What do you think is the best book or video/DVD to card magic for...
tricks
slieghts
ideas
clever ex. i should of thought of that
and other

I don't have it, but the card college series is supposed to be incredible and I plan on getting them sometime like a lot of other things.

AoA Series
Card College
Royal Road To Card Magic
Dary'ls Encylopedias


Thats just a few, use the search function listed above and you will find tons of threads. Good Luck.

I just want to know what you think of some of the books.

Card College are the most important set of books you will own if you are a cardworker.

After Card College when you are a little more advanced and know sleights....well....that is a long list.

If you want I'll list some I think are important.

LeConte, I constantly see you pushing CC. Do you all own all 5 sets or just a few at the moment?

LOL, I have volumes 1-4 at the moment. I have not bought Volume five yet because it covers mostly tricks and routines. Volumes 1-4 cover sleights, very, very, well. Giobbi also has a brilliant essay in Volume 2.

My real recommendation is the first 4 volumes then followed by something more advanced. I don't really like tricks so much in CC, they are ok and serve there purpose. Perfect books to explore after CC would be:

The Card Classics of Ken Krenzel by Harry Lorayne. Man this book is blowing me away as we speak. Ken Krenzel is incredible. His contributions to magic are stunning and Oz just sessioned with him.

The Classic Magic of Larry Jennings by Mike Maxwell. Advanced work, but you will be ready for this after getting your sleights down. One of the greatest cardmen ever.

Derek Dingle's Complete Works by Richard Kaufman. Again advanced professional card magic. Check out Roll Over Aces.

Carneycopia by Stephen Minch. John Carney is one of the best thinkers in all of magic. This book is often hailed as one of the best books to come out in the 90's. Really impressive thinking here.

Anything by Darwin Ortiz. Like Cardshark, Scams and fantasies, or At The Card Table. Ortiz is simply stunning. His ideas are magnificent. But, this stuff is very, very hard to perform in most cases, and involves very advanced knowledge of sleights. Also get Strong Magic By Ortiz when its re-printed this fall. It is a legendary book on the performance and psychology of magic.

This is a really good list, LeConte. I am also a very big fan of Card College and think it is the best course in card magic available. The Royal Road to Card Magic is also excellent, and serves as a fine substitute for CC if you are low on funds or just want to get the basics down first. People have different preferences regarding CC and RRTCM, but you really can't go wrong with either one.

Althought there are lots of great books out there on cards, LeConte has covered a good portion of the waterfront. I would add the Art of Astonishment books to this list, as there is some excellent card magic in those volumes. AoA doesn't really focus on the sleights as much as the other books (though there are a few new ones in there) but more on creative routines. Another good book is Bannon's Impossibilia. Again, not a book of sleight of hand, per se, but very solid routines and tricks.

Gary those books are tremendous as well!!! I'll purchase Smoke and Mirrors by Bannon very soon. All of his work is stunning as is the work of Harris.

Let us know about Smoke & Mirrors once you have a chance to look at it.

I sure will. I already love Bannon's thinking so I know this book is just fantastic. I've researched on the other forum where they sip coffee. I don't know why I have not bought it yet. Many magicians who I greatly respect, claim this is the best book in their libraries.

I do not own Impossibilia, but I'll pick up both books together. My magicshop was sold out of Smoke and Mirrors last week so I had to buy something else instead.

I bought Focus by Goldstein (Max Maven), Rene LeVand's wonderful book Magic From the Soul (its oop) and a book from one of the true legends of magic called Steranko on Cards, by Jim Steranko (yes the comicbook artist was a great, groundbreaking cardman by the age of 21 then left magic for other careers).

Even though it will take me years to fully digestr this material, I'll still get the Bannon books in the next couple of weeks.

Thanx for all the advice, now I need to get a job though to buy all thoses books, because I am broke. THank you all.

AoA is a great investment!