Magic Books

Easy Mind-Reading Tricks

Robert Mandelberg

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Excellent beginners books 4 out of 5 stars.
16 of 16 people found this review helpful.

No fancy training required a novice can perform most of the tricks in this book with little trouble and a little practice. Some of the tricks are simply mathematical in nature others require a little trickery but the author is very straight forward about how much skill is required to pull off each of the tricks.

Editorial Review:

Dazzle friends, family, and acquaintances with a series of mind-blowing psychic feats that will have them demanding an encore. Robert Mandelberg--comedian, magician, puzzle master, and author of Mind Reading Card Tricks and Mystifying Mind-Reading Tricks, among others--presents the topic as no one else can. With a distinctively wild and wacky humor, he reveals the secrets to 17 blockbuster mind-reading demonstrations, all with presentation tips and techniques, plus ratings to help would-be mind readers determine which ones are right for them. He also shows how to build an entertaining repertoire--and finish the show with an "earth-shattering, mind-blowing trick."

Mark Wilson's Complete Course in Magic

Mark Wilson

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 52 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

All praise for this is justified 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Many times applauded, this classic for teaching magic is practically unequaled. If you want to learn magic from scratch, this book is what you need.

Mark Wilson's Complete Course in Magic 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This book is wonderful for anyone wanting to learn magic tricks. This book explains how each trick will appear to the audience and then gives very detailed instructions with drawings showing each step. I used the information in the book to teach rope tricks to a bunch of third grade cubscouts. The parents were so impressed with the tricks that they wanted to learn them too.

Editorial Review:

From one of the world's premier practitioners of classic magic, with years of experience instructing younger readers in the magical arts, comes this new revision of his complete guide to learning and performing fantastic feats of prestidigitation. Acclaimed by the Los Angeles Times as "the text that...young magicians swear by," it's full of step-by-step instructions. More than 2,000 illustrations provide the know-how behind 300 techniques, from basic card tricks to advanced levitation, along with advice on planning and staging a professional-quality magic show.

The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation

Ollie Johnston, Frank Thomas

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 63 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Very inspirational... 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

This is a really inspirational book! It takes you through the history of Disney animation and how the founding animators discovered their secrets and modeled their craft. You will learn all about the fundamentals of great animation and how to apply proven techniques to form your skill. It is easy to read and is full of great imagery and references. Highly recommended!

Great Book For Animators! 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Anyone who loves Disney animation and anyone who is learning the process of animation needs to get their hands on this book. It is long, it is detailed, but it is well worth it. This book mainly covers the essential Principles of Animation such as Squash and Stretch, Anticipation, Follow Through, etc. Go get it!

excelent book 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Excellent book

This excellent book is a manual of animation.
Everything about animation you can find on it.

Editorial Review:

An out-of-print collector's item since 1986, the definitive account of the development of Disney animation explains what made Disney's style unique and features original sketches and drawings revealing the origins of Mickey and the rest. National ad/promo.

Klutz Book of Magic (Klutz)

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 15 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

A beginner's only book 3 out of 5 stars.
13 of 15 people found this review helpful.

This book was very helpful. It contains a total of 31 tricks, 10 or 11 of which are actually worth it. This book however does come with one of the best gaggets you need as a magician, this gagget will help you dissapear hankercheifs and etc. when you show themm to an audience. A good book for the begining magician.

Best Magic Book 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

I just became interested in doing magic and this book was absolutely fabulous. Some really great basics and some cool stuff that is unique and very appropriate for beginning magicians. The explanations were clear and I love that it came with the props I needed. I would highly recommend it to anyone who loves magic. I have friends who have been doing magic for years and still find this book fun.

Editorial Review:

Although this is a beginner’s volume, it is not filled with beginner magic. This is real magic and these are real tricks. We had to fight to get them and you, gentle reader, will have to take the Magician’s Won’t-tell Oath on the first page or we won’t let you in the book.

The Wizardology Handbook: A Course for Apprentices (Ologies)

Master Merlin, Dugald A. Steer

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Subjects -> Children's Books -> Literature -> Science Fiction, Fantasy, Mystery & Horror -> Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Magic

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

The ultimate companion to the best-selling WIZARDOLOGY -- an indispensable handbook for would-be wizards everywhere.

Calling all aspiring wizards! Do you know the appropriate tools (including flattery) to have on hand should you encounter a Western wizard? Have you memorized the spell for summoning a unicorn familiar? Can you follow the steps for releasing magical powers in a lump of rock or piece of metal? What role do natural objects and animals play in the mysterious ways of the shaman? From charts to booklets to lessons, from fascinating stories to free-form spells to create on your own, this elaborate workbook contains all the elements needed for transforming the reader into a wizard - worthy of Merlin himself.

Special Features Include:
- A map of the locations of known wizards in the world
- Coding Techniques for means of communicating in secrecy
- A spell-crafting table for young wizards
- Stickers to decorate books of spells, wizard's workshops, robes, magical items, etc.
- Interior spiral binding
- Jewels on the cover
- And much, much more!

The Houdini Box

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Rebirth of Passion 5 out of 5 stars.
8 of 8 people found this review helpful.

When I opened my desk drawer at 7:30 one summer morning to find an annonomously placed copy of "The Houdini Box," I'd no idea that I was connecting with my muse. I sat in the serene silence before the stirring of a workday and read through this children's book about the loss and regaining of a dream. As a children's book, it's delightfully written and beautifully illustrated. I know several children who've enjoyed the tale. For adults, Brian Selznick's book is a parable about the obstacles that turn us from our passions and the serendipitous moments that call us back on track.

Editorial Review:

Victor is forever trying to escape from locked trunks, walk through walls, and perform any number of Houdini's astonishing magic tricks...without success. Then -- amazingly -- he actually meets his idol, and begs Houdini to explain himself. A mysterious locked box is the magician's only answer, and Victor is left to wonder: Does the box contain the secrets to the most famous magic tricks ever performed?

Coin Magic

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

The BEST Coin-Magic Book 5 out of 5 stars.
23 of 24 people found this review helpful.

This is the best coin-magic book I have ever read. The tricks are ridiculusly simple, but the audience remains mysified, and the text is absolutly hilarious. Within less than a day I was able to do at least three tricks. In fact, when I did them in front of my family, the tricks looked pretty impressive - even if I do say so myself. Next time I'll charge 'em. I'd recommend this book to any one, any age, who likes to astound their friends, family, or even their worst enemy.

A must-have for kids and magicians alike! 5 out of 5 stars.
20 of 21 people found this review helpful.

Even if the cool double-sided quarter hadn't been included with the book, the book would still be great. This book shows how to palm a coin, do a Bobo Pass, a French drop, and more! Anyone who wants to be a magician, get attention, or just have fun will love this book. The equipment is easy to obtain and the instructions are easy to follow. IT IS A GREAT BOOK!

Editorial Review:

Klutz Puzzle your friends and baffle your enemies with 24 coin tricks we should never give away! Complete with a real double headed quarter. You will never lose another coin toss in your life. Not intended for children under 6 years.

Harry Houdini (DK Biography)

Vicki Cobb

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

The life of Harry Houdini, the world famous "master mystifier" 5 out of 5 stars.
11 of 12 people found this review helpful.

This DK Biography of Harry Houdini is described as "A photographic story of a life," but I can tell you up front that it is not a collection of photographs with captions but an illustrated biography that is comparable to other volumes put out by this company. That means you will find over 100 photographs, artwork and artifacts, including photograph of his famous escapes, posters from throughout his career, and a look at things like his collection of handcuffs. For somebody like me who knows most of what they know about Houdini from the movie with Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh (and whatever television documentaries I might stumble across from time to time), this book is quite educational. Vicki Cobb tells about the life of Harry Houdini so it reads like an American success story. Born Ehrich Weiss, the kid who will become Harry Houdini leaves home at the age of 12, gets bored working in a factory, and starts practicing coin trips in his spare time. Eventually the son of poor immigrants would be selling out the theaters of Europe as the greatest magician and escape artist in the world.

To set the stage for Houdini's life, Cobb begins with a prologue, "Failure Means a Drowning Death," that talks about his performance in St. Louis, Missouri, on January 27, 1908. Having escaped from the local police station the day before, Houdini performs his "Death-Defying Mystery: Escape from a galvanized iron can filled with water and secured by massive locks." By the time you get to the part where you wonder how he did it, Cobb has you interested in how Houdini became the greatest magician of all time. Then we get to the fact of his life, with the early chapter devoted to how the Weiss family came to America, what Show Business was like in the 1890s when Weiss got started, and how the young Houdini learned his trade as a magician and taking his name from Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin, his hero.

Cobb pays attention to how Houdini developed his career and you should pay attention to all of the posters that document his career: they start off with lots of text and hyperbole, but by the time he becomes famous as the "master mystifier" basically he just needed "HOUDINI" in large print. So Houdini goes from "Dime Museum Harry," to "The King of Handcuffs" and then the "Self-Liberator" who conquered Europe at the end of the century. Cobb highlights a quotation from Houdini: "The whole secret is getting the first hand free; after that it is all plain sailing." The glory days of Houdini cover him as a great self-promoter, but also pay attention to his family and his work as a scholar and author in the field of magic.

The final chapters looked at how Houdini started taking risks to come up with bigger thrills for his audiences by doing dangerous things like jumping into rivers and flying an airplane. This goes hand in hand with his great creativity (we get to the Water Torture Cell from the end of the movie "Houdini" at this point). The last stage of Houdini's career deals with not only his death defying feats, but also his debunking of mediums ("The Dead Don't Talk"), which became part of his legacy when he died on Halloween in 1926 from a ruptured appendix. Houdini had told his wife that if it were possible to speak to her from beyond the grave, he would do so, and for ten years his widow Bess attended seances on Halloween to hear the code they had agreed on as proof she was hearing from him. But it never came.

If you want to know how Houdini did it, then you will be happy to know several of his best-known tricks are explained (but not all of them) in this informative biography. Cobb emphasizes Houdini's showmanship as well as his creativity in being important to the act so young readers can better appreciate the career of somebody they will never see perform. The back of the book has a two-page timeline of key events in Houdini's life, a Bibliography of more than a dozen books, a Works Cited list, and six Webs ties that will provide more information about Houdini as well as a trio of documentaries about the master mystifier (he felt he was more than a magician and therefore favored this appellation).

Editorial Review:

DK¹s acclaimed DK Biography series tackles two of history¹s most colorful figures in Harry Houdini and Albert Einstein. Perfect for book reports or summer reading, the DK Biography series brings a new clarity and narrative voice to history¹s most colorful figures.

World's Best Card Tricks

Bob Longe

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

These are 36 of the greatest impromptu card tricks ever invented. Longe shows you not only how each one works, but also how to put them over, with clear step-by-step instructions and illustrations. A special chapter in the back even explains how to bluff your way through a trick if it goes wrong. Great for kids from eight to eighty. 128 pages, 17 b/w illus., 5 3/8 x 8 1/4.

Escape!: The Story of The Great Houdini

Sid Fleischman

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 11 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

An excellent, lively text makes for a biography perfect for reports. 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Ages 9 and older will find ESCAPE a vivid story of master escape artist and magician Houdini, a man who could walk through brick walls and escape the most impossible circumstances. This biography comes from an author who was a former professional magician himself, and offers stories of how the son of an impoverished rabbi changed himself into the world-known Houdini. An excellent, lively text makes for a biography perfect for reports.

A 2007 Association of Jewish Libraries Notable Book for Older Readers 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Biographies can be dull and plodding, but this one is just the opposite. Partly because of the nature of the subject - the fascinating magician, illusionist, and escape artist Harry Houdini - and partly because of the bright prose of the author, this biography is engaging, humorous, and a pleasure to read. It is full of colorful language like prestidigitator, bamboozler, razzmatazz, razzle-dazzle, ragamuffin, derring-do, braggadocio, boondocks, bunkum, and blunderbuss. It is also infused with the showman's Jewish side, recalling Houdini's birth as Ehrich Weiss to an impoverished but scholarly rabbi in a Budapest ghetto, his self-invention and brashness as an immigrant, the effects of anti-Semitism, and his lifelong love of learning. According to the author, Jews are significant in the history of magic. Along the way we get a history lesson in vaudeville and other popular entertainments in turn of the century America and Europe. We also see Houdini as quite the overachiever; in addition to his legendary feats, he was an author, editor, pilot, and collector of magician memorabilia. REVIEWED BY SUSAN BERSON (DENVER, CO)

Editorial Review:

How did he walk through walls, escape drowning, and shatter iron chains that were tightly wrapped around him?

The rare photos in this book might help you figure it out. So might the exclusive update about the rumor that Houdini was poisoned. But just remember, a true magician never reveals his tricks. . . .