it sucks to download a trick then after getting it realize you can’t perform it.
Speed Dating
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Ethan Pitt (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Wednesday 29 November, 2023)
Honestly the best and fastest method out there, quite a bit to learn, but once learnt, gold. I made up my own memory pegs which I encourage, but all in all this is fabulous.
Cold - The Telesthesia Cards
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Steven Collins (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Wednesday 29 November, 2023)
This is a powerful effect that uses no sleights. It relies solely on your ability to use verbal influence. When performed properly it is a convincing demonstration of telepathy. If you’re not comfortable with that principle, this effect is not for you.
Kings Incognito
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Richard Zarin (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Friday 24 November, 2023)
Stephen Minch may well be my favorite author of magic books. I have not yet worked my way all the way through this, but as always with Stephen, the descriptions are clear and thoughtful. Also, almost all the elements of this routine are within the reach of someone who doesn’t have advanced skills. The other thing that jumps out right away is very thoughtful way that the various phases of this routine flow, with an inner logic and variety for the spectators. Also, although these were set up as lecture notes and referred to the Nash trilogy of books, which I don’t have and have been yearning for for years, there is enough detail here to have a clear sense of what needs to be done. I do expect that at least good chunks of this will be added to my repertoire after I get to spend enough time to think my way through and practice it sufficiently, and also figure out a presentation that suits me (mashes presentation is clearly described, but I’m not about to try to sell myself as a gambling expert).
Dr. Q's Comedy Hypnotic Act
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Andre Magic (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Monday 20 November, 2023)
This PDF is very good quality. I read the book (PDF download) as for the book, I can see value but you have to be gutsy to pull it off. Pre-show communication should be taken care of properly. As I mentioned before, the quality of the PDF is extremely good. As mentioned in my previous reviews, I am so glad that I was referred to this site.
Bobo Magic Show
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Andre Magic (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Monday 20 November, 2023)
I have the original hard book, like my other purchases, the PDF is right on. I am so glad that I was referred to this site.
Jinx
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Andre Magic (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Monday 20 November, 2023)
I have the hard version original 3-book set, this PDF copy is exactly what I was hoping for. I am so glad that I was referred to this site.
(Contact)Less is More ACAAN (Italian)
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Darren Purshall
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Sunday 19 November, 2023)
Un grande ACCAN quasi del tutto automatico che può essere eseguito nelle mani dello spettatore con risultati devastanti. Il pensiero e il metodo alla base di questa routine non lasciano nulla di intentato. Complimenti a Biagio e a Joseph, due dei miei creatori preferiti di trucchi con le carte,: che squadra! Non rimandare, scarica oggi stesso questo tutorial ben spiegato, pronto a ingannare amici e parenti. Un'ottima idea per trascorrere magicamente il periodo natalizio.
Trinity
(Contact)Less is More ACAAN
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Darren Purshall
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Sunday 19 November, 2023)
A great almost self-working ACCAN that can be performed in the hands of the spectator with devastating results. The thinking and method behind this routine leaves no stone unturned. Well done Biagio and Joseph, two of my favourite card trick creators. What a team! Don’t delay downloading this well-explained tutorial today, ready to fool friends and family. A great idea for entertaining over the Christmas period.
Trinity
Behind the Back Location
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by brian draven (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Sunday 19 November, 2023)
I purchased this today and it’s exactly as advertised, nothing amiss. It’s exactly as one might visualize it to be. Without giving too much away, I can say that you will definitely be fooling both lay folks and your magic pals with this. I’m surprised a secret this good is being sold for only $5. This is worth a lot more than that. There are 2 very different principles in the mix here that make this mystery possible.
Easy Touch
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by hal barlow (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Tuesday 14 November, 2023)
This is very good. The method is simplicity in itself, but as I have found through using it, very fooling. This is one of my favorites of Ian's releases.
Illustrierte Magische Bibliothek: Band 5: Das Buch der Kartenkunststücke
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Gregg Webb (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Tuesday 14 November, 2023)
Now that I realize that Erdnase was bilingual and spoke and could write in German, I have been interested in looking into the books on magic and gambling and cheating that would have been available to Erdnase when he lived in Chicago, from Roterberg's Magic Shop. Roterberg's would have carried these as well as magazines and also magic apparatus.
Willmann considered his teachings about cards to be a complete school unto itself. Anyone who switched the Aces to the Queens for a card trick was certainly making a statement for the history books. That way the patter could be more interesting and amusing.
The translating ability of Lybrary.com is very interesting in itself, and easy to use. You only have to hit a "translate" button after each turn of the page. Said button is near the page-turning button. You only have to select what language you want, I chose English, but there are many many offered. I must say that I felt like I was getting into multi-cultural research to use this feature. I recommend it.
I also recommend looking into the German connection for those interested in Erdnase and The Expert at the Card Table.
The Expert at the Card Table
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Gregg Webb (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Tuesday 14 November, 2023)
I am an author and innovator of card tricks and routines as well as other sleight-of-hand interests and have been reading Dr. Chris Wasshuber's book about Erdnase. In my teens I had the Expert almost memorized but switched to other newer techniques. Since reading the book about Edward Gallaway as the probable author of The Expert, I decided to revisit the section on the running up of hands with the jog shuffle and to study the math involved again.
Also after reading Jack Pots, written probably by Erdnase, and about stories of poker players and poker games, I am now realizing that even the introduction to The Expert, and onward, are truly written by someone who was there and knew for sure what was going on. Jack Pots was written by Eugene Edwards, which is surely a pseudonym of Erdnase (Edward Gallaway). I now realize why Dai Vernon was so enthused by The Expert.
The German language connection of The Expert has caused me to also look into the German books and magazines about magic and cheating at cards just before the turn of the last century.
As it turns out, at least 6 of the card tricks in the second section of The Expert are borrowed from German books and magazines by Willmann and Conradi to mention two.
And so The Expert is valuable on many levels and more than the sum of its parts. History, brilliant writing, and word usage, in addition to the "moves" and strategies in the book, all run through the man nicknamed Erdnase.
The Cardsharp and his Book
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Gregg Webb (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Friday 10 November, 2023)
I am an author and Lybrary.com publishes and carries my eBooks. Doctor Wasshuber mentioned to me in passing that he was interested in the Erdnase mystery and that he felt the evidence for Edward Gallaway being Erdnase was overwhelming. He mentioned that he had written a book about it. I proceeded to obtain the book, The Cardsharp and his Book, and read it. Although the section on forensic studies of the language used is difficult to wade through at first, and necessarily so, in the end is convincing when you understand how the science works.
There are other aspects of the book that are of a different nature, and to me, they were even more visceral and compelling in a down-to-earth way. I'm referring to the biographical facts about the man in question. He is fluent in German and English and wrote for German-American newspapers and English-speaking newspapers.
He also worked in the printing industry. He took time off to travel and gamble and he took time off to perform magic in a circus. Both activities put a deck of cards in his hands for both gambling at poker and doing magic. Interestingly, concerning printing, he worked for the company that printed the Erdnase book! In a book on printing that he wrote, there are photos where you can see the same unusual hands which we see what are surely tracings of, in the Expert. There are art experts who feel that the illustrations in Erdnase are done from photos. Also, in a book on printing, Edward Gallaway is seen doing card manipulations with thin 4" rulers found in printing schools.
Returning to writing, Gallaway wrote newspaper stories about poker games which were compiled into a book called Jack Pots: Stories of the Great American Game. The book was written, supposedly, by Eugene Edwards, which is a pseudonym of Gallaway's. In it, you find out how he got to know so much about poker from traveling and gambling. And, you see what a great writer he was. This is not a textbook. It is a storybook and has humor irony and pathos and fascinating uses of interesting words and dialects. Houdini's copy of Jack Pots is in the Library of Congress complete with his handwritten notes in the margin. Another link to greatness is the fact that Jack Pots is illustrated by Ike Morgan who also illustrated Frank Baum's Wizard of Oz!
Many of the other contenders for the authorship of the Expert have Andrews as their name. Andrews spelled backwards, etc. Well, Gallaway's great aunt was an Andrews, and his favorite author was an Andrew. Getting back to the German language connection, when in Chicago Gallaway lived across from Roterberg's Magic Shop. German magic books and magic apparatus were very good at this time. Gallaway would have been able to read German language magic books. At least 1 trick in Erdnase, The Three Aces trick, is from a German book. There were also at least several books on cheating at cards in German, at this time. After reading these, he probably concluded that he could improve on them, and write in English, but still use them as a blueprint.
Another interesting thing is that Gallaway went to a school growing up that specialized in speed drills for math. This would have helped him with his estimating of the price for a printing job but it would have also have helped when using his original system to run up hands for differing amounts of players and differing amounts of cards. Not everyone could do the math in their heads, but he could.
In conclusion, Erdnase is a nickname for a boy in the German language. Dirty Nose would indicate a boy who was so active outside as to be always a bit dirty. Perhaps Erdnase is actually his childhood nickname. His German language nickname.
More Magic of the Hands
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by George Tokaya (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Wednesday 08 November, 2023)
For my study and interest in the history of magic, Lybrary.com has an excellent database, where you can find almost everything. So five stars.
Zauberkunst und Zauberkünstler
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Gema Navarro
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Tuesday 07 November, 2023)
An interesting book to study and research on the history of magic.
Grandmaster's Opening Laboratory: Chess Openings Course
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Juan Atiles (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Saturday 04 November, 2023)
This course seems to be a wonderful chess one from top-notch GM Igor Smirnov. I love it. I am starting to use it right now.
Bammo Mind Control
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Michael Breggar
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Wednesday 01 November, 2023)
This is fantastic!
Baffling, direct and incredibly powerful. Bob has outdone himself.
And, yes, you’ll elicit screams. Highly recommended.
Six Appeal
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Steven Pellegrino (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Wednesday 01 November, 2023)
This is a fantastic effect! Just watching the demo gave me several presentation ideas. It's easy to do, so all you have to do is concentrate on your presentation.
There is a bit of DIY to make this, but it is simple and within everyone's ability to put together. It took me less than 30 minutes to assemble everything.
While it can be performed anywhere in your show, Six Appeal will be my new opener for my stand-up show. It gives you a chance to interact with multiple audience members without having to get them on stage.
You won't be disappointed with this purchase!
ER Diary
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Patricia Ireland
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Friday 27 October, 2023)
This ER Diary is full of interesting tidbits from the iconic show! These are things one would not know just from watching the series. I suppose the use of pseudonyms is necessary to avoid lawsuits…and many of us can figure out who the cast or crew member is anyway.
Forbidden Wisdom
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Anthony Ward (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Wednesday 25 October, 2023)
I bought this booklet from lybrary.com. The booklet contained some very useful information on psychic reading methods and was well worth the money spent on the purchase. One particular method which I will use teaches how to obtain some one's date of birth. Another was how to do a psychic reading using normal playing cards.
Magic with Giant Cards
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Francesco Nicolo (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Friday 20 October, 2023)
No illustrations. The author provides some tips but the text is too succinct and thus it is not very helpful. I do not recommend it, despite the good rating.
Showmanship for Magicians
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Joseph Stringer (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Thursday 19 October, 2023)
Copperfield has lived an amazing life putting these 3 books to life.
Magic by Misdirection
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Joseph Stringer (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Thursday 19 October, 2023)
Change your magic, give it depth and strength. This trilogy will do that for you!!!
Impossible Ball in Jar
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by David Nethery (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Thursday 19 October, 2023)
This caught my attention because I was looking for a method to pass a ball into a jar or bottle, so on an impulse I took a chance on this trick. It turns out to have some weaknesses. I'm sort of embarrassed that I didn't watch the video several times and more carefully consider those weaknesses before I paid $10 for this single trick (there are whole books with dozens of tricks on Lybrary.com for $10 ... I should have stuck with buying a book). The biggest weakness is that you are required to use a draped table and a hat (although an alternative handling using a change bag is given. If you don't have objections to using a change bag, it is ok.) The author says he has done it just using a suitcase table instead of a draped table.
I can't recommend this trick.