(Gift) books for magic beginners

[volatile]

My girlfriend is currently learning some introductory magic tricks (she's bought some interlinking rings, for example) and I'm looking to buy her a book (or a set? or a trick?) as a gift.

Budget is flexible - what would you all recommend for a beginner? She has few fairly basic introductory tricks books, I think, but they seem generally rather banal. I'd appreciate some helpful hints from those who know what they're talking about.

Thanks!

[Bob Klase]

What does she already have?

[AgeGap]

Floating match (on card) trick.
Card through card.
Pencil through Dollar bill.
Cups and balls.
Sponge balls.
Banal? It's the presentation that counts. All these tricks are relatively inexpensive.

[volatile]

What does she already have?

Really not much at all. Some cheap-looking "100 magic tricks" type book, and, as I said, some interlinking rings...

[JonWhite]

As an excellent general magic starter book Mark Wilson's "Complete Course in Magic" could be a great place to start.

Much pricier, but Harlan Tarbell's "Complete Course in Magic" is also extremely good.

Is there any area (i.e. cards/coins/mentalism) that she's particularly interested in?

[Bob Klase]

My first recommendation is always the Mark Wilson book. Magic For Dummies is also good. You can find both at Amazon.com for around $15.

Agegap is correct- even with the simplest tricks it's the presentation that counts.

[Mick Houlahan]

Let me just echo Bob's recommendations - two great starter books. Tarbell, while the definitive collection, should perhaps be reserved for later.

[aofl]

Harry Lorayne's "The Magic Book" would be a good starting book, though I don't know how available it is.

A

[MelBrooksfan]

The first book I got was Edwin Sachs' Sleight of Hand. It covers most 'basic' sleights. A lot of it is antiquaited though (many tricks involve a wand and a wand seems hokey nowadays).

[volatile]

Thanks so much for all of these, guys! I'm going to get her the Wilson book - I'll let you know how she gets on!

[JonWhite]

A wise choice sir, if I may say!

She'll certainly get a lot out of it.

:D

[Brown]

I was going to suggest the Wilson book as well. I got mine real cheap at a Minneapolis bookstore (it was on the first floor of the building where WJM-TV supposedly was on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show").

Some of the tricks are extremely lame, but there are some really good ones, too. In a bizarre way, one of the more interesting things about the Wilson book is that you can often devise alternatives to his techniques that will work just as well. And you might want to rewrite virtually all of the patter.

Some good ones that require an average amount of practice:
Sympathetic cards
Genie Cards (I just use my business cards)
Four-Coin Assembly (A classic! All students must learn it, as it is the key to dozens of variations)
One-Hand Knot and Melting Knot (I use them back-to-back! Damn rope won't knot when I want it to, and when I don't want it to, it does!)
Three-Way Test (Here's a great one for modifying the trick to make it your own!)

There are some that require a bit more practice, but if performed well, will knock the spectators' socks off:
Ring Off Rope
Coins Across
Vanishing Glass

[dannagain]

what? no one's mentioned the two bibles?

the royal road to card magic and bobo's modern coin magic

both are canonical and available cheaply on abebooks.com

also get her a couple of jay sankey dvd's of his card stuff. he is a very good teacher on video. i learnt a lot from him. to be honest most people find it easier to learn from a dvd than a book because it's (obviously) more visual so i would probably go for the sankey dvd's if anything but the royal road to card magic will verse her in the basic sleights etc.

[MelBrooksfan]

Canonical? We have a canon? Who is our savior?

[NeilC]

Bobo is not a beginners book really. It's quite hard to get workable tricks out of it if you don't have some knowledge in the first place IMO.

You could do worse to get some of Ammar's DVDs - Introduction to Coin Magic or the card ones. Some wicked (classic) tricks in those. That way you get to be amazed and then see how to do it which is always inspiring. Also highly recommend Sankey's Earplugs vid which taught me a couple of good sponge routines with no prior knowledge. I even fool myself in the mirror now! Once she has one of those sussed and presentable, she will have a good knowledge of major sleight of hand, what you can get away with and a big boost in confidence.

For cards, the Card College series has no equal. You get the most detailed instruction to build skills from the ground up. Lovely books.

As far as tricks go - Roy Walton's Card Warp (also on one of Ammar's vids) is dead simple and totally amazing.

[dannagain]

Canonical? We have a canon? Who is our savior?


from dictionary.com

ca·non·i·cal 3. authorized; recognized; accepted: canonical works.

also, i would disagree about bobo. he covers all the basics as well as the tricky stuff but i guess we'll just agree to differ.

[vIQleS]

Magic for dummies. perfect for beginners

[Garrette]

You can't go wrong with most suggestions here, but if I were personally asked to provide a beginner's book to an intelligent, reasonable, adult novice, I would do it in this order:

1. Harry Lorayne's The Magic Book because it is better organized than the others, more smoothly written, lays an understandable foundation for moving to more difficult effects, and helps the reader determine in what area of magic his interest lies.

2. Mark Wilson's Complete Course in Magic because it has so many effects, most of which are easily accessible and clearly explained. What it does not do nearly so well as the previous book is wrap the effects and methods into a presentable whole which allows the reader to determine an area of interest and prioritize what methods on which to devote the most effort.

Recommendations for follow on books would depend on what was learned and determined from these two.