In the September 08 issue of MAGIC magazine is an excellant trick called Order From Chaos where a suit of cards ends up in perfect order after many shuffles. It is very easy to do and it killed at a recent IBM meeting in Myrtle Beach. It is now in Joshoa Jay's new magic book as one of the 10 best tricks of all time. Check it out!

Is this Lew Brooks' routine from Stack Attack? If so, I've enjoyed and used this routine for a long time.

You're right - it is definitely worth checking out for those who haven't learned it yet!

YES it is!!!!!!!!!! Joshua Jay interviewed Lew Brooks in talk about tricks and Lew explains the reasoning and thought behind the routine. Josh then recommended buying Stack Attack and the DVD of the same name.

Thanks for the heads up. Is the trick completely covered in Joshua's new book, or it just mentioned as one of the 10 best tricks and that he suggests Stack Attack for the additional details? Thanks again, Bob

It's taught completely. The trick is mostly self-woring, and ingeniously structured.

The suggestions were in a interview with Lew in MAGIC magazine before the trick was explained. In Joshua's book it is in the 10 top card tricks chapter. I am not plugging his book but it is the best Ive seen for explaining the reasoning behind an effect and its presentation rather than just an exposure of a trick. It it the way magic SHOULD be taught.

Merl

I just ordered his book. I was a little reluctant because I have books that sound similar like Mark Wilson's book and "The Amateur Magician's Handbook", but the price is too good to pass it up. With the price that Costco and Amazon are selling his book at, how is Joshua making any money from this? I hope he is.

Blimey, I'm going to have to dig out my "Stack Attack", I missed this effect completely when I read the book years back.

The theme of chaos and order is a good one, I've come across several effects with this plot.

Paul.

Paul,
Don't feel bad. I have Stack Attack as well and apparently did not appreciate this effect.

I also have Josh Jay's new book which I got from Amazon. I second what BobMc said: how in the world could they produce this big, beautiful book with a DVD included at this price? (About Fourteen bucks.) While it may be primarilly aimed at new or young magicians, I keep finding great things in it and I've been in magic over 50 years. I won't suggest that the rest of you buy this... it's too good for that. I INSTRUCT all of you to get a copy immediately, and I guarantee that you will never regret it. ;-)

Dennis Loomis

Hi Hi Captain

Sponge ball Bob!

:lol:

In his book Kingdom of the Red, Larry Barnowsky has an effect called Entropy II that is virtually identical to Order from Chaos. I read Entropy II and for some reason was unimpressed. I then saw Joshua Jay perform OFC for two very cute chicks on the DVD that comes with his new book. The girls were stunned as was I. I have since added this to my repertoire and the reactions have been fantastic. Although it requires st***, I would classify this as self-working (and one of the best SW tricks there is IMHO).

I've just read Joshua Jay's effect "Order from Chaos" in his new book. I'll have to respectfully disagree with ekgdoc on his statement that my effect Entropy II from my book Kingdom of the Red is "virtually identical to Order from Chaos".

Here are some of the differences:

1. The stacked order is completely different and the stack starts out on the top in Entropy I, not on the bottom.

2. The deck is cut into four piles and the spectator chooses which piles to shuffle together until a total of three riffle shuffles have been done.

3. The spectator removes all the hearts from the deck without changing the order.

4. The cards are then dealt into four face-down piles from left to right and reassembled from left to right. That procedure is repeated two more times.

5. A special down under type deal is done. The first card dealt face up is the AH. The next card is dealt beneath the packet and the following card (#2) is dealt face up which is the 2H. For the 3H, 2 cards are counted and placed one at a time beneath the packet and the third is dealt face up on the table, the 3H. This is repeated until you get to the 10H counting cards in the packet from top to bottom until the tenth card is reached. That turns out to be the 10H. The JH, and QH are arrived at by spelling the four letters of "Jack" and the five letters of "Queen" leaving one card left the KH. This is all done fairly quickly with specific patter at each step. In "Order from Chaos", the down under deal is done with cards going alternately to the bottom of the packet and onto the table until all cards are on the table. Then the cards are revealed all at once to be in order. In Entropy II I reveal them face up one at a time. I provide a specific script of what I say for each reveal. In "Order from Chaos", there is an overhand shuffle sequence and a reverse faro sequence. None of these are in Entropy II. They do both use hearts.

6. I am not familiar with Lew Brooks' book Stack Attack or the effects in it. I developed the mechanics for this effect about 35 years ago while in grad. school for mathematics. I've since modified some of the patter inspired by the work of Lennart Green but the basic effect has always been mine. I published this for the first time in my book Kingdom of the Red copyright 2007. Entropy I which is also explained in Chapter 5 involves mixing cards face-up into face-down ones and works using the Gilbreath Principle but the ending is the same as Entropy II.

-Larry

Larry,

I did not mean to suggest, nor did I ever believe, there was a common ancestry to the two routines. In fact, I used the term "virtually" to indicate the 2 routines were NOT identical. Definition of virtually: "in essence or effect but not in fact or form." Perhaps I can convince you that, from a macroscopic perspective at least, the effects are virtually identical: For both routines, the deck is shuffled and one suit, which appears randomly ordered, is removed. The cards are mixed up some more. The cards are then revealed in order. The order from disorder theme is common to both.

Had I learned Entropy I or II to being with, I would have had no reason to bother with OFC.

Actually, I like some of the elements of Entropy II better and have adapted them to my presentation of OFC. For example, I use the initial shuffling sequence of E II as it allows the spec to choose the order in which cards are shuffled and allows 3 riffle shuffles. IMO, this is better than the sequence given in OFC. (As long as one accounts for where the cuts are made, your shuffling sequence works regardless of whether the stack is on top or bottom.)

I do hope you'd agree with the statement that Entropy II (or I) is a darn good alternative to Order from Chaos. That was the whole point of bringing it up in the first place. In seeing the nice comments about OFC, I felt it necessary to give props to Entropy. KOTR is a great book, BTW. Best--EKG.

Thanks EKG for clarifying those points.

-Larry