The Genii Forum

When is Max Maven going to publish this book?

Any info

thanks

Even the publisher, Stephen Minch, does not yet know when the manuscript will be delivered. I'm sure you'll see ads for it when publication draws near.

Isn't this "REDIVIDER?"

Originally posted by Philemon:
Isn't this "REDIVIDER?"

No, Redivider is based on the "Stay Stack" principal. It's the palindrome concept that is used, not Gilbreath.

For $15, Redivider is a damn fine investment that makes for some really fun reading. :)

What is the Palindrome Concept?

Originally posted by Mark Tams:
What is the Palindrome Concept?

If you think of a Stay Stack arrangement, you pretty much have it. The stack is comprised of a mirrored arrangement of cards, where the first card is paired with the last card, the next to the first with the next to the last, and so on. Hence, the palindrome. As is typical of Phil, his explorations into what this principle has to offer are highly intriguing. In the effects and ideas here (dealing overall with packets of cards), some work with an arrangement of cards that are palindromic by value (where a black ace, for instance, is mirrored by another black ace), and others by position (where each palindromic pair totals a specific number). Several of the effects, particularly the last one in the book, are very strong.

It's a book worth getting, and Mr. Goldstein writes with a very friendly and appealing style. His humor is warm, and the entire booklet is a reading experience that's both pleasing and very educational (in more ways that oneor twoor six).

Andit's only $15. What a deal!

Cheers,

Lance :)

Thanks so much Lance! Much appreciated! :) :)

At Max's lecture in Helsinki he told us that the book will appear in (the beginning of?) 2004!

/Goran

The book should be, without a doubt, a work of "terrifying beauty".

Originally posted by wert:

Originally posted by Philemon:
[b]Isn't this "REDIVIDER?"

No, Redivider is based on the "Stay Stack" principal. It's the palindrome concept that is used, not Gilbreath.

For $15, Redivider is a damn fine investment that makes for some really fun reading. :) [/b]

Also on the cover of REDIVIDER you can read in small letters; (No, not that principle, but a good one nonetheless.)

/Goran

There's some nice stay stack work in The Complete Walton using Faros...

Hello,

did i miss this? or is this something thats still being made?

i'm fairly new to gilbreath but totally captivated by it.

thanks,

Sam

No update about the publication of this book as far as I know.

Who is Phil?

Phil Goldstein. Maven published Redivider with that name.

Im going to throw caution to the wind and guess that Jonathan was cracking wise since he knows that Max has not answered to Phil in the many decades he has known him.

I believe that it was with the republication of the Color Series under the title Prism (Hermetic Press, 2005) that Max stopped using Phil Goldstein on his (many) published works.

Dustin

You are a wise man.

Who is Max Maven?

I suspected that. Was so 'extrange' Jonathan asked it :P

Just wanted to mention, until the Maven work is out, there's a very interesting essay on this principle (unifying the "two" principles) in Woody Aragon's "A Book in English".

Curtis Kam wrote:Just wanted to mention, until the Maven work is out, there's a very interesting essay on this principle (unifying the "two" principles) in Woody Aragon's "A Book in English".

There is also a nice chapter on it in Persi Diaconis' new book, Magical Mathematics, which includes his sleight-free handling of Herb Zarrow and Ron Wohl's U-Shuffle Poker. He also proves an "Ultimate Gilbreath Principle" and points out a connection between the Gilbreath Principles and the Mandelbrot set. Great book!

Dustin Stinett wrote:I believe that it was with the republication of the Color Series under the title Prism (Hermetic Press, 2005) that Max stopped using Phil Goldstein on his (many) published works.

In the 1980's, at a time when I had not yet discovered Max's writing, I was in Magicland in Tokyo when a striking looking Westerner walked in speaking Japanese. I looked at the pictures on the wall above him and assumed this must be someone named Max Maven until I looked at the side wall and saw a very similar picture with the name Phil Goldstein on it. I was not sure which of the two people this was until I heard some of the young guys in the shop commenting on the strange conversation where Max-san was speaking Japanese and Siyoshi(?) was speaking English. Then I knew. Of course, in South-East Asia, where some people copy everything, I have seen the same striking look on Asians.

There is also a whole chapter on the subject in Magical Mathematics.

Sorry Richard, I missed your post. West and I went to Joan Lawton's Christmas dinner, so I was befuddled by food.

I like Redivider, it sounds as though this book has been shelved?

I believe that it will now be published by H&R, who are working with Norman Gilbreath.

This year, I have talked with Norman and with Charlie Randall, and Norman's book is being edited and should be published by H and R by the end of the year.

Great news! I look forward to reading it!

To what extent is Max involved?

Or is Max's long-anticipated opus on the Gilbreath Principle a different book from Norman's book?

(Whatever the configuration of authors, this is exciting news.)

I believe that Norman Gilbreath's book will in fact be out this year, or early next year.

So apparently the Max Maven book is not happening.

Shame.

I have spent a lot of time playing with this principle over the years. Here are some nice ideas for those who have an interest in this area.

1) Martin Gardner idea. Have a deck of 52 playing cards. And another deck of 52 playing cards (this deck is in reverse order to the first deck). Riffle shuffle the two decks together (you are left with a deck of 104 cards). And cut exactly in half. You will be left with two decks of 52 different cards. I think there is something very elegant about this idea - but I am not sure how to turn it into a trick.

2) Check out GAME LAW in the second volume of 'The Complete Walton' – This is very interesting. It is the only trick using the Gilbreath Principle I have seen where the spectator can give the deck two riffle shuffles.

3) Colm Mulcahy is an excellent writer on mathematical magic. He is a superb inventor as well. Here he covers a new twist to the Gilbreath principle that Leo Boudreau came up with. It is called The Bligreath Principle:

http://www.maa.org/external_archive/columns/colm/cardcolm200908.html

4) Take a deck of cards and order them in red/black order:

RED/BLACK/RED/BLACK… etc.

You then take the top card (a RED card) and insert the card anywhere into the deck. A nice way of doing this is to spread the cards face-down on the table and have the spectator insert the FACE UP red card anywhere they want.

You then tell the spectator you will deal off a pair of cards at a time. If the FACE UP red card in the pair is with another red card. He wins. If it is with a black card – you win. Thanks to Mr Gilbreath you will always win this bet.

5) A nice idea (not mine) to set up for Gilbreath effects is the following:

1) Have a deck shuffled - or use a borrowed shuffled deck.

2) Run through the cards and say that you need to remove some cards at random.

3) As you go through the cards, you throw out all the red and black cards which interrupt the red/black pattern running through the deck. So - you are basically throwing out the cards which are not already in red/black order.

4) You will be left with a pile of cards - face up on the table. They will be in a mixed up order and this helps make everything seem fair.

5) The pile that is left in your hands is now (secretly) in red/black/red/black/red/black/red/black etc order.

6) Check out SPLITTING THE DIFFERENCE - it is an application of the Gilbreath Principle to a clever OUT OF THIS WORLD variation by
John Kennedy. It is in the MAY 2005 issue of GENII magazine.

7) Peter Duffie had an unusual Gilbreath effect which he used to give away free on his site. It was called EMIT.

It is a 'Backwards in Time' packet card effect:

1) You have a packet of 20 cards (just ordinary number cards) in RED/BLACK/RED/BLACK etc order. You show the spectator the cards in RED/BLACK/RED/BLACK order. You tell them this is the starting position.

2) You show 4 Aces on top of the packet - and now use a switch-out (such as the Braue Addition?) to switch the 4 Aces for 4 cards in
RED/BLACK/RED/BLACK order.

3) You now insert the 4 RED/BLACK/RED/BLACK (which the spectator believes are Aces) into the packet of cards - making sure the 4 card are well spaced out in the packet.

4) You click your fingers - and say this causes the cards to go back in time a few seconds.

5) Now - show the 4 Aces on top of the packet.

6) Then deal off the cards in the rest of the packet - two cards at a time.

7) Doing so will show pairs of cards in RED/BLACK order (or occasionally BLACK/RED) order. This gives the strong impression that the rest of the cards in the packet are still in RED/BLACK/RED/BLACK order.

Hence the cards have successfully gone back in time!

8) Justin Branch has a rare manuscript detailing a riffle shuffle principle he discovered. I no longer have the manuscript. But I do have a copy of an advert for it I once saved:

'POKER PREDICTION—A PRINCIPLE & ITS PRACTICALITIES' by Justin Branch (Author's publication; £2 or $4 ($5 air mail)).

This manuscript comprises six A4 size typewritten pages with backing and tinted translucent cover. Three pages expound the initial theory based on a 6 sequence riffle stack, an expansion of a J. G Thompson idea in a Karl Fulves book. Page 4 comprises 'Ultimate Six Card Prediction,' a no skill effect, where a spectator shuffles the 24-card pack and deals 4 special poker hands. One hand is selected, two cards discarded in a pocket and the remaining 4-card hand is as predicted. In addition, the performer may name the two pocketed cards. An extra page is included for those who want to delve deeper.

9) Check out Stewart James's rediscovery of the Gilbreath Principle. See 'Package Deal' on page 1089 of Book Two of The James File.

10) BOCCA DELLA VERITA – Book Two - The James File - Page 2410 – This is an amazing principle. It seems to my brain to be a kind of ‘inversion’ of The Gilbreath Principle. It is incredible that Stewart managed to discover this all the way back in 1928…

2) Check out GAME LAW in the second volume of 'The Complete Walton' – This is very interesting. It is the only trick using the Gilbreath Principle I have seen where the spectator can give the deck two riffle shuffles.

Coincidentally, I just came across Steve Beam's "Done Deal" (S-A #3) today, and it, too, allows for two riffles.

Interesting!

Thanks for that, Jack.

Also - it is interesting to note that a precursor to the Gilbreath principle appears in Rusduck's 'The Cardiste' magazine:

http://archive.denisbehr.de/show.php?book=631&highlight=35411

Karl Fulves in his booklet called 'Origins' details his early unpublished ideas which were also a precursor to the Gilbreath principle.

Joe Mckay wrote:4) Take a deck of cards and order them in red/black order:

RED/BLACK/RED/BLACK… etc.

You then take the top card (a RED card) and insert the card anywhere into the deck. A nice way of doing this is to spread the cards face-down on the table and have the spectator insert the FACE UP red card anywhere they want.

You then tell the spectator you will deal off a pair of cards at a time. If the FACE UP red card in the pair is with another red card. He wins. If it is with a black card – you win. Thanks to Mr Gilbreath you will always win this bet.

Published by Roberto Giobbi in his column in Genii Oct 2007.

This is the Omega Bet.

Originally a Karl Fulves idea. But then Bob Wagner varied it and made it popular.

In his Master Notebook, Bob Wagner published as his own a full trick of Brian Glover's, taken word for word from its original publication in Abra.

Joe McCay writes: "So apparently the Max Maven book is not happening."

On what do you base this statement?

On what I wrote earlier in this thread, so you can blame me.

Not this thread, the Unicorn Magic Book thread.