Hi,

I just bought some books from Bob Longe and...well I must say that I'm a little disapointed. For example I got "101 Amazing Card Tricks", "The Ultimate Book of card and Magic Tricks" and "The Little Giant Book of Card Tricks". My first impression is that the books are for a beginner and far from the quality of books from Fulves or Scarnes. You still can find some good well known easy self-working tricks like The Piano Trick, Miraskill Simplified or Follow the Leader.

Am I missing something of there is real good gems in these books ?

Mike

Yes Bob Longe books are obviously geared toward the beginner since it's marketed to the general public, but these were among my favorite books when I was getting started in card magic. There are some good items in his books and part of the fun of magic is uncovering these hidden treasures that many have overlooked. It may read dull, but when you find just the right presentation for it that fits, that's when these tricks really come to life!

Bulla,

Do you have some favorites that I could look at and try ?

Try World Revisited and Invisible Deck

Maybe you can share some of your favorites after you go through the book

My own experience is that the Longe books are hit-or-miss. Self-Working Close-Up Card Magic, World's Best Card Tricks and the one he did on Charles Jordan are all superb. But there is also one I have called "Mystifying Card Tricks" which contains only one trick I even bothered to try.

World's Best Card Tricks is the closest to a beginner's book of those I mentioned. It contains Out of This World and a version of Gemini Twins (his version is for two people but could easily be used on one person), and quite frankly if you're interested enogh in card magic to be a member of this forum you probably know most of what's in it. The other two books, however, are worth every penny.

Hmm...that last post has me scratching my head.

You're right, sorry. I meant to imply that two of the books were worth every penny but then up previewing my post I decided that if World's Best Card Tricks came off as too beginner-ish for Phoenix then I wasted his money. I had the post written but then decided to add the caveat that one was for beginners, and didn't change the end, which made it look like I'm giving a positive review to Mystifying Card Tricks, which I'm not. I'll rephrase with apologies:

World's Best Card Tricks is worth every penny for those just starting out or reviewing the basics.
The book on Jordan is worth every penny, period.
I don't recommend Mystifying Card Tricks. At all.

Those are worthy opinions, but what had me scratching my head was the commingling of the Fulves and Longe works. Karl Fulves wrote _Self-Working Close-Up Card Magic_(1995) and _Charles Jordan's Best Card Tricks_(1992). The late Bob Longe, on the other hand, penned _World's Best Card Tricks_(1992) and _Mystifying Card Tricks_1997). Two very different authors with two very different approaches to introducing newcomers to card magic. Both are worthy of study.

Thomas Henry

Oh, man, you're right. The Jordan book was by Fulves. Again, my apologies.

Phoenix, please forget I posted - with the exception of my advice regarding Mystifying Card Tricks. That collection IS by Longe and, despite its low price, just not worth the money.

Thomas, in my intro post a few days back I said I was into card magic years back but had to push the hobby well into the background because of a new family and the responsibities that came with it. Now you see the effects. It has been a long time, but you're right - the authors are entirely different and it's hard to believe I made this mistake. My only guess is that both authors are responsible for inexpensive books that I can find in my local B&N and not have to resort to mail order to buy, but even then it's hardly understandable. Sorry for the confusion.

I am a great fan of beginner's books. Very often you will find that is where the really good stuff is. Far better than the allegedly "advanced" but impractical crap you read about in the books for the supposedly more experienced performer. And for the record I think Bob Longe's books are great! I find them quite readable.

For a while Bob Longe's publisher, Sterling Publishing, was putting out collections that included previously-published chapters by Longe and others. However, the other material tended to be about card games, not card magic. I found one of these recently at a used bookstore, "Card Games and Tricks." For only $1.00 it was a good investment, as it included Longe's excellent instructions on performing the double lift. (OK, not self working). The tricks, however, had all apreared in previous Bob Longe books. These collections were published by "Main Street Books" which is an imprint of Sterling. Be careful that you don't buy a book which contains only material you already have.

His Get Out Of This World was worth the price of the whole book to me. OOTW with a borrowed deck and no setup. And it is amazing just how much entertainment can be had with fairly simple tricks. Yeah, Longe's books are geared to the newbie, but there is some good stuff there.

If you are into stuff like Royal Road or Erdnase, give these Longe books a miss. If you want some basic tricks, they are worth having. In my opinion, anyway.

Patrick

I realise that the thread is a couple of years old, but there is a 'matching' routine in there that is great. I taught my 10 year old niece it for her school talent show and she won! I can't remember the name or which of the two books it was in (hopefully someone who has the books will remind me) as I passed the books on years ago, but the gist of it was you used the glide to allow the spectator to decide if a pair matched or not. It may have a reference to 'pyramids' as the layout involved forming a 4,3,2,1 pyramid with the 10 pairs. It really is a lovely little effect for little or no effort and is a simple introduction to basic sleight of hand, so thought it worthy of a mention!

I think the trick you're talking about is called "E.S.P." from "101 Amazing Card Tricks" - and nice that your niece did well at her show.

I got "101 Amazing Card Tricks" as a gift about ten years ago and didn't do much with it. There's a short version of "Out of this World" that I liked, but using so few cards it's sometimes seems a little too discrepant. But I've been going back over it the past few days and there are at least three or four tricks I now find quite good. "E.S.P." was one of them (though probably much better with actual ESP cards, as per the original if I understand Longe correctly). But quite a cool trick.

"Jack's be Nimble" is a simplified version of the one-eyed Jack sandwich/mystery card trick (Harry Lorayne's trick, I believe, but can't recall his title). Not sleight-free, but simple.

"Quick Location" is another one that stood out. A selection is lost in the deck and the deck spread. The spectator removes any card, say a seven. You spell "s-e-v-e-n" and the selection turns up. Perhaps not an "eye-popper", but is something I may keep in mind.

My favourite is certainly "What's the Name of That Card?". Someone shuffles the deck removes any four spot cards, one of each suit. They select and keep one, and with one quick run through the deck you can tell which card is missing. With a worn-out borrowed deck, this is one I think I'll be doing (as long as the deck is complete).

I will probably refer to self-working books by Fulves more often than this book by Longe, but I do like that Longe includes some basic sleight of hand in his tricks. He actually touches on the B***f P**s in one of the tricks, which seems a little unexpected.

The Karl Fulves books tend to be more consistent in the quality of the tricks he includes.

But there is some very good material in the Bob Longe books, you just need to hunt for it.