Personal Collection....one year later

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Bill Wheeler
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Personal Collection....one year later

Postby Bill Wheeler » November 18th, 2002, 8:23 am

Its been about a year since Harry Lorayne's "Personal Collection" started to arrive at people's doors. Now that the fuss and hype has died down we can view the book a little more critically. Are people still pleased with the book? Would you have bought the book knowing what you know now?

My own thoughts is that this book isn't required reading. There are a few nice gems in the book, but I think I bought into the hype of this being Mr. Lorayne's last book. There are books that were smaller and of better value for me (like Jim Swain's last book). So what does everyone else think?
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Matthew Field
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Re: Personal Collection....one year later

Postby Matthew Field » November 18th, 2002, 8:55 am

Bill -- I agree with you completely. The book is not horrible, I'll go back to portions of it, but there's a lot a "Apocalypse"-type variations which are unworthy of an expensive book.

It may be, to give Harry the benefit of the doubt, that these are variations he uses, but I agree with you about the value of "Personal Collection" versus the Swain book, or Ackerman's, or Bruce Cervon's "Hard Boiled Card Magic," an underrated book IMHO.

Matt Field

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Re: Personal Collection....one year later

Postby Guest » November 18th, 2002, 1:26 pm

I was among the group that couldn't WAIT for the book. Looking at it objectively, and honestly, it's not what I was expecting and not anywhere near Harry's best. I must say though, that I am a harry Lorayne fan, and if he came out with volume 2, I'd buy it, just because its his.
I used to have all the Swain books and the others that Matt listed, I got rid of all of them, but I did keep the Loranye book. What does this tell you? I have no idea!

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Dustin Stinett
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Re: Personal Collection....one year later

Postby Dustin Stinett » November 18th, 2002, 1:57 pm

Has it been a year already?! Maybe I should read the thing (it's pretty far down my "to read stack").

Dustin

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Re: Personal Collection....one year later

Postby Guest » November 28th, 2002, 3:36 am

Hey guys,
Regarding Personal Collection, I too was eager to receive the book (even lost sleep over it!). Although there are a few gems in it, there are lots of items in it that I would probably never want to do. Reverse Faros and Down Under Deals just aint my cup of tea. Overall, I expected more out of this book. But Harry is a living legend and I love most of his stuff. I still think Close Up Card Magic is a must have for all card lovers!
-Roberto


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