I’ve done Irv’s Red Tape Thumb Tie in my show for a while and have read many other the booklets of his routines. Somehow books that I’m excited to read show up when I’m not in a position to read them for a while. I’ve gotta finish up reading The Bat, which I’m almost done with and have a few projects in the workshop to finish up before I can start this book.
On a flight I read the book Trickanalysing The Magic of David Copperfield. This is a book from 1997 that goes through 20 of David Copperfield’s close up magic routines that he’s done on TV. This book is about the theatrical elements in the routines, not about specific methods.
The first 2/3’s of the book is the author going through and breaking down what’s theatrically happening in the routines. The final third of the book digs more into the author’s definitions of the theatrical devices used and how they could be applied to your magic. Then at the end, there are some worksheets for you to go through your magic and see what you’re using, or could be using.
Honestly, I don’t know how I feel about this book. I didn’t dislike it, however, I’m not in love with it. It was definitely interesting, but I’m not sure how much of the Trickanalysing system that I’ll personally be using. It is always neat to read about someone’s system.
A month of so ago I picked up the book Dynamite In a Small Package by Doc Dixon. It’s lived in my backpack since I bought it and I’ve finally read it. It’s a quick read and a GREAT book!
The book covers five card tricks with a regular deck of cards. Each of the card tricks has a different flavor and are distinctly different tricks. The big thing for this is that each of the tricks was designed for the stage and plays bigger than you average card trick.
The book has a script for the tricks, and Doc does a good job of not only teaching the WHY, but how to apply his thinking to other tricks. I’m a fan of Doc’s stuff, the guy is a worker and has been for years and it shows in his marketed magic stuff.
For $35, this book is a great part of your emergency plan for when the airline loses your luggage!
Last week I was doing a show in Astoria, OR. Whenever I’m in that area I swing by and visit Seth who owns the shop.
It’s really a pitch shop that sells magic tricks to tourists, however they really well stocked with a lot of magic that’s for non-beginners.
When I was there I picked up a Rainbow Deck and a copy of the reprint of the book Mind Myth & Magick by TA Waters. This book when it first came out in the mid 1990’s sold for $60. When I was a teenager working in the magic shop, we had a couple of copies of this book and they took probably a decade to sell. This book wasn’t a hot item at the time. While it is a giant book, $60 was about double what a magic book sold for at that time. Then over the next few decades this book became harder to find with copies selling for over $300! This reprint at $99.95 is a great deal!
The only thing that I don’t like about the book is that I’m taking it on the road with me, and it’s the size of a phone book and I’ll be lugging it around the country in my backpack!
In Portland OR there’s the legendary Powell’s Books. They have new and used books and their magic section always has something of interest to me! Last time I was there I picked up the book Magic in Theory by Peter Lamont and Richard Wiseman.
This book is interesting in that it breaks down magic to step by step actions and explains those actions. I’m only on about page 50, so that’s what I’m getting so far.
This book isn’t specifically written for magicians, so it’s a bit clunky as they try to not reveal methods. I think the book would be better if it was written for magicians, or for non-magicians, but trying to straddle that line I feel makes the book not quite hit as hard as it could. There’s great information in it that’s dumbed down so low that I think magicians would gloss over some of the authors observations.
It’s a good read and a deal at what I paid for it as a used book. So far, it’s worth a peek if you can find a cheap copy!
I finally finished the book Professional Secrets by Geoffrey Durham. I don’t know much about Geoffrey, other than this book has been out of print for a while.
The thing that I liked about this book is that it isn’t just tricks, it’s got some of how he got to the tricks and they why he does them the way that he does them.
It’s laid out in a way that I think is similar to the Tommy Wonder books where it goes essay, trick, essay, trick. I really like that format as it helps you get inside the author’s head a little bit more. It also highlights why some seemingly small changes to a standard trick can make HUGE differences.
This book is selling for a couple hundred bucks on the secondary market, however if you can find a deal on it, you should check it out!
The current book that I’m reading is Professional Secrets by Geoffrey Durham. This book has been mentioned a lot in online magic forums, and I’m glad to have finally gotten a copy of it at a reasonable price!
I’m about 50 pages into the book and one of the things that I like about it is that it’s more than just the tricks. It’s his thinking on performing. One of the tricks he explains is his opener that is really just a handflash device. However he goes on for several pages about his thoughts on opening tricks and opening your show before he gets into the handflash device.
I like that!
Here’s one of my favorite quotes in the book so far:
I 100% agree with this! Those three adjectives; interesting, attractive and unique are very important. I always tell people that it takes work to be interesting onstage. It also takes work to be unique in a relatable way!
So far I’m liking this book and if you can track down this book you’ll probably like it as well!
I finally finished reading Ginosko. This is a fantastic magic book, what I like about it is that it’s not just tricks. The whole back half is advice from other magicians and people in David’s life.
For me the routine from the book that’s worth the price of the book is “Asking the 8 Ball”. It’s a transposition of a selected card with the 8 of the same suit. One of the things that makes this great is how the end of the trick where the actual transposition happens, the audience kinda figures it out on their own. What I mean by that is when we get to the point where I reveal the selected card isn’t where it should be, the audience member automatically reaches down and reveals the transposition with any guidance from me.
It’s really a great moment.
There’s tons of other great material and advice in it. There’s a fun vanishing bottle routine in it, I won’t do the routine, but got me thinking about an idea for the vanishing bottle. The book helping me make a connection to something else is always valuable to me!
Another trick that hits really hard is “Post-it Crane”. This is a cool trick, but I don’t think it’ll really ever end up in my main close up magic set because I don’t have the pocket space for a post it pad and the “gimmick”. When I have done it, it’s been for small groups of about 4 people and it absolutely amazes!
This book is cheap at like $25 and totally worth picking up! I got mine at Misdirections Magic Shop.
Way back in early June when I was performing in San Francisco I visited Misdirections Magic Shop. Joe mentioned the book Ginóskó to me and said it was really good. I picked it up and finally started going through the book.
I’m only on the third trick in the book and so far I like all three!
The first trick is called Check Yo’ Self and is a production of a deck of card, which I think is fun, but I don’t really have the pocket space for it.
Blackjack For Brother John is the second trick is a packet trick that I’m having fun learning, but it’s not the style. I love learning packet tricks, but I don’t do them. The trick uses four cards, has a fun little blackjack theme and is pretty easy to do. If you’re into packet tricks, you’ll like this one.
The third trick is High Five and a Handshake is one that I really like and while it probably won’t make it into my main close up set, it’s something that I’ve been doing since I read it and it fits my style and gets great reactions! The effect is really simple, the two jokers are put in the middle of the deck and they jump to the top and bottom. It’s got a clear cut effect and David’s routine for it is fun!
Based on the first three tricks in the book, I would highly recommend this book! And at $25, if the rest of the book is junk, it’s still worth it!
I’m finally wrapping up reading Charlie Frye‘s magic book Sleightly Absurd. I picked this up at Hocus Pocus in Fresno way back in October when I was visiting their shop.
This book is a fun read and it has a lot of “non traditional” magic book feeling routines in it. The routines have endings to them, which is something that lacks in many magic books by magicians who aren’t out there working. The other thing is that Charlie isn’t a “I do easy stuff so I can concentrate on performing” type of person. He’s doing things with whatever level of difficulty that the trick requires to make the trick the best. Sometimes that’s means hard sleight of hand and sometimes it’s a math principle. I totally respect that approach!
One of the interesting things for me is towards the back of the book there’s Charlie’s approach to Any Card at Any Number. It’s a fairly standard approach where you use a memorized deck and a variety of techniques to get the card at the desired number. He does a great job of breaking down his thought process how determines the best way to go about it and describes many scenarios.
For me the best part is how he calculates the stack number backwards (from the face of the deck).
I had to read that part about half a dozen times for it to make sense for me and once I did, it made total sense! I also figured out a way to get rid of having to remember the pairs, they all all up to 3 or 13, so there’s no memorization of the five pairs, just remembering one rule. This is a game changer for me, it makes the doing the math from the face of the deck insanely easy! This one little thing is worth the price of the book if you use a memorized deck!
This is a great book and totally worth the $75 it sells for!
