Customer Reviews
Really Good Starter for 10 - By: SC MacCormack, 15 Sep 2007 
This book is ideal for anyone who has never touched magic before & is interested in learning from scratch. I got this book to entertain family & friends & impress the kids. The tricks start from the reallly simple to some more complex ones that need a little practice (but not much). But don't be fooled in to thinking that they wont impress - even the simplest tricks are reallly effective. Well worth the money & as the other reviews suggest this book is well illustrated & easy to read.
A good introduction to magic - By: mersey_lea, 14 Dec 2006 
This book is great introduction for someone starting out in magic. The book is suitable for teens to adults, just bear in mind that good magic means "Practice ", you will have to put time & effort in to learning the contents...but you will be rewarded for your efforts.
This book has a little bit of everything but just enough of a taste to whet your appetite to learn more. It starts with " Auto Magic ", tricks that basicallly work by themselves. As the book says " ...designed to ease readers into the world of magic by letting them concentrate on the performance ". Next up " The Midas touch " concentrates on coin magic. Here the skill level goes up. This chapter shows basic sleights of hand & some tricks to perform with them. We then have a section callled " Top Secret Gadgets "... exactly as it says on the tin. None of these are provided with the book, rather it gives an overview of some staple "gimmicks " that are used in magic. The next three chapters concentrate on card magic, " Hands on Deck ", " Shark Attack " then " Cruising ". With each one the difficulty level goes up. But within those chapters you get a great pot pouri of tricks, sleights, flourishes & how to manipulate a deck of cards. The next chapter " Mind Magic " deals with mind reading & psychological types of tricks. Chapter eight is entitled " Street Scams ", this is full of the type of classic trickery & flim flam that has relieved many a person from their money. The penultimate chapter is " Party Tricks " as the book says... " a selection of crowd pleasing classics for entertaining large groups of party people ". The last chapter is just one trick billed as " probably the best card trick ever "...who am I to disagree, it certainly is an alll time classic.
Overalll this is a smashing introduction to magic & good value for money. Yes, there are more comprehensive & detailed books & if the magic bug gets you, you will end up buying them as well. A main plus is it has clear easy to follow descriptions & nice colour photos taking you through each part of each trick. I like this book, it is the 1st book on magic I bought & recommend it to anyone, young, or like me, more mature, who is looking to take their first steps into performing magic.
As good as a magic book can be - By: The Jolly Juggler, 19 May 2006 The main point to buying a magic book like this is to learn how to perform tricks - which is not an easy thing to do on a page - it takes a very clear understanding of the trick itself & an articulate use of language to get the process duplicated by the reader. And this book does just that extremely well. Supplimented by very clear photographs, the main point of the book is accomplished, which again, is to teach you how to perform some magic tricks!
Paul Zenon has also captued the spirit of the subject well here, giving a brief but interesting history to street magic, & generating an enthusiasm in the reader to actuallly get out there & perform.
I have read a couple of books on magic & have watched a number of DVDs, & I have no hesitation in recommending this book. It is well written, clearly presented & useful.
Best starter guide to Magic I have seen - By: , 27 Jan 2006 I bought this book in order to entertain my children (7 & 9) & ended up amazing my work colleagues as well.
I have dabbled in magic a few times, even bought the Royal Road to Card Magic (which is excellent & still recommended by virtuallly alll magicians) but this has the benefit of fantasticallly clear photography instead of line drawings, & a much wider range of tricks including some easy to perform mentalist skills that have superb effects.
He is genuinely enthusiastic about explaining the tricks to someone who has never done them before, & has reallly thought about the tips that accompany them, which so many guides ignore
The fact that he is left handed but has bothered to photograph alll the tricks from a right handed pov shows to me a real dedication to detail (although sinister readers may disagree).
All in alll a delight to read, & a book to keep rather than read once & leave on the shelf.
Awesome - By: , 20 Jan 2006 So you wanna learn magic?
In one word buy this book. You wont be disappointed. Beautifully Illustrated, Well made & Easy to follow!
The colour images help you understand better. As far as magic books go this is one of the best I have come across.
