The Dave Brown Thumb Tie: The Magicians Bookshelf

Where: http://www.magiciansbookshelf.com/
Author: Dave Brown.
Price: £8.97 (although you also get the "16 Thumb Tie Gems" booklet for free)

Summary
This was the first of the Magicians Bookshelf booklets that I downloaded. I have seen thumb tie routines performed by many magicians, but never more memorable when I saw Dave Brown perform it at the Ipswich Magical Society Convention back in 2004.

Any "Thumb Tie" is in my opinion an excellent piece of theatre, and something I had wanted to try for quite a while, but to get Dave's own thoughts on it really is the icing on the cake.

The booklet is split into several sections.

* The tying process
* Catching the hoops
* The Routine
* Notes with important details about how to handle different situations
* Bonus chapters on performing the Thumb Tie in close-up

As with all the Magicians bookshelf books I have seen it consists of a well written text, some great photographs and of course those gorgeous video clips.

The Review
The Thumb-Tie is one of the staples of magic. It is a classic effect for good reason and now I can join the ranks of magicians performing it.

The "move" itself is taught with as much clarity as conceivably possible, but that isn't just what you are getting from this book. You get just about everything you need to now about putting a thumb-tie routine together and more. You even get told how to downsize the stage/parlour routine into a close-up routine which is something I hadn’t even considered.

It's not that the photographs and video clips are just good, they make learning what to do a real doddle, so that the only real work needed is a bit of practice and a lot of thought in coming up with your own routine.

After seeing the quality of this one download, I Immediately went back online and downloaded his Benson Bowls routine and several of the Beginner series of booklets.


The Bottom Line
Most professional magicians that I know have a thumb tie routine in their working repertoire. Armed with just this booklet (and a small piece of rope) I can too.

To say it is good value for money is a real understatement. Especially when you consider it also comes with "16 Thumb Tie Gems" for free.

This one is in my opinion very under priced.

10/10

Convinced me! Just downloaded it and will give it a look soon. About 20$ US.