Hello everyone!

I was hoping, could someone tell me is there a good book on card sleights that has "Photo" illustrated pictures in it, instead of line drawings. It would be nice if the book contained most of the basic sleights in it, however if it has basic and intermediate sleights in it, that would be even better.

I recently purchased card college vol. 1-5 and I am haveing a difficult time understanding some of the sleights taught in the book. Someone told me to get RRTCM which I did. I found the illustrations to be somewhat better than CC, but only barely.

I am considering purchasing Daryl's Enclycopedia of Card Sleights vol. 1-8 DVD's, however if I can find a book on sleights with a little better illustrations in it, I could use it to assist me in going thru the Card College Books if I am ever having trouble understanding a particular sleight.

Thanks to anyone who can help me.

Brad

Jon Racherbaumer - Card Finesse II ...but this is more of an intermediate book, its full of sleights with photos of how it's done.

I'm not sure if there is such a book for beginners. Usually the one's that I have seen are all line drawings in them, not photos.

Dary's Encyclopedia of Card sleights is an excellent choice if you have some difficulty in reading the instructions on how to do the sleights. I think the combination of the Card College books with the dvd's are enough to help you.

Try The Card Magic Of Paul LePaul

You might try "Counts, Cuts, Moves & Sublety" by Jerry Mentzer to learn some of the more common moves...Very inexpensive book also.
Rennie

Photos are more difficult to learn from than drawings. With drawings, you can make fingers transperent, enhance certain areas for clarity etc. Photos are just a snapshot of a hand.

The reason why so many of the acclaimed card books has drawing is, that it's simply the best way to illustrate card moves.

So - in other words - if you're having difficulties it's probably not due to the drawings, but something else.

SpareribsQ,

Thank you for the suggestions. I just ordered Card Finesse II. It looks really good. I can't wait to get it. Yeah, for me, for some reason, I do tend to learn better if I can see a trick being performed. I did want the books however, so that I could always quickly go back and look something up if I needed to, as a refresher or something. I think I am probably going to go ahead and get Daryl's Encyclopedia of Card Sleights Vol.1-8 also. I was trying to decide if Richard Kaufman's "Basic Basic Card Technique" and "The Pass" dvds might be a little easier to start with. What do you think about that? Have you seen Richards dvds?

Papa G. Thank you for your suggestion. I just ordered it. I know, I probably am getting too much material all at once. But I think the photo illustrations will help me to understand the sleights a little better. Even if I have to hold it up while going thru my card college books, if it helps me then I'll never be sorry getting it. Thanks again.

Rennie,
(another californian)
that's looks exactly like what I have been looking for. Thanks so much for the suggestion. I found it online along with Basic Skill. I ordered both of them.

broothal,
(Christian)
You are so right. I didn't even really think about that. Gosh, that really puts things into proper perspective. I am looking at my card college right now. I don't know, I think for me at least, I was (am) still having a little bit of trouble with some of the line drawing illustrations. I don't know, I guess they are a little vague to me if I don't know the sleight at all and am reading about it for the first time. I think spareribQ said it best. I may learn better if I can first watch the trick or effect (sleight) being performed and then I will be able to go ahead and read in Card College or any other card book and then completely understand everything the writer intended for me to learn. The subtleties ect... But I have to thank you because I really wasn't even considering what you said and now that I know how to approach learning from a line drawing illustrated book, I may be able to learn it easier than before so thank you very much.

Thanks to all of your help so much! This really is so great! I was having such a hard time and was a little disappointed and now I have whole new outlook on the whole thing. Thanks again so much.

Brad

Brad,

David Solomon's book SOLOMON'S MIND, written by Eugene Burger, might be just the item you are looking for. Although somewhat criticized for leaning a bit towards gaffed cards, there are certainly enough non-gaffed items in that tome to keep you quite busy.

A companion DVD teaching many of the card effects in the book is also available if you enjoy seeing the timing on effects after struggling with them in print.

Also, take a gander at David Regal's last three books, when you next visit a well stocked magic store. Wonderful, sublime, magic in these volumes. You simply cannot go wrong studying Mr. Regal's wonderful thinking on magical effects.

Good Luck and enjoy your discoveries!

Pal Gene

Littlethumbtip,

Thanks. I found the Solomon's Mind DVD and am still looking for the book.
Could you tell me what the names of the David Regal Books are? I want to be sure I am looking for the right books. Thanks for helping me.

Brad

You might want to check out lybrary.com's version of Card College v.1-2. There are videos that show the moves - there's a sample at the site so you can see if you like it.

Law,

Thanks for the suggestion. I saw they had "Secrets" by U.F. Grant as well as Tarbells Complete Course in Magic. The demo clips you mentioned are pretty great!
Thanks again for the help. I really appreciate everyones help. You guys are really great!

Thanks so much!
Brad

Littlethumbtip,

Thanks. I found the Solomon's Mind DVD and am still looking for the book.
Could you tell me what the names of the David Regal Books are? I want to be sure I am looking for the right books. Thanks for helping me.

Brad

I was wondering also, could anyone tell me a good book or two that has some good card tricks in it. I read the books mentioned under the "new To Magic" section, under the "Recommended Books for Beginners" section and have ordered some of them, but I am curious, out of any of the beginner type of card books, which book or books has the best tricks in them. I can only say that I really like a trick by Peter Eggink called "Your Card" and I would like to learn a trick called "Triumph" and "Red Hot Mama" as well as maybe a good prediction trick or two. Any ideas?
Thanks in advance.

Brad,
Some of my very favorite magic books.Contain many gems:
1 - The Card Magic of Nick Trost
2 - Up Close & Personal - David Regal
3 - Effortless Card Magic - Peter Duffie
4 - All 8 volumes of The Tarbell Course
5 - All 4 volumes of Apocalypse - Harry Lorayne
6 - The Jinx - Ted Annemann
7 - Greater Magic - John N. Hilliard
If you have these books it will certainly keep you busy. There are still many other classics but just listing some of my personal favorites.
Rennie
P.S. - Where in California are you from ?

Rennie,

Thanks for the Great list! Those sound like really good books. Here the books I have ordered theses books so far:

David Regals books
1. Close-Up and Personal
2. Contsant Fooling vol. 1-2.

Peter Duffie
1. Subtle Miracles

Nick Trost (Still Looking)

Rennie, What do you think about:

Ultimate Secrets of Card Magic by Dai Vernon
Inner Card Trilogy by Dai Vernon

Also, the below link is to a huge list of Peter Duffie Books. Could you tell me which ones you think would be best to get first? Here is the link:

http://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/viewt......orum=110

I'm also trying to decide on the following dvds to start with. Maybe you could let me know what you think about these Rennie. (Ok, in no particular order):

Dai Vernons Revelations 8 vol.dvd package
Daryl's Encyclopedia of Card Sleights vol. 1-8
Easy To Master Card Miracles vol 1.9 by Michael Ammar

Which of these do you think I should get? I realize some are focused on sleights that also have card effects on the dvds. Anyway, I would appreciate your thoughts on this as well.

Thanks Rennie!
Brad

Oh btw, I'm from Cottonwood, CA. Just south of Redding, CA. Have you ever been up this way? It's been a while since I was in San, Jose. When I was a kid, my mom used to take us to Santa's Village and Lost World. You ever been there? hehehe The board walk? Aptos was actually the beach we would go to every summer. (No undertow). Wow, you brought back some great memories. Thanks!

Brad,

If you are into learning sleights first, then get Daryl's Encyclopedia of Card sleights on dvd. its a huge set with a lot of information to digest in one sitting. with these dvd's, you will have an arsenal of sleight's to which you can perform a great many magic tricks. but he doesn't go into teaching the classic pass since he states its a difficult thing to learn on video.

I have some the Easy to Master Card Miracles as well and they are perfect for when you want to actually perform tricks. they are great, I would get them as well. you do learn some sleights here as well like the Emsley count as also taught in the Daryl dvd's.

I think last would be the Vernon's Revelations since they are more of how to of magic. you get a great wealth of information of tricks and sleights.

but when you can, over time , get them all. I don't have them all, but gradually I will.

The On the Pass dvd by Richard Kaufman is a good source to learn the classic pass. but he does go pretty fast on its execution, since he teaches several versions of passes. but coupled with the Card College books the pass is easier to understand.

since you are a visual person , it always helps when you actually see how a certain sleight is performed. so these dvd's in conjunction with the Card College books will go a long way on your skill learning ability.

I'm not at home now, but isn't the Complete Illustrated Book of Card Magic by Walter Gibson photo illustrated? It's a huge book and sells for less than a DVD at the used dealers.

sam

SpareribsQ,

Would you happen to know what the difference is between the two vernon card books are? Is one of them more focused on tricks and the other one on sleights and if so which book is which?

I just ordered "Basic Basic Card Technique" and "On The Pass" by Richard Kaufman.
Thanks for the suggestions.

Thanks for all the help!


Steven,

I found a copy of the Complete Illustrated Book of Card Magic by Walter Gibson online at a pretty good price I think. It was $22.00. It is hardbound 470 pages with Photo Illustrations as you mentioned. Thanks for the help.

Brad

Brad,
You have quite a forum going here. As for the Duffie books, the only one I have is Effortless Card Magic and it appears to be the best.As for the Vernon books they are a must have, but not my favorites.The Trost book is the best for card magic using sublety and virtually no sleights (this is my favorite card book). I also like Ammars Easy to Master series .Daryl's dvd's are great for learning many sleights, however I am more into the Ted Annemann way of thinking "The effect is the important thing, how you achieve it is not". You can learn many sleights but may never use them. If you get Dai Vernon's "Ultimate Secrets of Card Magic" and in the front look under the special thanks, you will see my name listed. I had helped in the publishing of the book for L&L.That is my only claim to fame. Hope these suggestions are helping you.
Rennie
P.S. - Have an idea where you are from, we stayed in Redding on our way to Washington ( Redding is a little "HOT" in the summer ). By the way Santa's Village is long gone. Santa Cruz boardwalk is thriving very well though.

Rennie,

Yeah. Just gettin a little help from everyone. *BG* You know....enter forum....introduce thyself.....and start gettin help. *noddin* *startin to get a complex* hehehe

Hey Rennie, Guess what I ordered? Aww....c'mon Rennie, just try and take a little guess. hey, I accidently wandered off the beaten path a little bit. Now, please don't go and get all mad on me. hehehe I found LORAYNE: THE CLASSIC COLLECTION by Harry Lorayne. The description said,

" “(Omissions, Additions, Decisions, Revisions, Upgradings and Updatings for and of Close-Up Card Magic, Personal Secrets, My Favorite Card Tricks and Deck-Sterity. Plus Bonus: The Epitome Location and Extra Special Bonus: New Stuff!!)”

Its has 442 pages and is photo illustrated. You can take a look at it here:

http://www.qualitymagicbooks.com/?nd=full&key=2566

I had forgotten about that website. I had seen it one time before when I was searching a magic book online. At least you can glimps a few of the pages to get an idea whats inside the book.

Wow, you really helped on the publishing? How kewl! No wonder your so expert. I'm gonna have to keep a close eye on your recommendations from now on! hehehe

Thanks Rennie!

Brad