Skill Level: Intermediate
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carneycopia
SYNOPSIS: Carneycopia is widely regarded as one of the finest books ever written on practical close-up magic. Written by Stephen Minch and featuring the work of John Carney, it combines more than forty polished routines with thoughtful essays on presentation, psychology, timing, misdirection, and audience management. Rather than focusing solely on methods, the book teaches readers…
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Card College Series
SYNOPSIS: Card College by Roberto Giobbi is a five-volume course widely regarded as the definitive modern textbook on card magic. Beginning with the fundamentals and progressing through advanced sleight-of-hand, the series combines detailed instruction with theory, psychology, practice techniques, and complete routines. Rather than simply teaching moves, Giobbi explains how to construct deceptive, entertaining performances, making…
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Calico
SYNOPSIS: Calico is a collection of original close-up magic by Rick Smith Jr. (published by Meir Yedid Magic) featuring practical routines with cards, coins, rubber bands, bills, and everyday objects. The material emphasizes strong visual effects, commercial performance, and clever methods that balance technical skill with audience impact. Designed for working magicians, the book offers polished…
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Art of astonishment series
SYNOPSIS: Paul Harris’s The Art of Astonishment is a three-volume collection showcasing some of the creator’s most imaginative and influential magic. Blending inventive methods with memorable presentations, the series explores visual magic, offbeat plots, and audience-centered performance, featuring effects with cards, coins, mentalism, everyday objects, and impromptu magic. Considered a modern classic, the books have inspired countless…
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Anthony Owen’s secrets
SYNOPSIS: Anthony has created magic and mentalism with business cards, playing cards, borrowed objects, and more. The focus in Secrets is on parlor material, which should be a refreshing surprise for those of us who are constantly in search of good material for large groups. Anthony’s material is almost always interactive, and focused on premise…
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Ambitious card omnibus
SYNOPSIS: Here’s a welcome surprise! The Ambitious Card Omnibus by Stephen Minch was a slim but dense volume dedicated to all the best phases of the Ambitious Card plot. There are standard handlings as well unusual phases that have been largely forgotten since its 1987 publication. The book is written by magic’s foremost author, Stephen…
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absolute madness
SYNOPSIS: Featuring 18 effects, 4 essays, dozens of photographs, and 182 pages, this is some of the most hard-hitting magic Craig has ever released. This hardcover book is the culmination of thirty years of performing in front of real audiences and features a special link to a show filmed in the P3 Magic theater of…
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a close up kinda guy
SYNOPSIS: What the heck is a Close-up kinda guy anyways? On the one hand you’ve got your asic skilled Close-up artist, well-versed in bold bluffs, cheap shots, and other pseudo strategies of deception. While on the other hand (the clean one) you’ve got your basic fun kinda guy, genetically compelled to provoke verbal warmies, mental…
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13 steps to mentalism
SYNOPSIS: The book describes various techniques used by mentalists to achieve what appear to be psychic phenomena such as telepathy, precognition, extra-sensory perception, telekinesis and the ability to communicate with the dead as a medium. The book has detailed information regarding cold reading, hot reading, the construction and use of such devices as the swami…
