Book(s) of the Year

A place where beginners can participate, ask questions, and post their views. However, beginners typically ask a lot of questions about sources, tricks, books, and so on. In fact, all magicians are interested (or should be) in the provenance of tricks, ideas, and related matters. This department will service these needs.
Bill Mullins
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Book(s) of the Year

Postby Bill Mullins » December 27th, 2019, 4:25 pm

What books did you get this year? Which was your favorite?

Anthony Vinson
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Re: Book(s) of the Year

Postby Anthony Vinson » December 27th, 2019, 6:39 pm

Mike Powers' Tesseract and Scott Robinson's Pure Imagination were standouts for me.

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performer
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Re: Book(s) of the Year

Postby performer » December 27th, 2019, 7:01 pm

I didn't get any new books. I know everything anyway.

MagicbyAlfred
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Re: Book(s) of the Year

Postby MagicbyAlfred » December 27th, 2019, 8:56 pm

Card Dodgery, J.K. Hartman (Vanishing Inc. Magic)
The Uncanny Scot, Ron Wilson (Kaufman & Greenberg)

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erdnasephile
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Re: Book(s) of the Year

Postby erdnasephile » December 27th, 2019, 9:04 pm

Interpreting Magic by David Regal
Magic is my Weed by Steve Spill

(Bill: Does your question pertain to books published in 2019? Are we limited to physical books?)

Jack Shalom
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Re: Book(s) of the Year

Postby Jack Shalom » December 27th, 2019, 10:07 pm

Published this year:

Magic Is My Weed
by Steve Spill
Gerald Deutsch's Perverse Magic: The First Sixteen Years by Gerald Deutsch
Magic For Young Lovers by Andy of The Jerx

Published previously but read this year:
A Book In English by Woody Aragon

Bill Duncan
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Re: Book(s) of the Year

Postby Bill Duncan » December 28th, 2019, 2:14 am

Also Interpreting Magic by David Regal

Philippe Billot
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Re: Book(s) of the Year

Postby Philippe Billot » December 28th, 2019, 8:06 am

I'll Pass by Wesley James

Joe Lyons
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Re: Book(s) of the Year

Postby Joe Lyons » December 28th, 2019, 9:08 am

I’ll include DeLand, though it arrived very late last year.

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Richard Kaufman
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Re: Book(s) of the Year

Postby Richard Kaufman » December 28th, 2019, 11:48 am

The new edition of 52 Lovers by Jose Carroll, published (in English) by Paginas. It hasn't gotten much attention yet, but it's great.
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JHostler
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Re: Book(s) of the Year

Postby JHostler » December 28th, 2019, 1:18 pm

Five years late to the party, but Steve Mayhew's "What Women Want" caught me by surprise. Definitely a case of "don't judge a book by its cover" (which is beyond awful). Great stuff.

As for books published in 2019: Nothing (unless you count DeLand).
"The gnomes' ambition is handicapped by laziness." Adapted from Charles Bukowski, and clearly evident at http://www.gnominal.com

Bill Mullins
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Re: Book(s) of the Year

Postby Bill Mullins » December 28th, 2019, 2:46 pm

erdnasephile wrote:(Bill: Does your question pertain to books published in 2019? Are we limited to physical books?)


Whatever you want to talk about!

I got three new (and old) variants of Erdnase that I didn't already have.

The biggest book I got was Todd Karr's new Annemann book.

And I liked very much the Edward G. Brown book from Andi Gladwin.

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erdnasephile
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Re: Book(s) of the Year

Postby erdnasephile » December 28th, 2019, 6:49 pm

Bill Mullins wrote:
erdnasephile wrote:(Bill: Does your question pertain to books published in 2019? Are we limited to physical books?)


Whatever you want to talk about!

I got three new (and old) variants of Erdnase that I didn't already have.

The biggest book I got was Todd Karr's new Annemann book.

And I liked very much the Edward G. Brown book from Andi Gladwin.


Bill:
I was a little hesitant to order the new edition, since I already own the original. Andi's notes sound great, but if I may ask: would you feel they are worth the $60 all by themselves ?

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erdnasephile
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Re: Book(s) of the Year

Postby erdnasephile » December 28th, 2019, 7:25 pm

Richard Kaufman wrote:The new edition of 52 Lovers by Jose Carroll, published (in English) by Paginas. It hasn't gotten much attention yet, but it's great.


This somehow slipped under my radar. For those of you who missed it as well: https://www.penguinmagic.com/p/S26537

Thanks, Richard!

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Grippo's Wish
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Re: Book(s) of the Year

Postby Grippo's Wish » December 28th, 2019, 10:14 pm

If you don't vote for the DeLand book, you'll see what's going to happen to you

PS: it's a joke

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Re: Book(s) of the Year

Postby Grippo's Wish » December 28th, 2019, 10:16 pm

I purchased in june Roberto Mansilla's (Genii's writer) new book "Cerca". It's in spanish. Very nice.

Bill Mullins
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Re: Book(s) of the Year

Postby Bill Mullins » December 28th, 2019, 10:24 pm

erdnasephile wrote:Bill:
I was a little hesitant to order the new edition, since I already own the original. Andi's notes sound great, but if I may ask: would you feel they are worth the $60 all by themselves?

That's a hard question to answer. I don't know how much of a bibliophile you are. If all you are interested in is information, then I'd say sell the original, and use some of the money you get to buy the new version and pocket the difference.

If the book had been only Andi's notes, but similarly bound and just as nicely produced for the same price, I don't think I would have bought it. Getting Brown's text was part of what I wanted.

I was able to flip through it (at two different conventions) before I bought it and was able to make an informed decision. If you can send me your email address (to amcom*bill at hot*mail dot c*om -- but remove the asterisks), I'll scan and send you a couple pages of Andi's notes so you can see what he's added.

This year, I also got The Magic of Ascanio Vol 1, a copy of the expanded version of Expert Card Technique, and Magic Christian's Top Change book.

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Richard Kaufman
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Re: Book(s) of the Year

Postby Richard Kaufman » December 29th, 2019, 11:43 am

Bill, what "expanded version of Expert Card Technique"?
Magic Christian's Top Change book is great.
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JustinM
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Re: Book(s) of the Year

Postby JustinM » December 29th, 2019, 6:04 pm

Probably the 3rd edition, Richard... Unless there is an actual EXPANDED edition...

Bill Mullins
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Re: Book(s) of the Year

Postby Bill Mullins » December 29th, 2019, 8:13 pm

Justin is correct -- 3rd edition.
(and is there a list of the tricks from Vernon? I've read that they are not credited correctly.)

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Matthew Field
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Re: Book(s) of the Year

Postby Matthew Field » December 30th, 2019, 6:38 am

"The Magic Rainbow" by Juan Tamariz and, of course, Richard's DeLand masterpiece.

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Richard Kaufman
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Re: Book(s) of the Year

Postby Richard Kaufman » December 30th, 2019, 11:54 am

Cervon made a list of the tricks in Expert Card Technique that belong to Vernon and Charlie Miller. I saw it at some point but now cannot remember where. It might be buried in The Castle Notebooks.
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JHostler
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Re: Book(s) of the Year

Postby JHostler » December 30th, 2019, 2:19 pm

FWIW, there was apparently an episode of "Magic Newswire" where Johnny Thompson, Harry Riser and Bob White discussed the Miller/Vernon material in ECT (http://magicnews.libsyn.com/mnw336-redu ... -interview). A few hints can be found here >> https://www.magicana.com/news/blog/take ... r#_ednref3 and here >> https://geniimagazine.com/wiki/index.ph ... _Technique.
"The gnomes' ambition is handicapped by laziness." Adapted from Charles Bukowski, and clearly evident at http://www.gnominal.com


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