Best Book Ever Written

[Guest]

I have asked this question to several people and but I am no wondering what you think. What is the best book onmagic ever written? Any book, Magic Theory or Effects; Cards, coins or Mentalism, anything.

[Guest]

Please don't think me rude, but please take such questions back to the Cafe where they belong... :rolleyes:

"The Best" is a matter of personal perspective and what applies to what you study and do. There was a day that I'd tell you that "The Best" such book or series of books were the Tarbell Course followed closely with the Mark Wilson Course and Bill Tarr Books but that was in another lifetime... today I'd tell you that most everything composed by Richard Webster and Bob Cassidy are must read materials followed by Banachek and from there it really depends on the niche within Mentalism or Bizarre work, where you'd go from.

This is true with similar opinions like Who is the best?

What gives us that answer?

I've seen hundreds of magicians good & bad (sadly, mostly bad) but there are but a handful place at the top of the pile; John Calvert, Shimada, Norm Nielson, Billy McComb and if we are to look at those of contemporary times I'd include Lance, Sigfred & Roy, Princess Tenko, Jason Latimere and Cyril from Japan... Who on this list is "the best" .. well, they're all "the best" at what they do and each one is different.

"The Best" simply boils down to what works best for you... I know it's a rather Buddhist way of looking at things ... that was Zen this is Tao... but if you apply it, it really does make sense and more importantly, it don't make you look like a novice posting redundant questions of this ilk. ;)

[Guest]

What's so wrong with being a novice?

[Guest]

Nothing, if you are planning to go into a convent.

But Craig is right. This is the kind of question that we find on the cafe all the time.

You can't define one book, one trick, one performer or one DVD as the best, any more than you can say that one car is the best, one watch is the best, one type of shoe is the best or one hat is the best. So much of it depends on context.

What's the best guitar? Ask that at a guitar show sometime and watch the fights break out.

[Guest]

To even begin to discuss what is the best book, if such thing could ever be possible..
at first it is important to know the parameters:
Best in what?
For the method of writing?
Best for the tricks explained in it?
Best for the theory in it?

There are such parameters that it is impossible to say which book is the best.
And also if one could answer all of the parameters, we remain with the subjective matter!
What is best for Mr.Red, could not be the best for Mr.White.And vice-versa.
So it is the same if someone asked,
which is the best Italian dish:
I would say Pizza.
But another one could say pasta with tomatoes.

In the end i think that the question is bad formulated.
A good formulated one could have been:
"Whcih books you suggest me to begin to study some magic?"
Also in this case the subjective matter plays its part, but i think that with this question formulated in this way, we could arrive better to a little group of books optimal for beginning to study magic.
Bye
Crim

[Jeff Eline]

What's the best guitar? Ask that at a guitar show sometime and watch the fights break out.

That's silly. Everyone knows it's a PRS. Pahleeze!

[Guest]

Magic and Showmanship by Henning Nelms

Gibson ES-335

Best Italian Dish? My wife's pasta and big sauce.

[Matthew Field]

Jamy Ian Swiss discusses his choices of the ten best books ever in the January 2001 issue of Genii.

Matt Field

[Brian Marks]

Elliot, you know you only mention your wife's food as the best is because your from Rockland and you know it will get back to her if you you don't say that.

[Guest]

Lim-Tricks.

[Guest]

The question has no meaning without criteria. Professional's opinions? Amateur's opinions? The answers will be all over the map given the reviewer's experience and education in magic (or lack thereof) and the vagueness of the question.

Refine the question and come back with specific criteria.

[Dustin Stinett]

The best book ever written in magic is Professional Close-up Volume One by Carl Dreher.

Oh, wait: Thats the worst book ever written in magic.

Never mind.

I have no idea what the best book is.

In the mean time, you might want to read my thoughts on taxonomies.

Dustin

PS: I can say with absolute certainty that I am not Dannielynn's father.

[Rick Maue]

The best book ever written? That's easy...

It has to be Webster's Dictionary--after all, it has all the other books in it.


Keep the change,
Rick

[Brian Marks]

The IRS tax code book keeps me up at night. It makes my money disappear better than I do.

[Guest]

The Cafe was brought up a couple of times, why is that? Also I was asking for a professional OPINION. I am very fond of Modern Coin Magic. I was really asking for a person preferance more than anything.

[Guest]

"Best" implies "for" and a context.

For example one might ask what is the best tool to use on my car to remove a 3/4 inch hex nut?

Would you restate your query as a well formed question?

[Dustin Stinett]

Okay, Ill bite:

My personal rave-fave is Greater Magic by John Northern Hilliard.

In fact, you can read my Book of the Month piece on this greatest magic book of all time by clicking HERE.

[Guest]

If you want to stay a hobbyist, read anything you want and follow whatever piques your interest at the moment.

If your goal is to become a successful working professional, that's a different matter entirely.

Restate your question with more precision.

[Guest]

1938 Martin D-28

[Guest]

From Bill Palmer

What's the best guitar? Ask that at a guitar show sometime and watch the fights break out.

That's easy. A Fender Telecaster. Because if a fight does break out, those things are so tough that you could hit a moose with one, and the moose would break first.

[Guest]

Sounds like you guys are being kind of rough with someone who has a legitimate interest in knowing what's best. Not a very warm and welcoming attitude. Lighten up! Though it might be a bit non-specific and subjective, it is great that Student is earnest and has shown interest in our opinions.

That said, it IS a broad question, depending on your interests. I have posted a recommended reading list on my products page to encourage my customers to check out other books. It is an excerpt from my The Book of Secrets.
Recommended Reading (bottom of page)

Hope it serves.

best of luck in your study, Student.
carney

[Guest]

I sincerely appreciate Matt Field mentioning one of my essays about magic books. However, the details are slightly mistaken, so permit me to correct them here.

In the January 2001 issue of Genii, I contributed an 11,000+ word piece entitled "A Millennium of Magical Literature." This was an overview of 400 years of conjuring literature, with the focus weighted toward books that are reasonably available thanks to facsimile reprints and the like.

I have tackled this kind of subject previously from other vantages. In 1987 I wrote a piece called "The Swiss Classics - A Five-Foot Shelf of Magic Books." Following an introductory discussion, I provided a list of 100 recommended titles, sorted by category.

However, I found my self-imposed list of 100 titles to be quite constraining, so I also included a "runners up" list of an addition 100 titles!

This was originally published in my lecture manuscript, "Theories." The current edition, "Theories III," includes an update, circa 2002, which adds another 73 titles published between 1987 and 2002. I have not further expanded the list since that time.

The closest thing I've done to providing a short list of favorite titles is a piece I wrote as part of the original Shattering Illusions essays that ran in Genii in 1993/1994, entitled "Old, New, Borrowed, and Blue." In this essay I proposed a category of books I dubbed "Repertoire Books," which I described as "Neither as objective as a 'Top Ten' to one hundred must-read titles, nor quite as subjective as the studiously avoided Desert Island list, the Repertoire Book falls, no doubt, somewhere in between these two poles. If I had to recommend a handful of titles selected for the express purpose of building a repertoire of effective close-up magic, what books would I chose?"

However, this piece actually contained a running joke -- because while I struggled to deliver a final list of a mere SIX such titles, I still managed to mention a LOT of other favorites along the way, as I ticked off all the books I had to leave out of my final selections.

That essay is of course included in my 2002 book, "Shattering Illusions."

Finally, the Millennium article is included in my CD-ROM collected Genii reviews (1994 - 2000), published by and available from lybrary.com.

Once again, thanks to Matt for the mention of the Millennium overview.

[Richard Kaufman]

I vote for Greater Magic. I could live with that book alone in the middle of the forest for many years.

[Guest]

The Expert at the Card Table by S.W. Erdnase.

[Guest]

I have a telecaster 1963,And I always say they will have to bury me with it because it plays so well & the sound is as sweet as a nut,nobody is going to hit a moose with this Guitar. But I can't argue with a martin D-28.how ever I would like some of the people I respect to give the six books they would save from the fire given a chance, We could start off with Mr Carney (Who plays guitar also )

[Guest]

Id go with John C'S list. I'm happy to say i have at least 75% of the books mentioned, all of which remain the most thumbed volumes in my all to large a library.
:)

[Guest]

Brian Marks wrote:

"Elliot, you know you only mention your wife's food as the best is because your from Rockland and you know it will get back to her if you you don't say that."

I'm not saying nuthin'!

[Guest]

I'll add one that I never see posted, Bob Wagner's Master Notebook of Magic. Every routine is commercial, solid stuff.

Charlie

[Ian Kendall]

I'm surprised noone has mentioned Stars of Magic yet, or the Dai Vernon book of Magic, but the book I find myself returning to most often is Willamson's Wonders. With my black bodied Telecaster on my lap.

I still regret not getting the 68 blonde tele I saw in Denmark Street years ago...

Take care, Ian

[Amos McCormick]

John, thanks for answering his question and getting the discussion back on-topic. I feel for the guy, because there is such a huge amount of material out there, and such a small percentage of it that is really exceptional. I have read your recommendations before, but I enjoyed seeing them again.

[Guest]

While I'm not or ever was a "metal-head", I always liked Iron Maiden. The musicians in that band area very good at what they do. I also liked the fact that both guitarists played lead guitar and one played a fender strat and the other play a gibson les paul. As for books, it's true that it's all based on opinion but I've always like Stars of Magic. Not a big book, but it has a nice sprinkling of material from some of the best magicians of days gone by.

[George Olson]

Hey guys and gals, I've got two of Bob Wagners Notebooks listed right now. It was mentioned a couple of posts back.

GO

[Guest]

Any word from the student about what they seek to gain from a book?

[Guest]

Far be it for me to opine upon what is best for another though an idea comes to mind;

Given our group's tendency to focus upon the "how to" and lose sight of the "what to", one could do worse than...

to read a little about what our craft teaches us to simulate, i.e. magic itself.

Perhaps after learning what magic is "supposed to be" one might make appropriate choices in resources to bring some aspect of that experience into ones venues and to ones audiences.

Just a thought :genii:

[Guest]

I am quite happy with my 1990 Fender Strat Plus, though wouldn't mind owning one of these

[Guest]

The discussion of "the best" in the literature has been going on for well over 75 years -- and it's still fun.

Less attention has been paid, I think, to the question, "what book was instrumental in your decision to become a professional magician, to become an amateur magician, to focus on your specialty in magic, etc.

[Robert Toomer]

This is in reply to magicam. I'am just a hobbiest, but the book that did it for me was Harry Lorayne's Close-up Card Magic. I had other books on card magic before buying that book, oh, about 25years ago, but that was the book for me. Since then I have just about every book that Harry has writen and was an Apocoalypse supcriber for the frist 13 years. That's when I got married, had to cut back???. Hopefully the wife will let me get BOF vol.3 soon. It will be costly what with the exchange rate. Thanks Harry, and all take care :) Robert.

[Guest]

The best book on magic resides on my library shelf and is not available to anyone but me. It details my professional actmy working repertoireall the nuances, bits of business, and presentational refinements that I learned from my mentor, friends, and others as well as insights Ive developed over the decades of performing the material. Since it makes me money, it is the best book on magic.

I presume that many other working professionals have a similar book of their own working repertoires that they guard carefully and consider the best.

[Guest]

Agree with that David. I have two too, and i treasure them.
Book I've read the most is Strong Magic, books I value most are Tommy Wonder's, book I've done most material from is Williamson's wonders.

Guitar that almost made me insane with lust was a Santa Cruz Tony Rice professional model. (Alas I needed the small car more at that time)

[Fred Zimmerman]

I'd like to make a suggestion from a practical point of view.

Many of the classic Magic tomes suggested on this thread only break the surface of great books. There are indeed many fabulous books, all of which deserve their praise.

However, I think we've seen the emergence of a new modern classic - Conjuring,, by Jim Steinmeyer.

I maintain that if you are dedicated to researching, learning, and fully performing the effects Jim has offered, you could build your entire career without purchasing another book on Magic.

Yes, you can say the same for Tarbell, but to a novice, Conjuring will appeal to the modern sensibilities. Other classic books as well offer incredible amounts of wisdom and knowledge, and should certainly be studied, but to the "modern" apprentice, Conjuring not only introduces the student to many of the classic plots (classic because they've withstood the test of time), but also puts a contemporary spin on them, offering an understandable and relevant path to the modern performance of Magic.

I would, of course, hope that the material in the book would inspire the reader to look beyond, study the history of Magic, and ultimately forge his/her own path. And I think the wisdom Jim offers in this book allows for this.

So, with a hearty bow to the pantheon of classic books on Magic--books that are deserving of full praise of study--I suggest that this novice purchase Conjuring, so that he may be put on a very clean and fruitful path to a successful and satisfying life in magic.

Fred Zimmerman