I've only been studying card magic for about six months. I purchased Arthur Buckley's "Card Control",1946, and am having a bit of trouble with it.

Most of the sleights and tricks (or "experiments" as he calls them) seem IMPOSSIBLE to do, or are so vaguely written that I can't work out the moves.

I finally mastered the Domico Double Lift, and I like it a lot. I feel as though there is a lot of knowledge to be garnished from this book, but I'm wondering if it's over my head.

Is this a book I should be spending so much time on this early in my studies? Or is it just a bad book?

Also, Arthur Buckley sure has a self-congratulatory tone!!!

This book is not for beginners.

Your best bet is "Royal Road to Card Magic" by Hugard & Braue for a beginner. Then "Expert Card Technique" by the same authors.

I also like "Expert at The Card Table" but again I would not tackle this one at first.

Listen to Jimmy I saw him at the SAM convention and he is a very smart man!

God I wish I could be at least just a 1/3 as good as Jimmy is!

OH yeah this is not a good book to start with. Not only is it difficult stuff but he doesn't give you the foundations, ie. basic sleights.

I have only learned a select few things out of it, and I like those techniques very much.

I have been practicing card magic for about 8 months now and also have the card control book. I am nowhere near ready for most of the stuff in it. Like Jcards01 said get the royal road. It was the first book I ever bought and it has assisted me greatly.

I have heard that the card college books are good but I think they are quite pricey.

Thanks for the input everybody. At least now I don't feel like a COMPLETE flop, just an INEXPERIENCED complete flop!

Okay, I'm gonna go practice false shuffles now.

Everybody is right that book is very hard for a begginer. I know a guy who started with card college. talk about jumping right in. I started with royal road and it made me better for it, and know I still go back to it sometimes to look at different tricks. It might sound dumb but get Mark Wilsons Magic book. It does not have a lot of hard stuff, but who said card magic had to be diffecult to impress a lay audience.

Keep The Magic ALIVE

Tom

Books for me, are not a good source to card magic and handling. I suggest you take the video of ellusionist called

Crash Course In Sleight Of Hand Card Magic

this video is great, everyone recommends this, a very informative video that teaches the best sleights, controls and killer tricks.

here's a link

http://www.ellusionist.com/order/crash1order.htm

I started out with Card College by Giobbi and to be honest it is my bible... it is hard work but it is the BEST BOOK in my opinion.

Asfar as learning from videos I would personally advise staying away from them, in my experience as a performer your own style is vitally important and I found myself mimicking the style of people who I had seen on the video. They are a great tool once you have a distinct style that you can adapt the effects to.

Card College is a must though - 1-4, not 5.

I disagree with learning from videos. They are a great help. Some of the instructions given in books are to hard to follow. I use both myself that way I can read it and see it done. As far as ellusionist is concernd Brad is a friend and he is a good one, but there are better tools out there then his videos. He has put is stuff out there to feed on the David Blaine and Criss Angel factor. What you need is things that are geareed to help you as a magician grow. I find a good mentor and work with him as much as you can. You will be surpirsed how far you will go in a short time.


Tom

I think Royal Road to Card Magic would be really good to look at.

I consider myself fairly new at the art of card manipulations, and I started with Card College vol. 1, Expert Card Technique and Expert at the Card Table.

First impression was that the first was the best of the three, but when I started reading, and not only looking at the pictures, I found the ECT book the best - because of the wide variety of sleigts, techniques and tricks in the book.

The royal road to card magic is great with sleights. So is born to perform card magic, a dvd from penguin magic. If you are a very beginner, I highly reccomend mark wilsons course in magic, which has perfect pictures for every move (the book has thousands of drawings).

Hans

Royal Road, Card College are very good books. Royal Road is kind of old school. I prefer Card College over Royal Road. Royal Road was the first book on card techniques that I purchased. The next was Expert at the Card Table by Erdnase.

Regards,

Gerald Torregosa

I've been slowly working my way through Card Control. Granted, this book is rather advanced, but there really is some killer work in here. If you're feeling a bit overwhelmed with it, put it on the shelf until you're ready for it. But don't get rid of it. There will come a time when it will fit just right in your head.

I again agree totally with dynamiteassasin and disagree totally with magicman6900. For me anyway. I don't need something to grow with. When I need something else, I'll buy it. I don't need a video or book that covers 5 years of card sleight growth as long as it handles maybe 6 mo to a year of growth really well.

I can stare at that magic book all day long but my eyes glaze over quickly. I love books and read lots of them, but magic books that go on for paragraphs with one skimpy drawing from 30 years ago or a couple of photos, even new, doesn't cut it. I need to see somebody doing it. Without any magician I personally know, without a mentor, I need video. And so do many others. Not everyone has a mentor!!! Or even a friend in magic except online!!

I can loop that video over and over, and I don't need one single word to read - I can see it.

Crash Course 1, and also maybe Oz Pearlman's Born to Perform are good to start with. Pass With Care by Cassford will give you a decent pass also - I found it better for my purposes than Kaufman's. And Gregory Wilson's Double Take will give you a good double lift if Crash Course doesn't. Almost all my other books and vids have been put aside and I use these mostly for this first year of "returning to magic" and probably into the next.