I've not been able to find a list anywhere on these forums or the internet in general.

Thanks.

"Zamiel's Card" - The magician removes real cards from an invisible deck to find the selection.

"A Three Card Routine" - The audience are entertained and exhausted by the magic antics of three cards.

"Magicall" - The cards become a mobile telephone and the performer calls a helpline to find the selected card.

"Smoke" - A thought-of card disappears from a deck and appears in place of the magician's cigarette.

"Plerophoria" - The spectator fairly shuffles a deck and the magician is able to identify every card and any number removed, with his back turned.

"Perfect Coin Reading" - The performer can tell the denomination and date of a coin held in a spectator's fist without at any point seeing the coin.

"Transformation" - An intimate, metaphorical routine using numerological readings from cards.

Thanks, Scott. That doesn't sound like much for a $40 book. What else is in the book? Theory? Sleights?

I think the book was woth the money. There's a few more effects thrown in as examples but also it's got great ideas and concepts on how to approach tricks.
Some of the tricks contain new sleights. You will need to have a good knowledge of card magic because a lot of the existing sleights used are mentioned without being detailed.

Thanks, magicgeorge. I know basic sleights like double lifts, palming, second/bottom deal, forces, controlling a card (for example, during shuffling) etc. Anything else I should know?

I think Pure Effect needs to be understood not as a book of card and coin tricks, but as a statement about how to perform mentalism. The effects included are illustrations of the theories Derren propounds about mentalism. I think without a background in mentalism, one could easily dismiss these effects as unreliable pipe dreams. Indeed, even with a backgournd in mentalism, Derren pushes the envelope with his bold methods, and his stuff will not be for everyone.

That said, if you are clear that the $40 you are spending is not for a handful of effects, but more for an outlook on mentalism, I believe you will find the book is worthwhile.

Jack Shalom

Thanks, landmark. I think I will order this book.

I would easily spend twice as much for a book about strong presentational theory and no tricks as I would for even the best book of tricks. One makes you into a magician, and one teaches you clever things to do with your hands.

'A three card routine' is absolutely brilliant. This chapter is my favourite part of the book.

In Zamiel's card in 'pure effect' cards are removed from an invisible deck. I have read in a review that on his lecture tape 'the devil's plaything' zamiel's card ends with the card turning into rose petals! Can anyone confirm this?

Yes, on the Devil's Picturebook there is Zamiel's Rose, which utilises the same slegiht as with Zamiel's card, but a slightly altered effect.

BTW, If you buy this book for its card/coin effects you will learn nothing. It should be treated as a book on theory. If not, you will be very dissapointed.