Good book on quite advacned card magic

[Guest]

hi my name is miles and i haven't been doing magic for ages roughly around a year but well anyway. IM quite advanced and know all the basic slegiht of hand and stuff. Well i was wondering because i know quite a lot of the sleight of hand which book would you recommend with lots of tricks.
Thanks, bi

[Mark Collier]

Hi Miles,
Since you already know so much card magic, you might be ready for Royal Road to Card Magic. Check it out. There are some real gems in there if you read it.
Good luck,
Mark

[Harry Lorayne]

Are you serious, Miles93. I've written so many books just for you. HARRY LORAYNE.

[Guest]

With card magic being the most popular branch of magic literally hundreds of excellent books and notes have been published exclusively dealing with card tricks.

You might want to spend a few hours browsing this list with description of contents, author bios and reviews.

Some names you can't go wrong with are Hugard, Braue, Duffie, Racherbaumer, Giobbi, Swiss, Hofzinser, Erdnase, Marlo, Vernon, Jennings, Annemann, etc.

Best,
Chris....

[Guest]

thanks for all your replies it helps a lot. And Harry lorayne i am currently reading your book close up card magic which i think has some excellent tricks in there. Youre a legend man.

[Harry Lorayne]

Hey Miles: What good taste you have! HARRY LORAYNE.

[Guest]

Since I'm a newbie too I can't give too much of an advice, but one.

Anything by Hugard is very hard to understand; just a simple hinge color change took me about an hour of rereading to understand. (Although a very unique wink change) There are just not enough illustrations for the tricks and sleights.

For Royal Road to Card Magic, I never made it pass the 3rd chapter, cause it's so boring! Card college is a way way way better, cause the illustrations is from the magician's point of view. Plus I actually can understand what Robert is saying and do the tricks.

Also I heard that Paul Harris's "Close Up Seduction" got some more unique stuff for cards.

Plus I can't belive how many famous magician actually posts here! Harry Lorayne!!!!! just posted before me!

- Stanley

[Guest]

Did I wake up and accidentally log into the Magic Cafe? Or is it just the haze of my hangover? Oh...the pain.

[Guest]

thanks for the comment "Some guy" i am currently reading card college i finished card college 1 and am now reading volume 2 which i think is a great book.

[Guest]

when i said from some guy i mean some user.

[Guest]

Miles93.
It is certainly refreshing to have a young person such as yourself so interested in magic, and most especially magic books. I hope your interest continues for many, many years to come.
If I may add a little something different to the mix, I just want to pass on a little advice. Don't rush. Take your time. A good book can take weeks or even months to absorb properly. I know it's very tempting to rush through to the next book, especially when your excited, but I hope you will slow down a bit and let the words slowly wash over you. Learning sleights can be easy, but becoming a magician is a life long lesson.
Remember, Vernon studied "Expert at the Card Table" for his entire life.
Again, I congratulate you on your passion. I know that with passion and practice you will find your way through the path of magic.

Gord

[Guest]

thanks for the advice Gord.

[Guest]

Anything by Hugard is very hard to understand; just a simple hinge color change took me about an hour of rereading to understand. (Although a very unique wink change) There are just not enough illustrations for the tricks and sleights.

For Royal Road to Card Magic, I never made it pass the 3rd chapter, cause it's so boring!

Ah, the future of magic is safe. The best way to preserve magic is to actually write it up. Apparently, nobody under the age of 30 can understand this, except Stewart Hooper.

[Richard Kaufman]

I agree with Miles93 that Hugard's books are seriously under-illustrated, and that was one of the things which made my books so popular: the enormous number of illustrations simply makes it much easier to learn the material.
I've always found the position that "people should have to work" to learn material to be elitist and unacceptable to me. They have to work hard enough to master the sleights--forcing them to tear their hair out just to figure out what the text is talking about is baloney.

[Guest]

Miles93,

Another piece of advice, STOP reading the books from cover to cover and start practicing those sleights you are reading about! Just because one reads a book, it doesn't mean you have learned the sleight/effect being described. It takes years and years of practice to do one correctly.

Some friends of mine are surprised everytime I perform an effect with the Faro Shuffle and I have gone thru it step by step with them but they are just unwilling to keep practicing and give up after 2 or 3 minutes of trying. So I have some effects that nobody else will do in and around my area because of magician's 'laziness'.

So get a pack of cards, read a description slowly and carefully, and get to work on it and in no time you will have another effect/sleight at your disposal and ready to fool other people.

Once you have it, open the book again and try another and then another until in about 50 years you have a lot of sleights to fool people with ( ;) if that's what you want ;) ). I would stick with just a few things and practice those until your hands hurt but your heart is satisfied with the results.

Just a piece of advice,
luigimar

[Guest]

Or go a step further and learn amazing card tricks which do not require any sleights. The best collection of such effects is in Giobbi\'s Card College Light .

The audience wouldn't know. For them it is a miracle. Personally I find sleightless or self-working tricks the most advanced form of magic.

Best,
Chris....

[Harry Lorayne]

Interesting, Richie. I've been told many, many, times that illustrations aren't really necessary the way I explain, teach, effects and routines. Illustrations help, of course, but anything should be explainable in just plain prose. And, "self-working" card effects are the most advanced?! I really could write a book on how incredibly wrong that is! Best - HARRY LORAYNE.

[Guest]

And, "self-working" card effects are the most advanced?! I really could write a book on how incredibly wrong that is!

Harry, it's a Zen kind of thing I wouldn't expect you to understand.

Best,
Chris....

[Guest]

Along with any Lorayne title, if you are ready for a "graduate/postdoctoral" level of card magic, think Ed Marlo.

[Guest]

I only hope that I too may become a "quite advanced" card man at some point in the future.

[Harry Lorayne]

Of course I don't understand, Chris - you're just so far above me. Such depth! HARRY LORAYNE.

[Guest]

Before I graduated high school back in the early 60s, I saved up and popped the $10 for Harry's book, Close Up Card Magic. That was a lot of money back then. (Using a website that purports to give current values of historical amounts, what $10 bought in 1962 would require between $65 and $75 today.) It remains one of my favorite books. I've learned and still use the Ambitious Card Routine in my professional work.

It was one of the best purchases I've ever made and has given me a tremendous return on my investment.

Thanks again, Harry.

[Guest]

Coming soon from lybrary.com... ;)

[Guest]

I am flattered. Lybrary.com has made it to a level where it is being parodied. That's quite an achievement. The sky is the limit.

Best,
Chris
www.lybrary.com

[Guest]

Isn't that more the Dummy series of books that is being parodied rather than your site?

Or am I missing something?

[Guest]

You can still get a copy of Harry Lorayne's "Close-up Card Magic" for about $20...no doubt the best deal around. I ALWAYS tell people to buy that book first and I have given it to friends as gifts on many occasions.

That's where I learned to do the Faro. Seems simple now and in retrospect Harry provides everything that you need to understand the shuffle. Practice is the key and once you "get it" you will "have it" for the rest of your life.

My advice to the "newbie" ....stop buying stuff until you have really mastered the stuff that you already have. You have two excellent books - Card College and Close Up Card Magic - enough to keep you working for a long time.

Tim Brown