I just got my copy of *Art Decko*, Simon Aronson's very large and very lovely brand new book of card magic, the first he's published in 13 years. There's already a thread about it in "Shuffled, Not Stirred," but it should be noted here--especially in light of the fact that only a very small fraction of the book is concerned with mem-deck magic. The book is a complete steal at $50 (Simon doesn't write books for the money), and if you get it from Simon's site (www.simonaronson.com), you get four gaffed cards (that the book tells you how to put to use) for free. (Otherwise you can get the gaffs for $10, if the few tricks that use gaffed cards appeal to you.) I'm biased; I wrote the intro and edited the manuscript, but I think a lot of you will love it.

I really wish I had the money for this book! I'm surprised there hasn't been more talk about it here. Simon Aronson creates some of magic and mentalism's most powerful effects and I'm especially intrigued by David's remark that very little of this book is devoted to memdeck magic. I have everything else Simon Aronson has published and he has actually created a rather large number of effects that are not dependent on memdecks. Well, maybe I'll save my pennies and buy it for myself for Christmas.

Thank you David for the heads up. You are indeed fortunate to have worked with one of magic's greats! I am jealous.

I pre-ordered, but haven't received it yet. Eagerly looking forward to it!

Landmark, you know I respect you and like you, but at this moment, may the fleas of a thousand camels infest your armpits. (That is Vlad being jealous)

What if his armpits are clean shaven?

Fleas do not discriminate

And may the buzzards of Kilimanjaro build a nest in your undershorts.

Received yesterday. Beautiful looking book. Color photos in the end-papers. Will report back later.

I ordered my copy with the gaffs from Simon's website, oh boy, I am excited!

Can someone with the book share their thoughts?

Just got mine today. Will give my first initial thoughts soon enough.

Got mine the other day. Started reading it from the introduction and even though I told myself to go from page 1 to page 323 I couldn't resist the urge to peek into other chapters.

The one thing that I notice is that after getting into reading this you begin to feel Simon is talking to you directly. Maybe it is just me but I wonder if others who have started reading it have felt that also.