Greetings fellow Magicians,

Lately I have been stocking up and countless DVD after DVD, which made me realize that they were just performing either a slight of card illusion they had learned from a book (or fellow magician). So I have been looking to get some really good books for the upcoming Holiday, so let me tell you what I have so far in Books:

Paul Harris - The Art of Astonishment Vol.2
Mark Wilson - Complete Course in Magic
Jean Hugard & Frederick Braue - Expert Card Techniques
Psychological Subtleties - Banachek

And now here's a list of the DVD's I have, just incase someones wants to know what DVD's I own so I don't purchase roughly the same material:

R. Paul Wilson - The Royal Road to Card Magic
Jay Noblezada - The Muscle Pass
Jay Noblezada - Money
Gregory Wilson - On the Spot
Nat Kranzo, Daniel Garcia, Justin Miller - Guerrilla Guide to Loops
Brad Christian - Ninja 1
Brad Christian - Ninja 2
Daniel Garcia - Fraud
Richard Sanders - Extreme Burn
Daryl - Ambitious Card Routine
Dan Hauss - Flow
Kevin Parker - Revolution
Justin Miller - Factory Sealed
Wayne Houchin - Sinful a.k.a. Quarter Through Soda Can
Anders Moden - Healed and Sealed 2.0
Mark Desouza - Shapeshifter
Brad Christian - Inside Magic
Brad Christian - Kard Klub Underground
Brad Christian - Crash Course for Sleight of Hand Vol. 1
Brad Christian - Crash Course Ultimate Ambitious Card Vol. 2

So as you can tell I really love both card's, money and in some cases, everyday objects.

So that's all of them, but I'm through with DVD's for awhile and really want to collect some magic books that will really teach me card techniques and sleights that I haven't learned from watching DVD's.

So if anyone reading this, please help me and thank you in advance.

All of those books you've listed are excellent in my experience or the experiences of others. I do not own Mark Wilson's Complete Course in Magic or Banacheck's Psychological subtleties, though I have looked at both, and have heard wonderful things about them.

One thing I might suggest, is to go for AoA Volume 1 or Volume 3 rather than Volume 2 as it is my opinion that they are slightly more useful than Volume 2 (make sure to pick them all up though).

Also, if it's not to much of a hassle I would take a look at Roberto Giobbi's Card College series. They're incredibly useful, and I use them just about every day to look something up or find another description of a sleight I find particularly challenging.

Good luck!

I would have to say pick up Strong Magic by Darwin Ortiz. It is a great book on how to make your magic better than you could have ever dreamed. Worth every penny.

Also look into The Magic of Michael Ammar. It is a robust book full of beautiful magic and thought provoking theory.

Tricks with Your Head by Mac King. I personaly love this book. The magic in it is not the "Clip shift over the top palm with a all around square up classic pass", but the magic in it is simple and some of the most impromptu magic you can do. If you have a skull you can already preform 90% of the magic in this book.

My 2 cents.


Juliegel

Maximum Entertainment by Ken Weber and Scripting Magic by Peter McCabe are great, along with Darwin Ortiz's Strong Magic, to learn about the performance aspect of magic along with a lot of subtle points that make you a better magician.

My fravorite book of all time is Strong Magic by Ortiz, and Art of Astonishment 3.

Can't wait untill Janurary!

get the other 2 AoA and Totaly Out of Control

Ah, I'll add a few others as well (since the other posts reminded me of some you may want to check out).

As other's have said, Strong Magic is a MUST. It completely changed the way I think about magic, and all other performance arts.

Also, I personally love Close Up Card Magic by Harry Lorayne. It's not a book that's new, though it's one of the books that sculpted my arsenal of card tricks. It also is a wonderful guidebook to understanding why misdirection works (there isn't really much on misdirection itself, though if you study the tricks, you'll learn a lot).


You may want to check out Tommy Wonder's Books of Wonder, they're quite useful, and give high quality practical and theoretical information.

If you're looking for a see-all-the-moves book, The Annotated Erdnase by Darwin Ortiz is probably the best one I've seen.

Wow. . .

You gave so much money away to Brad Christian. . . I feel for you

Thank you guys very, very much for all the valuable input and I'll be looking into each title recommended to further my collection and knowledge of Magic.

Oh and Orcishorde...




Just because you've had a bad experience with either Brad Christian or Ellustionists in General, doesn't mean that everything I've learned from those DVD's are crap. You could have handled my question like a grown up like everyone else has and helped me find new titles, but I guess that was too much to ask for.

I could help you

IMO

Buy -

Card College (whole set) go through them extensivly and you will learn enough

RRTCM Book - Cheap, Resourceful and is a classic

Expert at the Card Table - You will pick up some handy sleights here

TARBELL!!!!!!!! These are the complete encyclopedias of magic. Theoretically if you learn everything in these books, then you will have more than enough knowledge in magic to perform 20 different shows.

Ben Winter

I have recently gotten a complete 1st edition set of the Tarbell series. Very informative.


Dylan

Well Brad christian really made himself comfortable in your wallet. LOL which reminds me... let me see if I can find it...