Hey guys, I just wanted to thank everybody for their responses to all of my questions, which I know I've been asking a lot of lately. It's just because I love magic THAT much. Just had a practice session with my Fiance and did "Out Of This World" for her and her sister. Like ususal, she turned the first card FACE UP and started it out all wrong. But I said that's ok just do it FACE DOWN. With all the "High end" tricks I have (Extractor, Mystery box, Gecko, Ultimate Ambition 2 and practically everything else) I never saw a reaction like this to a trick. Just WHY is it that the most simple tricks get the best reactions? How much easier can it get than that? They just sat there silent looking at the cards like "what the heck just happened"? Sometimes I'm looking for people to scream and freak out after a magic trick which has happened, but I loved this one. It was like total confusion. Why is it that people are more shocked with the easy ones? I've had Karl Fulves "Self working card tricks" sitting in my draw for years and at the request of you very helpful people have read it cover to cover and I'm getting reactions from that that are equal to reactions from tricks like Tagged, Enlightenment, and all the "Big ones". I've learned over the last year that I was a little too "trick happy" and had an addiction with ordering the "latest and greatest" which I probably have over 200 of these. Not that they aren't good, which they are, but I have 3 suitcases full of mostly gimmicked tricks and I pull a measly book out of my draw that's been sitting there for years and it's like I struck gold.
I also just uncovered these books and was wondering if anyone has a particular trick from ANY of these books that's a favorite of yours.
-The little Giant Encyclopedia of Card and Magic Tricks
-Karl Fulves Self-Working Coin Magic
-J.B. Bobo Modern Coin Magic
-Karl Fulves Self-Working Hankerchief Magic
-Bob Longe 101 card tricks
-Bill Okal Card Magic
-Mark Wilson's Complete Course in Magic
-Karl Fulves Big Book Of Magic. Thanks, Guys, I know I'm a pain in the "you know what"

Many magicians will tell you it is better to spend your money on magic books than on magic tricks. They are indeed a gold mine of knowledge and information.

Since you mention MWCCIM, I'd like to take a moment to gush about it. I've been doing magic for over a year now, and have spent most of my time focused on coins. Lately I've been feeling the need to branch out a little more, which has always been the plan. So for the past few weeks I've been digging through my magic library looking for stuff, and every time I pick up Mark Wilson's book I'm GLUED to it. I immediately grab my cards or spongeballs or whatever and start working. It's all so great, so well explained, so easy and fun to learn. I think that's what drew me to coin magic; I looked through quite a few of the classic books on magic, and Modern Coin Magic was the first one that made me giddy to learn from. That's the thrill I get from learning magic--when work stops being work and starts becoming play. The key to learning I think is to be giddy for the process as much as you are for the result.

Sorry for the ramble. To answer your question, regarding Wilson's book, of what I've learned, the Sucker Torn and Restored Napkin is one that I use often. I haven't even come close to learning even 1% of what's in that monster though. I also think his cups and balls is awesome.

Ethan, no need to apologize for rambiling. I've been rambiling for months on this site. I'm checking out the napkin trick right now. THANKS.

Simple tricks don't ALWAYS get a better reaction, but I think there's one very good reason why they frequently do--they just don't look like complex sleight of hand.

If you can do a simple trick well, and not get caught on the sleights, it looks like real magic. If you do complex sleight of hand, but only of a mediocre quality (forget the people who do it really poorly--they just muddy our analysis), the spectators might not see what it is you're doing, but they'll see (or somehow get a "feeling") that you're doing SOMETHING. It takes a real mastery to make complex sleight of hand look natural, and I think that may be why simple tricks seem to work so much better.

Perhaps, even if the moves are perfect mechanically, the complex work causes the performer to tense up or to behave differently and this tips off the spectators.

I don't find simpler tricks necessarily get a better reaction. What I do find is that it's not always the tricks I find the best ones which get the best reactions. Sometimes the reactions for a trick I find mediocre are great and sometimes the reactions for what I consider to be the most baffling one are only lukewarm. Also it depends on the audience of course.

Modern Coin Magic is a great classic of course, but imho it's not about the tricks (not so modern anymore after over fifty years of development "in the field"), but about learning the basics of coin magic such as palms, vanishes etc. It was my first book on coin magic and I still love it though.