I just got the ART OF SWITCHING DECKS from Pengie last night and I was up all night reading and playing with all those newfound accoutrements.

Here's what they don't tell you; it comes with a DVD pasted to the inside back cover in which Mr. Giobbi demonstrates what the deck switches are supposed to look like.

There are no pipe dreams here, this is all solid, workable material. 30 deck switches to be exact. Nothing requiring difficult sleights; no gimmicks, gadgets, devices or contrivances.

I'm not saying that you'll use every one of these deck switches, as some require psycholoical ruse, but if you're a card mechanic you absolutely cannot live without this book.

You no doubt own some of the gimmicks used to accomplish a gimmicked deck switch; Dean Dill's BLIZZARD, your trusty DECK SHELL, and who can possibly live without that new COOLER deck switcher? Make your life complete and buy a copy of Roberto Giobbi's ART OF SWITCHING DECKS.

Think of the god-like possibilities of performing with a stacked deck after it's been thoroughly shuffled...or even a gimmicked deck (stripper, svengalli, etc.)

I just have to compliment Penguin's mail order service. I live 3 states away from their warehouse and the book was in my hands less than 36 hours after I ordered it...and I didn't use priority mail or ups, just the good old postal service...on income tax weekend!

I can't comment on this specific book, but I know that his other works are amazing!

Could you compare this to his chapter on deck switches in Volume 4 of Card College?

Card College Volume 4 devotes 12 pages to deck switching, all illustrated. The Art of Switching Decks has 153 pages, all photographs. I don't know your preference, photos and illustrations both work for me. I can't begin to say enough good things about this new book, I haven't slept in over two days, devouring the material (same thing happened when Vernon's Revelations came out a few years ago). We've waited decades for a book like this, I can't recall anything that has ever come close to a serious look at switching decks until now.

I also bought another recently released Giobbi book, Confidences. Of special interest to me was the 70+ pages of card controls. The book is densely packed with photos and information, but for some odd reason the publisher chose to go with a reduced 5"x7" format. Nevertheless, there's some real gems in here.

The Art of Switching Decks was reviewed in the April 2013 issue of Genii, page 94.