|
|
saturnin Special user Montreal, Canada 964 Posts |
Hi fellow magicians,
I would really appreciate if I could have your opinions on all 3 books by Larry Jennings: -Classic Magic of Jennings -Jennings '67 by R. Kaufman -Larry Jennings' Neoclassics by S. Minch Please mention the pros and cons (if any!) and I would really appreciate if you could explain why. And how is the quality of the material inside? Thanks in advance Ronnie Lemieux Montreal Canada
There is no road to happiness,
happiness is the road! |
wsduncan Inner circle Seattle, WA 3619 Posts |
Well, Minch is a friend so I won't comment on that title except to say it's written in his usual excellent style. It's a small title. Get it if you are interested in the tricks.
Classic Magic is full of a ton of great material but Mr. Maxwell isn't the best writer and the production is kind of ugly. The illustrations are great and you can probably learn the tricks from the prose. Get it if you want a ton of tricks or are interested in LJ's take on coin magic. Jenning's '67 is one of Kaufman's best and he understands and can do the real work so there's no doubt that you can learn the material from what he's written. This book has fewer tricks than Classic Magic but it contains a detailed history of the development of Invisible Palm Aces that includes many versions created over the years as Jenning's developed this new classic card effect. There are also a couple of great tips on standard moves that you'll adopt as soon as you read them. If I had to pick one and sell the others, I'd keep Jenning's '67. |
saturnin Special user Montreal, Canada 964 Posts |
Thanks a lot wsduncan,
I really appreciate your comments. Any others out there who want to share their takes on these books???? Thanks in advance. Ronnie Lemieux
There is no road to happiness,
happiness is the road! |
Mark Ennis Inner circle Raleigh, NC 1031 Posts |
He also has a book called "The Cardwright". I think the Classic Magic of Larry Jennings is one of the best books ever written in magic. If you were to pick one book, I would get that one. Larry Jennings had an incredible mind for magic.
ME
|
Chris A. Inner circle AKA Chris A. 1123 Posts |
I've heard all three books are very good.
I've also heard that a lot of Jennings stuff requires that you be seated at a table. I'd sure like to know if that was an accurate assessment.
AKA Chris A.
Keepin' the Funk Alive |
doug brewer V.I.P. 1142 Posts |
You could spend beaucoup hours of your life pouring through Classic. It is a great book. I didn't find the writing that bad, or the layout distracting, so I'm not sure about some of the above related comments. A lot of the material in Classic is cards and coins, and these do NOT require you to be seated. The famous Single Cup and Balls routine does, but I can't think of too many other routines in the book that do. Jennings 67 is a good book, but it is limited in scope, that is, it spends an extraordinary amount of space on a few tricks. I happened to really like this about the book, but if you are looking for trick after trick, you would probably enjoy Classic better. Neoclassics is a small booklet of 3 routines and doesn't really compare to the other two books. You can probably find it pretty cheap used or even at Magicsmith in their clearance section. The tricks are good, so it's probably worth a look-see. All of Jenning's material is worth exploring because of his concise thinking and ingenious plots. Buy them all, dude.
|
Luke Dancy Inner circle Las Vegas 1157 Posts |
I would say if you aren't familiar with Jennings material to get The Classic Magic of Larry Jennings first. More than likely after that you will be grabbing anything you can with his name on it.
Luke Dancy |
Geoff Weber Inner circle Washington DC 1384 Posts |
I have been carrying the Classic Magic of Larry Jennings with me every single day for the last six months. I still have only begun to scratch the surface of what it has to offer. There is a mountain of material in here, some of it is a bit redundant, in that they might offer 5 variations of the same trick, but there is so much in here, that this overlap doesn't make much difference. If you do closeup, you will get some use out of this I guarantee.
|
cardguy Inner circle Queens, New York 1171 Posts |
Classic Magic of LJ is one of my dearest possessions. When I first got it I was introduced into the world of Larry Jennings and his brilliant routines. You will learn a lot from this book...GET IT!
Frank G. a.k.a. Cardguy
|
peterdgr8 New user 94 Posts |
I'm not familiar with the Minch book so I can't comment, although from knowing his other works, I'm sure it's great.
That said, Classic magic is well..classic. The effects I think are all well described and even though some might find fault Maxwell's writing style (I don't by the way) the logic and cleanliness and elegance of Jennings thinking helps you figure out where a move is going to pull off the effect. A great great book. Perhaps the best book to own if you are ever anywhere and someone who upon hearing that you know magic throws a pack of cards in your hands and says, "Show me something." Then you can respond with an effect or two that will them utterly speechless and in awe of you. Jennings '67 goes further and deeper still. With a very well documented, scholarly approach to the mind of Jennings through the evolution of some of the most wonderful card effects ever devised. Kaufman takes you on a journey that you will never regret embarking on. It's at times quite difficult to follow (sometimes making even Maxwell's writings refreshing) but well worth the effort. And, hopefully, some day, Kaufman will deliver on the two other Jennings' tomes he's promised us, "Mr. Jennings takes it easy" and "Mr. Jennings takes it hard." Two pieces, one of which I understand has been completed for sometime but is awaiting Mr. Kaufman's admittedly intense scrutiny and won't release it until, in his mind, it is absolutely perfect (which is why he is soooo good at what he does) and the other still unknown but I gather the material is there for completion. Enjoy. |
mattisdx Inner circle 1614 Posts |
Basically , they kick butt
|
The Magic Cafe Forum Index » » Books, Pamphlets & Lecture Notes » » Need reviews of Larry Jennings books (0 Likes) |
[ Top of Page ] |
All content & postings Copyright © 2001-2024 Steve Brooks. All Rights Reserved. This page was created in 0.02 seconds requiring 5 database queries. |
The views and comments expressed on The Magic Café are not necessarily those of The Magic Café, Steve Brooks, or Steve Brooks Magic. > Privacy Statement < |