Thanks to everyone who answered because I also had the same questions

I think http://www.lybrary.com is a great place for print resources for magicians...the tarbell course was never cheaper and a great reference...
I like both patrick page dvds and strong magic book...can youplease update us to what you bought and how did you go?

Lybrary also has a great set of books by Dariel Fitzkee called the Fitzkee Trilogy for about $9 each in PDF format. I bought mine at the local store, now that they are in print again, for about $25 each. The Trick Brain cost a little more, about $30, because it is a bigger book (page wise) than the others. Here is a link to what they have for Dariel Fitzkee, not just the trilogy.

Another great book, if you are thinking of branching into mentalism, would be Corinda's 13 Steps to Mentalism. Anneman also put out one called Practical Mental Effects. The latter can be gotten in paperback from Dover. In fact, Dover has quite a few of the old classics available in paperback.

Hello

Well, I actually ended up purchasing Tarbell 1. Now, I don't want to commit high heresy or anything, but it actually didn't impress me too much. Given it's great reputation, I'm going to continue perusing it every once in a while, assuming that there's something in me that will "click" and suddenly I will see it's immense value.

I've actually fallen out of magic for the past month or two, but just recently I'm starting to feel it's siren call slowly pulling me back. It's interesting that a reply should come to this three-month-old topic on this day... I just ordered 13 Steps to Mentalism, wondering if mentalism can help pull be back into the game.

Hi Richard,

I'm in a similar position to you, and was about to buy a copy of Tarbell until I read your last post; what is it you don't like about the book (as I'm wondering if I'll also end up underwhelmed)?

Hmmm, to be honest, I'm not quite sure. I got out the book and leafed around in it quickly, and there's plenty of good stuff in there. I remember thinking a lot of the stuff relied on gimmicks and such... I don't know how accurate that is, but it was my perception on the first read through.

I think more so it's probably just that I haven't devoted enough time to it. I'll go back sometime and give it another shot... unfortunately, I don't have much free time right now (classes hitting pretty hard right now).

Don't get me wrong, Tarbell is a good book. That's obvious from people's comments around here. I'm sure that in the long run, I'll view Tarbell as a good addition to my library (despite my comments, it still has taught me stuff).