Reviews: Read What Others Are Saying: page 49
169 ★★★★★ reviews
120 ★★★★★ reviews
77 ★★★★★ reviews
122 ★★★★★ reviews
Sight Unseen Revelations
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Ronald M Levy
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Monday 13 June, 2016)
Sight Unseen Revelations is a well thought out, well written, and helpfully illustrated book of instructions for doing a stepwise series of four card revelations that build to a climactic fourth revelation. All four need not be done at the same performance. What is amazing is that they are all meant to be done while the performer's eyes are securely covered from behind by a spectator, so that the performer cannot see! It is if the performer does the card revelations while being blind!
These card revelations are interesting enough that they would be entertaining even if the performer could see. Devin has choreographed them into an astounding blindfold card routine, that has a young woman standing behind him covering his eyes at every step, (which is a more secure method of rendering the performer sightless than any blindfold.)
Signature
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Christian Fisanick (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Monday 13 June, 2016)
This is a very good approach to divination of a star sign. The bigger picture principle is the "Powergram," which is an easier and more intuitive way of thinking about and doing a BA. I can see many uses for this by the advanced performer. Steal this now at the introductory price.
Username
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Michael Lyth (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Monday 13 June, 2016)
worth the modern closeup street magician learning and performing
Magical Gospel Lessons
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Michael Lyth (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Monday 13 June, 2016)
For any one wanting to start in gospel magic a excellent reference book. Check other gospel books available on this site too.
Floating Ball Magic
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Michael Lyth (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Monday 13 June, 2016)
A excellent resource of information and ideas on performing the floating ball most of which can be adapted to other items
Signature
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Michael Lyth (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Monday 13 June, 2016)
Used/Performed with great result from spectator and onlookers worth more than the asking price
Complete Guide to Impossible Foldings
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Michael Lyth (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Monday 13 June, 2016)
Excellent Tutorial
Grandpa's Spirit Bottle
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Michael Lyth (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Monday 13 June, 2016)
I have been making impossible bottles for years. Harry Eng was the godfather of impossible bottle making and died in 1996. This work and effect deserves a place in any magicians working library as a excellant basic tutorial and routined effect. I have a bottle with full deck inside with card sticking out of opened top deck inside bottle this is kept back of card facing spectator do a card effect ( Force ) turn bottle around to reveal mismatched chosen card pause cover with silk and remove and spectators chosen card (duplicate is seen protruding out of card case
Train Bricks
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by David Devlin (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Saturday 11 June, 2016)
This is a wonderful collection of mental card magic, most of which is impromptu. "Cardnection" is a perfect trick to perform for couples, and is very easy to do. It has gone straight into my working repertoire. "Creation" (as Stephen Tucker said) alone is worth the price of the download. It is mind-blowing, self-working, and is in my opinion, the finest use of its principle ever created. Get this download now. Do not hesitate. It is worth every penny, especially for "Creation".
The Magician's Guide to the Tarot
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by David Burmeister (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Saturday 11 June, 2016)
Paul Voodini has done it again.
In my opinion this is one of the best ebooks I have seen that explains the meanings of Tarot cards.
I will definitely MEMORIZE ALL the meanings.
The ebook is definitely worth your money.
The effects to use with the Tarot cards aren't bad either.
You can also combine other effects with the Tarot cards out of Magick Manuscript, Syzygy, and Stephen Minchs' THE BOOK of THOTH if you can find it.
This ebook learned well and a routine with Tarot cards that fits your style will come across as the real thing to the spectator.
David Burmeister
Mark of the Devil: Six Slick Routines with a Marked Deck
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by David Burmeister (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Saturday 11 June, 2016)
What can I say?
Paul Voodini has excellent material as far as I can tell.
In his ebook, Mark of the Devil, his effect, SECRETS of the MAYANS is worth it's weight in gold.
There is quite a bit of memorization to do but the effect is tremendous.
You can use a marked deck of cards, a simple card force, or stacked deck etc. with this routine.
My opinion is to but the ebook and go online to find a cheap Mayan coin to do this GREAT effect.
David W. Burmeister
SEIS: Bizarre Mentalism with Marked Cards
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by David Burmeister (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Saturday 11 June, 2016)
This book I would recommend to anyone to do a very simple cold reading.
The effect is called THE FORTUNE TELLERS APPRENTICE.
Instead of using marked cards I combine it with a card stack but it will fool the spectator with any method you use.
The script is excellent and you can elaborate the cold reading if you wish to.
It's simple and to the point!
Beyond Svengali: applying the svengali principle to mentalism
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Christian Fisanick (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Friday 10 June, 2016)
One of the best things about studying mentalism is how creative people make use of old-hat ideas. When I was a teenager, worshipping at the Marlo/Vernon/Erdanse altar, my magician friends and I used to scoff at stuff like the Svengali Deck. Kids' stuff, we said. Look at that goof on TV selling the stupidest magic deck around. That crap fools no one. Everyone knows the secret. It's only for Grandpa to try to entertain the kids at Thanksgiving. No talent needed here. Waste of money. Real magicians have skills--see, look at my blisters and carpal tunnel syndrome because I have spent five hours a day for the past two years working on the classic pass--and don't use gimmicked decks. Then a few years ago, when I started studying mentalism exclusively--leaving behind childish things like trying to perfect an invisible second deal--I went, hey, what's up with these mentalists? Did I just see Luke Jermay fool the living crap out of a roomful of experts using a Franklin Taylor peek deck from the 1940's? How could that be? I also hear that the Psychomatic Deck is used by some of the top mentalists in the business. What's up with that?
What I'm saying is that what was once passe (or perhaps is still passe) can be used to devastating effect. Witness the much-maligned Svengali principle. Read this book, and you'll be a convert to the religion of the old gods. This material is superb, simply superb. It's not TV-hucksterism-garbage-trick-deck stuff. Nor is it old fashioned. It's great mentalism, old techniques in modern, sophisticated routines. I think that it is scary good because of the unexpected uses of the principle. No one expects a world-class mentalist or someone with the crazy skills of Peter Nardi to be using the principle behind millions of decks sold to laypeople. Yet they do--and they kill with it. This ebook was such an enlightening read that I have developed my own variations on these themes. Another well-published, smart mentalist friend of mine agrees with me too. We both love, love, love the Svengali principle and are always trying to figure out new routines. This is a top purchase for your mentalism library (or lybrary).
365
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Christian Fisanick (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Friday 10 June, 2016)
There's an old adage that if you buy a book of effects, and you find one useable one, you've gotten your money's worth. 365 by Scott Xavier clears that low bar because I really liked his PK effect using Laffy Taffy. I will incorporate it into a stage act one day. As for the rest, there are some ho-hum card things, a trick that is outdated because cellphones are not manufactured the same as when the book was written, instructions for using a PK ring (how original), and information on how to accomplish the carny thing of holding fire on the palm of your hand. (Go ahead, work on that if you are brave. You will burn the hell out of yourself at least once. I know that I did.) In other words, this ebook was disappointing, though at $22, it was cheaper than the now almost de rigeur price of $30 for a small book of mentalism effects. But hey, your mileage may vary. You might like some of these things more than I did. One more note: While I give Scott a thumbs up for trying something different, the writing style was really off putting to me. He wrote up each effect from the spectator's perspective, for example, "Scott asked a spectator to select a card..." and "After using his mystical powers, Scott recants a mystical phrase..." Oh brother. A whole book where he is referred to in the third-person makes him sound weird, just like former Vice President Bob Dole, who also spoke about himself in the third-person.
Chris Fisanick says, "Meh to 365."
Mark of the Devil: Six Slick Routines with a Marked Deck
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Christian Fisanick (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Friday 10 June, 2016)
When I got this on a whim, I just chuckled. A marked deck's a marked deck. Once you figure out how to read the markings, what else do you need? This was going to be a nothing read. Then I started reading and immediately realized that that au contraire, any fool mentalist can figure out someone's card with faux-mind reading shenanigans like "I'm seeing a black..no, wait a red card. You are thinking of a red card..." This book has some cool ideas to clothe your naked marked deck routine in. Is it a world beater? No, and unlike Paul Voodini when he was younger, you aren't going to base your entire show on marked deck routines. But this is a solid book with six good routines for a little over a buck each.
The Fleetwood Notes
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Christian Fisanick (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Friday 10 June, 2016)
Marc Paul is one of the world's finest mentalists. He is in that high pantheon with illustrious colleagues like Derren Brown, Max Maven, Richard Osterlind, and Bob Cassidy. But unfortunately, he doesn't write or put out much in the way of instructional material. (His sole DVD, not counting the brilliant live lecture that he did for Penguin, is long out-of-print. If you find it, don't let it go.) So when you see something by him, it's a no-brainer. You get it. Period. No hesitation. No worries about whether it is going to be good or how much it costs. There is always something in any of his writings that will make you stop, sit up in your chair, and say to yourself, "That's freaking great. I've never seen anything like it." Case in point: In The Fleetwood Notes, he explains his take on an old, but brilliant, Jack London effect called "An Almost Perfect Prediction." Now before looking at Marc's stuff, I had completely ignored mentalism effects that relied on mathematics, "mathemagic" effects, if you will. I thought that they were too tansparent, long-winded, and boring. Not any more. London's effect is brilliant but requires either gimmickry or an ability to not screw up mental math when the pressure is on. Marc eliminates both problems because if there's one thing I've seen from Marc is that he will always figure out the simplest, most foolproof way of doing something. (If I could summarize the Marc Paul philosophy, it would be something like, "Why worry about doing a tricky sleight to control a card, a sleight that will require long hours of practice and a lot of praying that you don't get burned in the moment? Just mark the card." And for a pro, there's nothing wrong with that mentality. It's not lazy. It's effective. In fact, that's one of the reasons why he's fantastic.) And the results are stunning in his updated routine called "Summing Up." I'm using it. It's terrific. But there's also a drawing duplication that's great. And more. For the advanced mentalist looking from new stuff, you can't beat The Fleetwood Notes.
Sleightly Mental
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Christian Fisanick (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Thursday 09 June, 2016)
Way too many mentalists--especially those not coming from a straight magic background--overlook the use of sleight of hand in mentalism effects. If you are a good performer, an arsenal of a few good sleights will transform you into a dangerously deceptive performer. Why? Because if you are a proficient mentalist, no one is even thinking that you are using anything close to sleight of hand. That's the stuff of magicians. Bob Cassidy, of course, understands just about everything about mentalism and in this unique work, combining an ebook with some short demonstrative videos, he gives you the tools. And he has selected the small lot of them well. No, you aren't going to be the next Ed Marlo, Ekaterina, or Shin Lim with cards, but you will be able to do some amazing things. For example, I smiled knowingly to myself when I saw that Bob also uses a false shuffle that I learned as a teenager in the 1970's from Henry Hay's obscure but spectacular book, The Amateur Magician's Handbook. (Bob is a huge fan of Hay, which is only fitting; that book boggles my mind every time that I look at it--so very, very good, a lost classic.) With some practice, this is great stuff, particularly for the current generation of mentalists who may not have the grounding in straight magic or learning stuff out of old, classic books. Get $25 together and spend it now. (And while you are at it, buy Hay from here as well for $25.) And, as usual, thank me later.
It's Knot Impossible
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by tommaso percivale (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Wednesday 08 June, 2016)
Well, the price is very low so it's not a big issue but... I already knew this trick and i was looking to transform it into an effect. I hoped to find a fresh routine, something funny, even brilliant but... this is not the case. It's flat and uncharming, something that don't resolve the slightly boring soul of this trick. Even worse: the routine don't have an ending because the author continued with another routine (not showed in the doc).
To me it's like a quick cut and paste of a very old and uninspiring material.
Is this an interesting trick? Yes Is this the best way to learn it? I don't think so.
Encyclopedia of Cigarette Tricks
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Etienne Lorenceau
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Saturday 04 June, 2016)
This is a phenomenal book with great forgotten sleights which can be used for cigarettes, naturally, but also for Penknives, Memory sticks ... and creating new routines that have never be seen before. Instead of working at performing the latest variant of a trick that killed you at a magic club, get this book, change the prop and be the one that fries others at the magic club or private party.
Karma Deck Psyclical
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Balasubramanian Chandran (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Friday 27 May, 2016)
Stars for rating may get exhausted but the value of Karma Deck seems to be inexhaustible. Psyclical is one more gem in the Karma Deck series. A super cool and easy method combined with some powerful routines makes this an invaluable offering for a stack magician. I could get the method in just a few minutes - just a matter of running it over in my mind a couple of times and that's it. I am happy to be witnessing the fantastic blooming of this extraordinary Karma Deck series. No stack magic enthusiast or practitioner can afford to miss this.
Learn to Recite and Write the Alphabet Upside Down and in Reverse
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Christian Fisanick (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Friday 27 May, 2016)
If you don't have these parlor tricks down cold yet, then download Devin's ebook now! There is another system to learning the alphabet backwards, but this one is better. I am not exaggerating when I tell you that it took me 10 minutes on a rainy Saturday afternoon to learn the recitation part. Writing upside down and backwards took a little longer, but not much, with a little practice. Now both skills are like second nature. When I retire and get around to giving corporate motivational lectures on learning, memory, and intuition, you can rest assured that I'm using Devin's techniques, and they will delight and astonish audiences. This ebook might be the best use of mnemonics that you'll ever see. And it costs a fiver. Come back and thank me later.
Mind Control
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Christian Fisanick (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Friday 27 May, 2016)
Although it is as old as dirt, there isn't a lot of literature on equivoque, an essential, but often poorly handled, mentalism technique. You have Max Maven's seminal work, Docc Hilford's "E'Voque," and this pamphlet, which is not bad, but incomplete. Mark Elsdon, who is more proficient in equivoque than just about anyone around, keeps promising an encyclopedic, definitive work, but so far, it hasn't turned up. If it were me, I'd get UK mentalist Stephen Long's download video "The Art of Equivoque." It's very short, but it's to the point, cheaper than "Mind Control," and Long is a good, humorous lecturer. My equivoque technique is tried-and-true, but he gave me some new subtleties. Check it out.
Positive Thinking
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Christian Fisanick (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Friday 27 May, 2016)
Here's yet another variant on Max Maven's Positive/Negative, this time by Dave Forrest with an instructional video and bonus effects. What can I say other than if you like the Positive/Negative routine, you'll want to see--for $7, you really can't go wrong--Forrest's variation on the "second part" of the method, the reveal. (Those who are familiar with this effect will know that the first part is the same-old, same-old.) Anyway, it uses a really old-hat technique for the MO. But you get a clear video and a couple of bonus effects (which I don't use). It's good, but the same technique is better used in Chris Rawlins's "Kicker Chirp Top" close-up routine in his book Roulette. That's a three-prediction routine with a reveal using a UV penlight that is different and cool.
Heads, I Win. Tails, You Lose!
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Christian Fisanick (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Thursday 26 May, 2016)
Okay, here's another variant on Max Maven's Positive/Negative. It follows the same presentation/techniques as the half-dozen other versions that I have (E + MO, for those in the know), but the reveal is different. And it's not bad. I like Scott Guinn's versions better, but this is an acceptable alternative. Interestingly, Rick Lax uses a similar method for one reveal in his "which hand" routine, Quarterly Report, and Penguin charges a lot more for it. At $5, this is a good purchase if you like Positive/Negative.
Air Writer
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Christian Fisanick (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Thursday 26 May, 2016)
This isn't for every mentalist, but in the right hands, with the right presentation and audience management, it can be amazing. Yes, this ebook is on the pricey side--and if you decide after you buy it that the technique isn't for you, you'll feel burned. I'll try to help you in your decision. First, this isn't for novice or beginning mentalists. This is one of these propless concepts that the top UK mentalists are so good at, something that takes practice and care in performance. You have to have some audience management skills; that is, your spectator has to follow your directions explicitly; otherwise, you have big problems. Also, I think some of the extended ideas in the book are basically unworkable--or at the very least, dicey--in practice. Lastly, it's not 100% foolproof, nor is it going to baffle 100% of the folks 100% of the time. A really astute spectator with a good memory could try it later and with some thought reverse engineer it.
Even with all these caveats, the underlying principles are, quite simply, unique and brilliant. I use air writing for exactly two things. I do a "which hand" routine. I end with being able to say whether the spectator has thought of 0, 1, 2, or 3 coins in his hand. I also can divine a chosen ESP symbol. OK, so I'm not using the principles in the book to their fullest extent, but I have developed a strategy is accurate and one that works well for me.