The best Magic Tricks books: Reddit reviews

From 3.5 billion Reddit comments

Well, that's just supply and demand. The book's infamous and it was only ever printed in limited numbers, remaining copies are gonna cost you. Compare Ricky Jay's book on card scaling, Cards As Weapons. Some hardcovers are approaching $700, and I've seen them crack $1500 on Ebay. The book is in large part a literal joke, they have a cute nude model demonstrating a lot of the grips and techniques and some sections make wild claims about dropping African large game with a thrown playing card. It's half magician Ricky Jay taking the piss out of self-defense books as a genre, and half the most comprehensively well-researched and informative book on card scaling ever written, a very strange read. And there aren't many copies floating around, so the ones that are will be pricey.

Fortunately there are scans of Cards As Weapons, that's how I read it; Street Sword, not so much, not that I've been able to find.

I just found this, and I find it interesting, because we might be able to make estimates based on what the National Dex book has: 772 Pages.

Each page in that had 1-2 Pokémon on it, based on the Amazon pictures, I and I’m assuming it had mega evolutions too. So, I believe we’ll get at least 500 Pokémon, if not more, if we are getting around 61% of the Pokédex, which we know megas are gone, and the total number will probably go past 900.

Wanted to share this to see what others thought.

Here’s the Amazon link to the Galar Dex.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1604382058/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_SEuDDbRVA0CNC

every new set of games usually gets a pokédex book. here is SWSH's, for instance, though this is strictly for the galar region and is pre-DLC. the most recent national pokédex book (to my knowledge) is from USUM. hope this helps.

So since the dawn of youtube, you can pretty much figure out and learn any introductory and intermediate trick. The thing is, that is only half or maybe even less because you have to be a better presenter.

I think the clandestine nature of the hobby is important only in that some of these tricks are so simple it undersells the performance if people know how to do it. Penn and Teller is amazing becasue they can still work in the explanation into a performance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8osRaFTtgHo

Professional magicians will safeguard their secrets more closely because it is apart of their act. The days of people stealing and sabotaging other magicians is sort of antiquated since magic is no longer premiere entertainment.

If you want to learn magic...get a pack of cards and read this cover to cover.

If she has graduated away from the kid's magic kits, it's time for some books.

"Now You See It, Now You Don't" is the best all-around beginner book imo.

I hear Joshua Jay's beginner book is good too: https://www.amazon.com/Magic-Complete-Course-Joshua-Jay/dp/0761149872

Can't go wrong with Mark Wilson's Complete Course book. Countless careers started there.

He also wrote a book about using playing cards as weapons.

He also did the best version of "cups and balls" that I've ever seen.

I highly highly suggest reading this book. Extremely good reference material which blends occult perspective with game magic system design theory. https://www.amazon.com/Game-Magic-Designers-Systems-Practice/dp/1466567856

It's also on LibGen if the ebook is inaccessible to you due to price.

I was one of those kids who were taught that meditation and yoga cleared one's mind for demonic influence. Also, those really cool "magic eye" images (famous books were made about them in the 90s), where you have to kind of cross your eyes to see it? Yup, that was teaching you to use your demonic "third eye" that Eastern religions talked about.

If you were worshipping a God that wasn't "The God" (New Testament version of the Biblical God), then what you were worshipping was Satan. Even atheists "worship" Satan since all of their actions are not in service of God. If you're doing a practice that came from another religion (in this case, according to them, yoga), you're also worshipping Satan, even if you think you're doing it for the glory of God! (For instance practicing yoga to help with the upkeep of God's temple, which is your body). I was taught that every single action we do is either for the glory of God, or not. It's really quite funny because all of our holiday traditions are pretty much taken from other religions, but they just kinda don't teach about that.

My guess is you don't live in a super Bible-belt type area, because none of these teachings were uncommon among classmates/friends' experiences. (I live in the U.S. South in a very Christian area). The constant stress of wondering if your actions are truly in service of God was so fucking intense, I don't miss it. And I didn't even come from one of the super fundie families.

Just gonna leave this here.

https://www.amazon.com/Book-Erotic-Fantasy-Gwendolyn-Kestrel/dp/097420451X/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?crid=1CPK1DUZ0K1M1&keywords=book+of+eroctic+fantasy&qid=1645385578&sprefix=book+of+ero%2Caps%2C227&sr=8-3

When I was about 8 years old I was given Now You See It, Now You Don't by Bill Tarr. I found this book to be very good at teaching sleight of hand with balls. It also covers card and coin magic.

Στα αρχαία χρονια του ΠΑΣΟΚ του ορθόδοξου που σπούδαζα οι rpgαδές μια χαρά ακούγαμε Τερζη και Χριστοδουλοπουλο. Μετά βγήκε η 3 και χάλασε ο κόσμος.

Ηθικό δίδαγμα και DM να είσαι μπουζούκια θα πας γιατί αλλιώς το πιο κοντινό σε σεχ είναι κάτι τέτοιο

• [ ] Expert At The Card Table:

• [ ] https://www.amazon.com/Expert-Card-Table-Treatise-Manipulation/dp/0486285979

• [ ] (Product) Red playing cards

• [ ] https://www.target.com/p/product-red-playing-cards/-/A-53383147?ref=tgt_adv_XS000000&AFID=google_pla_df_free_online&CPNG=Toys&adgroup=87-0&ref=tgt_adv_XS000000&AFID=bing_pla_df&fndsrc=tgtao&DFA=71700000012790748&CPN...

I would recommend buying a pokedex book you can read with her. This one, has fun facts on the Pokemon, how they evolve, typing, stats like height weight etc, nice pictures and information on different forms of Pokemon. I had a similar (but older) one when i was first getting into Pokemon and it was fun to read all the time and I still have it to this day. I highly recommend this for any aspiring trainer (and trainer's parents).

Yep, sorry, I meant to share the Amazon link in my additional comment.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1604382058/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_SEuDDbRVA0CNC

That said, from what I could tell, and what I’m basing my percent on is the USUM National Dex. I couldn’t find a book that only had the USUM Alolan Dex, so the 61% comes from that one.

See Jeff Howard’s book Game Magic for the most comprehensive survey of all extant magic systems ever conjured. Really wonderful tour that opened my eyes to the immense variety that I never knew existed.

If you want to learn to do it on command get a Magic Eye book to practice. Most libraries have them.

Buy one of the Magic Eye books from amazon and practice letting your eyes relax, almost letting your eyes gaze into the distance. The images will seem blurry and then pop out at you.

https://www.amazon.com/Magic-Eye-New-Looking-World/dp/0836270061

Here’s the amazon link to the Pokédex for Sw&Sh, if that’s the game you’re wanting. link

I believe you will greatly enjoy Jeff Howard’s book Game Magic. I wrote a little tweet thread extolling some of its virtues. It basically catalogues all extant novel magic systems that have been done in video games.

If you want specifically card magic, This book on Amazon is the Dover edition and highly recommended.

For DVD, get the one by R. Paul Wilson, titled 'Royal Road To Card Magic by R. Paul Wilson'.

If you want a more general magic kit, get Joshua Jay’s The Complete Magician Kit.

https://www.amazon.com/Expert-Card-Table-Treatise-Manipulation/dp/0486285979

"The Expert at the Card Table: The Classic Treatise on Card Manipulation" by S. W. Erdnase, originally published in 1902.

When I was a kid I LOVED math for smarty pants. Lots of fun problems and games presented by illustrated characters. Several of the reviewers mention using this book with 6th graders, so I'm not sure how that compares to your son's age. The amazon link has a preview of the book. Teaches you things like how to figure out which weekday (Monday, Tuesday, etc.) you were born using only the date and what comes after a trillion (quadrillion, quintillion, etc.)

I'd recommend getting it. Also get Royal Road to Card Magic. Hugard and Braue make card magic incredibly available in that book. If you wanna do coin stuff, David Roth's Expert Coin Magic is also amazing, but you could probably find it cheaper than that listing.

Joshua Jay has some great material for kids, some of which is DIY. Magic the complete course is great and has a kids section. He also has a book called Big Magic for Little Hands which has tricks for kids to learn how to do if you are maybe into teaching them something.

Magic: The Complete Course https://www.amazon.com/dp/0761149872/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_uNKtxbE5PTNRP

Big Magic for Little Hands: 25 Astounding Illusions for Young Magicians https://www.amazon.com/dp/0761180095/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_7OKtxb1Q9HCK8

We had this one when I was small.

I half suspect that the modern card sharp is mostly myth used for card demonstrations. There're some classic writings (eg, The Expert at the Card Table by Erdnase ) on the topic of actually cheating at a card game but the risk to reward while considering the amount of discipline required to attain the necessary skill is completely insane.

I used to regularly handle cards for magic and fun in my early twenties and was big into poker. When I'd make the poker rounds at local games without dealers, I'd be super conscious to avoid doing anything to suggest I was skilled with card handling. There didn't need to be proof that you were cheating, even the suspicion could get you bared from games. And god help you if you were stupid enough to actually try something and got caught.

Don't know what system you are using...but the Book of Erotic Fantasy has rules for PC pregnancy in D&D 3.5. It follows up the effect of crossbreeding as well.

Usually you can find it on the web in the usual places.

I searched for videos of it for a few minutes but turned up nothing. However this book teaches how its done.

In my experience it can be tough to get ahead no matter how easy/boring it is for you, because if you take the time to actually learn the material in advance the class will become even more boring for you. I have a few suggestions:

1. Try to find an accelerated program somewhere or talk to your math teacher to see if you can do independent guided study. It helps for things to still be coordinated.
2. Explore other kinds of math and problems outside of your math class. Book stores carry math books that are actually designed for reading for fun (no problems at the end of chapters, so they don't work in classrooms). A book I really enjoyed was Math for smarty Pants. You could just head to a book store and browse the math section until you find something interesting to you.
3. Try some math competitions like the AMC 8 or Math Olympians wiki. You can either sign up to take them, or just browse old tests looking for fun and interesting problems you want to learn how to do. Many come with solutions online too.

There is actually an unofficial book you may be interested in (and I can't believe I'm recommending it) called The Book Of Erotic Fantasy. It's... kinda gross, and goes into WAY too much detail in terms of inter-species sex, but it's actually got a couple of ideas that could be used to implement more, uh, "realism" into your game.