While I'd just written a submission to the thread on "best book of 2006" I felt this book deserved a thread of it's own. So here's my 2 cents on this wonderful book.

To begin with, while hardly a finger flicker's manifesto, this book may well be a stealth masterpiece.

The effects, as most may know by now, are all 'self-working'. That is, no arduous sleights are demanded of the reader. In fact, Giobbi points out this book was actually written prior to his highly acclaimed Card College series as an appetizer for newcomers to get their feet wet enough to go on to greater skills to be learned in Card Colleges 1-5. And that once you do begin reading the Card College series the reader may want to revisit the routines of Card College Light to add their own touches or sleights learned from Card College. (Although it's hardly necessary since you may feel the added sleights may take away from the 'magic' here.)

But as Giobbi says in the beginning of the book, these are the kinds of effects deftly peppered into an act surrounded by eagle-eyed onlookers that totally baffle because, sans sleights that may have been employed in some in previous effects by the performer, onlookers are usually stunned finding, in many cases, absolutely no contact whatsoever with a deck and the performer still pulling off some jaw-dropping effects leaving an audience with the feeling that they may be witnessing true magic. Pretty sneaky I'd say.

That said, the book's real strength comes from a wonderful demonstration of the the construction of 7 routines of 3 effects in each (and how one may go about constructing routines of your own from the vast number of effects out there). NONE of the effects are mathmatically-based 'counting' type things that Giobbi argues make up the vast majority of so-called self-working effects that can become so labored. No these effects, many taken from masters like Paul Curry (there's a nice version of World's Beyond modified by John Kennedy and further modified by Giobbi), as well as effects from greats like Baker, Schwartz, Vollmer (a close Giobbi friend), Cervon and Wagner and others. Effects that Giobbi says he includes as part of his working repertoire. All effects are totally non-gaffed and may be used with anyone's deck of cards.

The real beauty of the opus, however, is that it is not simply a collection of 21 discrete effects but 7 carefully constructed 'routines' employing 21 effects - a very important distinction here (the book, by the way is not some overweight tome but, rather, a nice 'light' approachable package that's very easy to go through), complete with patter and staging (which the author insists in not carved in stone and is open to re-adaptation to best fit your style in many ways as he suggests. And that may be the book's greatest contribution to the magical arts: a book that helps one understand not just how to do some rather powerful effects, but how to put effects together to create even more powerful full-blown 7-minute routines. In fact, the only other book that comes to mind that I've seen in recent years is Bannon's Ace Routine in his "Dear Mr. Fantasy" which, while it is one wonderful routine, contains none of the detail and staging that's presented here.)

That's why I feel this is what I call a book worth checking out on a caliber of Ortiz "Strong Magic" and Derren Brown's "Magic Effect" and others.

Enjoy.

Peter

I'd love to see a table of contents for this or a general description of what the effects are.

It's pretty long, but here goes. This is directly from the table, including the descriptions.

Routine 1

• T.N.T - The magician reveals two cards chosen in a way that would seem to make this utterly impossible.
  
• Intuition - Through the power of intuition, two spectators are able to separate the shuffled deck into red and black cards.
  
• The Telephone Trick - The performer's medium is called and is able to discern over the telephone the card freely selected from a shuffled deck.
  

Routine 2

• Thot Echo - Someone selects two cards under the fairest conditions, and the magician succeeds in finding them.
  
• Royal Flush - Ten cards randomly chosen by a spectator are thoroughly suffled by him and then dealt into two poker hands. The magician's hand is shown to be a royal flush.
  
• The Waiwiki Shuffle - A subconsciously controlled swing of a pendulum reveals to the performer the identity of a chosen card.
  

Routine 3

• Fingertip Sensitivity - The magician guesses the actions a person performs with a packet of cards under the table.
  
• Muscle Reading - Someone chooses any card and shuffles it back into the deck. Thanks to the magician's ability to read this person's unconscious muscle impulses, he is able to successfully find the card.
  
• The Lie Detector - Someone notes a card ans shuffles it back into the deck. She next takes seven indifferent cards, keeps them hidden and calls their names to the magician; but for one of the indifferent cardss she calls the name of the card she selected. Because the magician possesses the sensitiviey of a lie detector, he is able, unvelievable as it may seem, to discover the woman's card!
  

Routine 4

• The Circus Card Trick - After the audience has become convinced that the performer has failed to find a selected card, he manages to save the situation in a surprising and amusing way.
  
• The Fingerprint = A freely chosen card is replaced in the deck by the spectator, under the strictest conditions. In spite of this, the magician is able to find the card by means of the "fingerprints" left on it.
  
• Magical Match - The magician twice determines, in an inexplicable manner, the exact number of cards the spectator has cut from the pack.
  

Routine 5

• Cards Never Lie - Someone selects a card and shuffles it back into the deck. The magician asks three questions about the cards, and his subject either lies or tells the truth. Nevertheless, the performer is able not only to ascertain the chosen card, but he also immediately produces the other three cards of the same value!
  
• Digital Dexterity - A chosen cards is shuffled back into the deck by the person who selected it, and the deck is placed into the magician's pocket. With seemingly unbelievable dexterity, he is able to fish the chosen card out of the deck!
  
• Think Stop! - Someone freely selects a card, and then shuffles it back into the deck. Nevertheless, the magician is able to find the card through that person's silent thought-command alone.
  

Routine 6

• Card Caper - Two spectators each select a card from a deck that they shuffle themselves. They further shuffle their cards back into the deck. Nevertheless, the magician is able to find both spectators' cards in an astonishing manner.
  
• In the Hands - Someone from the audience shuffles a deck of cards and remembers two of them, which he himself loses back into the deck. In spite of these impossible conditions, the magician is able to locate both noted cards.
  
• Back to the Future - The magician transports himself into the future, memorizes what happens there, returns to the past, and then predicts the occurrence in the present: a confusing story with a clear effect.
  

Routine 7

• Manto - The magi writes a prediction and places it inside the cards case, which a spectator gurards. An audience member and the performer mix the cards face up into face down, throwing the deck into a chaotic condition. Nonetheless, the prediction states how many cards lie face up and how many of those are black and how many are red!
  
• Vernon's Miracle - The magician finds a card selected under the fairest conceivable conditions.
  
• That is the Question - The magi askes no questions, yet he answers them while guessing and finding a freely and fairly thought-of card.
  

Did I really just type all that? I can tell by my fingers, now frozen into typing stance, that I did. Ouch!

This book is very well written and very complete, in the manner of the author's Card College series. You can find it at http://www.i-magicnation.com, and probably just about every other dealer, as well. No counting tricks. No dealing into piles. Just some very easy moves (hard to really call them sleights), and a lot of spectator handling of the deck. This one is destined for greatness, I think.

Wow -- thanks a lot for doing that.

Best,

Scott

Thanks for the TOC and the review

Yes, thanks for the post. It's very useful for making a buying decision about this book. Sounds like a good one (no surprise).

My pleasure. I wouldn't do that for a book I didn't think was worth the effort. This one is. I've always been kind of anti "self-working" when it comes to card magic. Probably because most of the stuff has always seemed to lack any real magical qualities, seeming more like "tricks". I don't like tricks. I like magic - and these effects are routined to look very much like the "real" card magic that is accomplished with sleights.

The obvious beneficiary of a book like this is the beginner. These routines will inspire confidence while the novice gains experience with spectators. Of course, the more advanced worker will benefit too, because most of this material can be used on a moment's notice, when someone tosses any old deck at him, and says, "Lets see you do something with MY cards!". And, hey - what performer wouldn't occasionally like to do a (good) routine that can be done with a minimum of stress, and a practically guaranteed chance of success every time?

But, there is another audience for this book. I hate to even think about this, but as we age, sleights sometimes become more difficult to do well. This book offers some material that will keep the "seasoned" card workers going longer, while not sacrificing the quality of the effects.

It's a win-win-win situation!

- Ken Giobbi
(last name falsified for humorous purposes!)

I have a question about an effect in this book. I hope this is the right place to post it.

In the description of Vernon's Miracle, Roberto says "Make sure a higher-valued spot card is selected. If a court card or a low spot card is taken, simply ask that a different card be chosen."

Since the point of the trick is to find the selected card, how is this accomplished?

This is a terrific book with routines that the sleightly challenged will find rewarding!

I have been debating Royal Road, Card College and this book for a while. Thanks for the in-depth review, and especially for the Table of Contents.

A great detail reviews, thanks all.

Andrew Loh

I have a concern about "Muscle Reading" -- an effect in Giobbi's "Card College Light." I've read the effect/presentation a few times and I'm sure that there's a BIG mistake here. Although it is unlikely, it IS possible that the second riffle shuffle can put other hearts between the key card and the chosen card. It depends (partly) on where the final complete cut takes place before the second riffle shuffle.

For those that have read this routine, have you had the same cocnern?

This book is a must-read. I believe the seasoned magician will get even more out of it than the beginner - in fact, I wouldn't give this book to a beginner. The material is too good, and the thought behind Giobbi's routining will be much more significant to an experienced performer.

I agree that this is a great book and a must-read but I humbly disagree that it shouldn't be given to a beginner. Because of Giobbi's lesson in routining I would recommend this book to a beginner to see examples of how one can routine their effects into an effective presentation. This is one area that beginners need the most help, IMHO.

I've just picked this book up myself out of interest after reading other peoples posts. I must admit that I'm pleasantly surprised by the quality of the material contained within its pages. I think it's easy to discount self working effects as being somehow inferior and I'm glad that I've bought this book as it has reminded me that this needn't be the case.

I'd recommend this one to everybody.

How does this compare to the effects on green light?

Or the semi-automatic effects of Nick Trost?

Thanks for the excellent reviews. In particular, in mentioning the tricks uses non gaffed cards. This was a big influence in deciding to buy it.

I found this book an excellent way to learn to manage the steps of a routine. For a beginner, like myself, it allows me to put more focus on presentation, tracking the process and not have to worry about a series of sleights. Sleights will come later, when I've practised more!

There are some excellent tricks in it. I have just learned Manto and it really is a superb trick. Thot Echo with an ingenius setup is another well worth learning plus the 1st and last tricks.

The book's strong point is the routines, seven in all, 3 tricks each. It makes you more aware of how to set up decks for a trick 2 or 3 down the line. Foresight it's called and magic when it all comes together.