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Magician's Bibles

Hammer_of_Thor

Thinker
Hammer_of_Thor
Joined
Mar 16, 2007
Messages
164
I kind of dabble in magic from time to time and I would like to know what people think are the best magic books for each type of magic. I currently own Royal Road to Card Magic, Mark Wilson's book, and a book called Now you see it...

I understand that opinions may vary, but if I wanted to learn

Coin magic
Mentalism
General magic
Close up
Any other types of magic I left out

You can buy only one book to learn each. What book would you buy?

Thanks
 
Hammer_of_Thor said:
I understand that opinions may vary, but if I wanted to learn

Coin magic
Mentalism
General magic
Close up
Any other types of magic I left out
Click to expand...
For coin magic, go Bobo. But I also recommend getting a good video on coin sleights. Sometimes it's just more effective to see it than to read about it.

For mentalism, go Annemann. Some of the patter is dated, but you can adapt many of these effects to the modern day. If you want to look at videos, I recommend the Osterlind videos, which are excellent instructors.
 
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I'll second what Brown said about Bobo.

For Close up get The Dai Vernon book of Magic. Description here:
http://magicref.tripod.com/books/gansonvernon.htm

For cards I'd recommend: Royal Road to Card Magic, Expert Card Technique, The Expert at the Card Table and Card College. Also, anything by Dai Vernon. There's more published about card magic than any other branch. So you have to learn to sort the gems from the junk.

If you'd like some other recommendations on cards or coins, send me a PM.
 
Other types of magic might include rope magic. The Mark Wilson book is pretty good for some basics there. The only rope tricks I do are ones I learned from Wilson.

There are dice tricks, but many people would prefer undergoing root canal to watching a dice trick. And in any event, I have no recommendation on that area.

Handkerchief tricks: Wilson has a few goodies, but his pickings are slim. Sorry, can't recommend a book on this topic.

Same for rubber band tricks. You can get videos of rubber band tricks, though.

Specialized prop tricks (Scotch and soda, thumb tip, shells, sponge balls, cups and balls, linking rings, needles in the mouth...) would probably best be taught by video or in person.

For mentalism, take a look at the Wilson book, but keep in mind one thing: Use the principles he describes, not the routines! His patter stinks, and his routines are childish. But he does give a good description of the one-ahead principle, and you can make Genii cards out of your own business cards and use them for a semi-impromptu mental miracle.
 
I'd somewhat go along with Brown and Piranha. Books I'd recommend to someone fairly new aren't going to be the same books I'd pick for myself if I could only have one (assuming that I still knew everything I know now).

For others I'd probably recommend:

Coin magic- Bobo's
Mentalism- Corinda's Thirteen Steps
General magic- Mark Wilson's Book (The Magic of Michael Ammar also has a lot of variety and would be a good choice for someone with a little experience).
Card Magic- Royal Road is still good, but the Card College series (all 5 volumes) would be better if it was all you could ever buy.

Thirty to 50 years ago it was much easier to declare one book the bible of a specific type of magic (ie- Royal Road for card magic, Tarbell for everything). But 30 to 50 years ago there weren't that many magic books- only a few were published every year. Now there's a few books every month- or even every week. As video/DVD has become more popular in the last 20 years there's a lot of things 'published' on DVD that aren't in any book.

And while many of the old 'bibles' are still good, they are somewhat out of date. New methods, gimmicks, plots, and even effects (although not so many of them) have been created since those books were published.
 
Good afternoon all.
I think the ability to take the old and make it new is what magic is all about. David Blaine does that well. It's not so much the effect. The presentation.
Just my opinion, I could be wrong.
JPK
 
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Other recommendations

Ted Annemann has a great book on mentalism, Practical Mental Magic - and I agree with all the other recommendations. Also, "Our Magic" Maskelyne and Devant would be a great direction to head in magic theory, as well as Magic and Showmanship by Henning Nelms.
 
Well, in my opinion, corindas book really wasn't that great. I used maybe 2 thinks from it in my routines.

I think Annemanns book was better.
 
FM21.105 said:
Well, in my opinion, corindas book really wasn't that great. I used maybe 2 thinks from it in my routines.

I think Annemanns book was better.
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Depends on your goal. If you want to learn a number of effects fairly quickly, and base your magical life simply on those, then Corrinda is unnecessary though it would still be helpful. If you want to get a grounding in the broader aspects of the field so that you can make more informed decisions and prepare yourself for growing as a professional in the field, then Corrinda is almost a must.
 
FM21.105 said:
Well, in my opinion, corindas book really wasn't that great. I used maybe 2 thinks from it in my routines.

I think Annemanns book was better.
Click to expand...

Maybe it was. But Garrette was correct- if your main criteria for judging a book is how many tricks you use from it then you're missing the important parts.

I would say that Maximum Entertainment is one of the most essential books published in the last 20 years for someone who wants to perform magic. You won't use even one trick from it because it doesn't have a single trick in it. Darwin Ortiz' Strong Magic is also an excellent book. But don't buy it for the tricks because there are very few tricks in there and they're only used to illustrate points.
 
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When I buy magic books it is for the tricks, not for advice on presentation. Although presentation is very important IMO. My presentation will always suck. Therefore advice on presenting for me would be like buying polish for a poop.
 
AgeGap said:
When I buy magic books it is for the tricks, not for advice on presentation. Although presentation is very important IMO. My presentation will always suck. Therefore advice on presenting for me would be like buying polish for a poop.
Click to expand...

It's likely your presentation sucks (at least in part) because you don't buy (or read) books with advice on presentation, showmanship, etc. Since you recognize that presentation is very important I don't understand why you'd be satisfied that yours sucks. Likely you already have more books full of tricks than you'll every be able to do well.

Getting some advice on presenting might be more like buying perfume (or deodorant) for poop- it would still be poop but it wouldn't stink so bad.
 
Bob Klase said:
....it would still be poop but it wouldn't stink so bad.
Click to expand...

Laughed at that. Very true. I don't really want to be like a perfumed poop. I am happy being an honest poop.
Lacking real skill, imagination, charisma, originality and the list goes on. I am not cut out to be a performer. I am happy with my collection of tricks. Leave the talented to it.
 
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