The Charles Jordan book has some killer stuff in it. More complex (in some cases) than the _Self Working..._ series, the book is also interesting from a historical perspective.

I would know better how to answer if I knew your specific interests.

jim

Alex, this really is a beginners book... Don't expect to blow out a stage audience with it

A few of the effects from his mental magic book have brought me excellent reactions:)

one of the tricks in self-working card tricks called "mental mates" is just fabulous....

A spectator is given 2 black aces and asked to shuffle the deck. The deck is then ribbon spread on the table.

One of the 2 black aces is then inserted by the spectator into the spread, face up. then the second ace is also inserted faced up such that there is a face down card between the 2 face up aces.

at this moment in time, no one knows the faced down card trapped between the 2 face up aces. not even the performer.

the deck of cards is then squared up and placed faced up. By this time, the performer already knows the identity of the trapped card.

there is more to the trick, but i usually stop here and identify the card.

karl Fulves had the performer pick out 2 aces from another deck of cards of different color. (if spectator stab a red deck, then performer stab a blue deck of cards).

when both decks are ribbon spread, the 2 aces from both decks trapped the same card.

(it is found in the trick "mental mates", pg 13, Self-working Card Tricks by karl Fulves.

go get his books on self working card tricks... very impressive... and well worth the money.

eric

Another Self-Working book that seems to have been left off some lists is My Best Self-Working Card Tricks by Fulves. This one is harder to find than the others, but just as good!

Karl Fulves Self-Working books are great. I just about own every single one of them. They're espeacialy good for beginner Magicians.

Brillant book, with tons of brillant effects

Only thing I realised is that, because they are so self-working.... very little time is required to acquire them. That results in easily forgeting them when an impromptu situation arises....

Will be coming back to it soon to work on some more self-working ones again....

if somebody is interessted in the table of contents of these books:
at amazon.com you can look at it with the LOOK INSIDE feature

Markus

ChrisMagic52 asks about Self-Working Close-Up Card Magic.

I would call attention to a gem called Mind-Mirror. It is a card location from a deck that has been shuffled by the spectator. It is presented as a demonstration of the ability to quickly memorize a packet of cards and to tell which one has been removed. It has a built in repeat.

This is as close to self-working as it gets. Even so, with attention to presentation, the impact is very strong.

Good Luck,
Steve

I think I've over looked the self-working tricks. I thought most of them are too obvious for people to figure out because they're self working but I guess I'm wrong. I only have 1 book "more self working card tricks", are the others in the series like mental magic, rope, paper magic worth getting?

You can find "Gemni Twins" in "More Self-working Card Tricks." This effect is worth the price of the book, IMHO. I have gotten great reactions with this trick.

The self working card magic book was one of the first books I read when starting my road to magic.

I remember doing a three pile selection and a numerology effect that came from that book. I still use them to this day.

S. Patrick

I got this one years ago (Mid 80's) and as soon as I opened the first page I was performing for friends and fooling them with ease. One of the best books for beginners I feel. My favorite was the O Henry Aces.

I ran across Self Working Card Magic at a used bookstore a little while ago and picked it up for three bucks. I love it... it's full of good, simple stuff to try (especially as I'm a rank beginner at all this stuff), and the variety of effects in just the one book seems pretty wide.

I'm having a lot of fun with the Jumping Joker (I think that's the name) effect at the moment - the one where you riffle the deck and the Joker pops out, having "found" the spectator's card for you.

And the first time I tried "Any Deck, Any Time" (again, I *think* that's the name), my wife was honest-to-goodness amazed. My wife's no dummy, so that's a good sign.

Anyway, if you're a newbie to magic like I am, I'd recommend this book... even if for no other reason, then because it's good to have some effects that one can be reasonably sure one won't screw up.

-- Jake

“Cutting the Aces” is great. It’s a little long, but packs fantastic double punch at the end.

Just seen this thread. The Self working card tricks books are great books and anyone who thinks audiences won't be blown away with some of these tricks is wrong. Gemini twins is a killer and I have stummed many people with it and other tricks from the books.

I couldn't ignore a KARL Fulves thread, even an old one that's re-emerged. The guy is a total genius, and I think his Dover books are must-haves. They are worthy of infinite re-readings, because something you skipped over the previous time will suddenly reasonate. Often it's a clever principle that you might want to recycle completely differently. It seems that very little is known of Karl's whereabouts and he has avoided interviews. He has anyway created an incredible body of work. I just picked up the complete set of Pallbearers but there is sadly no way I will ever be able to acquire copies of his entire output. What a legacy.

Just posted a review of Self-Working Handkerchief Magic by Karl Fulves and Dover Publications on TMC:

www.themagiccafe.com/forums/viewtopic.ph......orum=110