Ammar is kind of dorky. No doubt he is good, but the way he speaks, all slow and proper, gets on my nerves a little.

Roth goes at such a fast pace that you have no choice but to keep up, and he performs his sleights so perfectly with such ease that you can't help but be inspired.

Does anyone know of a good source for obtaining Kaufman's Coinmagic? Since it is out of print now I haven't been able to find a copy. I have scoured many of the online retailers for several months without success. I'd prefer a source other than magicfact.com.

Thanks!

Bobo's coin magic is one of the best books on coin magic that I have ever read. I can now do nearly all of the tricks in it and I will look into the other suggestions you made.

thanks

ice

Ditto.
His tapes seem to go into just a bit more detail on many sleights. I have tapes and DVDs from Ammar and Roth as well, but when I watch Burt, it's almost like he's REALLY THERE in the room with me.

I also like the Brad Burt videos. I just wish the production quality was better. His teaching is excellent, but some of his quirks get old real quick, especially when watching the tapes over and over.

J.B. Bobo - Modern Coin Magic for coins
Tony Corinda - 13 Steps to Mentalism for, guess what, mentalism...
Michael Ammar - Easy to Master Cards miracles for cards (I think it is really easier to learn card sleights from a videos.)
Tom Mullica - Expert Impromptu Magic made easy for everyday objects

For a real beginner, I think videotapes would be more helpful for mastering the basic sleight of hand. I would recommend:

Basic Coin Magic 1 & 2 by David Stone
Expert Coin Magic Made Easy #1-3 by David Roth

Best video for beginners: Roth's Expert Coin Magic vol 1-3
Runner Up: Ammar's Intro to Coins

Best book for beginners: Bobo (also best book for experts!)
Runner Up: ? (Not CoinMagic, which is not a beginner book)

Alright. I'm off to the local bookstore to get me a copy of Bobo. Thanks for the advice.

Bobo's book is truly awesome and it is probably one of the best and most detailed that I have ever read. The diagrams are superb and it is a book that I definitely recommend to all who intend to start doing coin magic seriously.

Happy reading!!!

MARK...

I just bought a second copy of Kaufman's Coin Magic as a gift for a friend. You can get it a U.S. Toy Magic in Kansas City for around $45. They've got about eight left.

John B. Born

John,

Thanks so much for the lead! I've been looking for a copy of this book for a very long time. I just placed my order and will hopefully have my copy soon.

Best regards,

Mark

How about for "not quite absolute beginners?"
I started Bill Tarr after which I decided coins were for me, so I went for Bobo. Then I was amazed by Roth's handling on his Expert Coin Magic made easy 1-3. As I like the stand up side of coin magic and enjoy impromptu magic; “the wander around” restaurant style appeals to me, I got hold of the excellent “Unexpected Visitor” by Doug Brewer.

I have also recently bought “Completely Crowded” from R. Paul Wilson, but that needs a lot more work before I am ready to show it to anyone. I am at a stage where I have a good grounding in the essential slights and have a few routines that I feel are strong.

So where next? I get the feeling that to buy the Ammar DVD would be a lot of repetition. Is this the same with the David Stone tapes?

Would something like Knockout Coin Magic be a good investment? How about Paul Cummins Up In Smoke, I've read some strong reviews of it? Any suggestions for more work of the stand up/ walk around type.
I appreciate your help in my next step forward.
Thanks
Shanester

I think Bobo's is a must.
You can pick and choose which sleight you want to work on and go straight to it without having to rewind a tape or fire up the DVD player and go straight to a chapter.

However, I also like watching the sleight performed on a video because I can get a better idea of what it should like.
Interpreting an explanation of a sleight that you have learned from a book can sometimes be difficult.

The illustration in Bobo's for the CP for example. To me the image implies that the coin is help up high in the hand, just below the fingers. The explanation doesn't go into detail about the exact placement of the coin either. I know that it differs for some people, but it is definitely not held where I initially interpreted it to be. It wasn't until I saw Ammar's Introduction To Coin Magic that I realized where the coin was meant to sit in order to do this effectively.

I feel that for a beginner Bobo's coin book and a video like Ammar's ITCM or Roth's Expert Coin Magic Made Easy Vol. 1 is the ideal training/reference guides to acquiring the proper techniques.

The Video/DVDs compliment the book perfectly. You read the sleight; you practice the sleight; you check the video reference to make sure you are doing it correctly and then you back to practicing.

I'd go with the Expert Coin Magic made easy 1-3 by David Roth. For a beginner, I'd prefer seeing the routines and sleights done by an expert and the DVD's sometimes offer nice tips that a book doesn't. The Bobo book is great but just isn't as motivating to me.

I would strongly recommend Mark wilsons "Course In Magic", because it is 472 pages of magic that covers every genre available, It was also reprinted in June of this year, so it should be fairly readily available for all who wish to purchase it.

Michael A.

Is Jay Sankey's Revolutionary Coin Magic recommendable?

Definitely.
Get the DVD as it has bonus material and more Sankey is always good

Jay Sankey's Revolutionary Coin Magic is superb...especially if you know some basic sleights with coins. Now on DVD!

Among many sleights, he focuses on a few in particular...flying shuttle pass (beautiful to watch in his hands), Tenkai pinch, direction pointer, some han ping chin..then applies these in lots routines. His coin magic uses both hands together in a very coordinated way. Mr. clean Coins across (3 coins stand up and hand to hand)is the best I've seen of its kind...so is his coin thru the table.

If you like to see and learn new sleights you may not have seen before..you'll like this. Most very doable with a little work.

He also has a Robin Williams aspect to him...funny,off the cuff...a little crazy. Excellent DVD!

good luck!

The Discoverie of Witchcraft was written in 1584, not 1560. And it is almost useless as a basic text on the performance of magic. The language is barely understandable to a speaker of modern English. For example, the description of what many feel to be the first explanation of the paddle trick reads:

"Item, a rish through a peece of trencher, having three holes, and at the one side the rish appearing out in the second, at the other side in the third hole, by means of an hollow place made betwixt, them both so as the slight consisteth in turning the peece of trencher."(sic)

This certainly leaves a lot to be desired as far as teaching the jumping peg to a beginning magician.

"Discovery" or, more precisely "Discouerie" was written primarily as an exposure of tricks and witchcraft techniques in order to keep the "jackbooted thugs," witch burners and witch hangers from imprisoning and killing people for "changing a testor into a groat" and practicing herbal remedies on the peasantry.

There were a few mechanical tricks that were exposed enough that they might be reconstructed. And, if you have a good ability to read between the lines, a couple of the coin vanishes and moves might be reconstructible. Jules DeBarros showed me a couple of items he managed to reconstruct from Scot that were perfectly usable today.

"The Art of Jugling" by Sa. Rid (1612) is also of little use to a modern beginner. The explanations are terse and often unclear. And the items in this book are basically taken from the Scot book.

It was in 1634, 50 years after the appearance of Scot's book that "R. Mabb." or "R.M." wrote Hocus Pocus Junior. This was the first illustrated book entirely on magic to appear in the English language. The author's advice on the cups and balls should be read by any serious practitioner of this ancient piece of magic, because it contains the basis of good sleight of hand and audience contact.

Recent research has indicated that the real R. Mabb might have been William Vincent, who was licensed by the government of England to perform magic as Hocus Pocus.

***********
The Ammar videos may seem "dorky" to some, but they are very precise and well produced. You only need to watch a small portion of any video at once to learn a specific thing. I recommend them very highly.

The Brad Burt videos that I have seen are also excellent.

I would recommend the Mark Wilson Course in Magic to ANY beginner. It is well written and easy to understand.

Then The Introduction to Coin Magic by Futagawa and Bobo's New Modern Coin Magic. And Tarbell.

But along with these should be the Henning Nelms book. No need for just sleights and passes if you don't have presentation