Modern Coin Magic by JB Bobo

Price:$8.95

Available From: Your favorite dealer

If you haven’t heard of Modern Coin Magic by now, you’ve been living under a rock. I don’t really think there’s much I can add here. If you’re starting out and want to learn coin magic, check this out. Be warned, some of the descriptions of sleights can be difficult to follow (especially if you’ve got coins in your hand and are trying to hold the book open).

Other than that, I have no complaints. This is one of the classics, and if you’re just starting out, you should pick it up. If you’re not just starting out, chances are you already have it.

Andster

Street Magic by Paul Zenon

Price: $10.95

Available From: Your Favorite Dealer

This book is primarily aimed at beginners to the world of magic, with a focus on street magic tricks. Although I didn’t get this when I was first starting out, I was able to find a couple interesting bits and ideas that I think I can put to use. If you’ve been in magic for any length of time, you’re probably not going to find anything groundbreaking here.

For a beginner though, I think this would be a decent place to start. The book begins with the obligatory history of magic and a few self working tricks. There’s a section on coin magic that teaches a couple basic moves (classic palm, French drop) a couple tricks, and a bit of sleeving. He talks about a few basic gimmicks and some tricks using them, like a thumb tip, a nailwriter, and a pull. You’ll learn some basic card controls and sleights like the injog, break, and double lift, as well as quite a few tricks and flourishes.

There’s a section on mental magic, where you’ll learn the center tear, the one-ahead principle, and a magic square, among other things. Something that I found interesting and useful was the section on street scams, such as three-card monte, fast and loose, and the shell game. You don’t usually see that in beginner magic books (actually, not in any of the books I have) and it’s nice to have a print reference for it.

Finally, there are a few so-called “party tricks” that aren’t earth shattering, not overtly magical, but still something fun and entertaining to do at a party. This part has things like the voodoo ash trick, paper balls over the head, and the cup through the table. He also includes a version of Paul Curry’s Out of This World, one of my personal favorites (although I must admit I prefer Paul Harris’s version Galaxy) and a nice inclusion.

There’s also a glossary of magical terms, as well as a couple suggestions for magic websites, magazines, and dealers that the beginner may want to look into. As I said before, there’s probably nothing here you haven’t already seen because this is geared towards the beginner. However, if you are a beginner I think there would be a lot here for you, and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it.

Andster