On 2013-03-26 09:52, Magic-Daniel wrote:
Still looking for a reply for my above question

On 2013-02-26 21:31, KevinKM99 wrote:
I'm a non-performing hobbyist who enjoys the intellectual challenge of magic. What gets me excited isn't always the effect, but the thought process in how the inventor achieves the desired result. And Mr. Ortiz's new book is the best book I've purchased since John Bannon's "Dear Mr. Fantasy."

Truth be told, I wasn't always a fan of Mr. Ortiz's performance style, at least in the early tapes I bought from A-1. But I suppose that's the age-old argument of books vs. video - the benefit of the written word is we see the effect stripped of inflection, cadence and delivery. There's no place, not the cloak of performance chutzpah, for weak effects to hide. And with "Lessons in Card Mastery," I was delighted over and over again with every page.

The mystification-to-directness of method ratio in "One Shot, One Kill" is like 100-to-1. The methodology behind "Hard Target," as Mr. Ortiz noted in the credits, is so ingenious and implausible that it's just better to sit back and enjoy (with a tip of the hat to Mr. Aronson). "Sorcerer's Apprentice" is a blink-and-you'll-miss gem tucked away in the back pages, but it's an effect that any newcomer to memorized deck magic should tackle. It emotionally engages the spectator, which really, is the secret to getting big reactions.

And I haven't even worked through Positively Fifth Street yet, which so many people on this thread has praised. I can't wait.

(If there's one criticism, it's an aesthetic one: I wished the jacket cover was better designed to match the elegance of the interior. I work in publishing; I notice these sort of things.)

The year is young, but this is the best book I've purchased this year. If there's a better book I buy in 2013, then that's great, which means there would be a book even better than Mr. Ortiz's latest. That's an awfully high bar set.

Kevin

On 2013-08-23 00:32, Robert P. wrote:
So I just got the book today but I'm hoping that someone can suggest the five best tricks from Lessons in Card Mastery. This book is full of so many effects but I don't really want to waste time reading the ones that aren't useful to me. I think I read somewhere that Darwin would be releasing a companion volume to the book that would list the five best tricks, but this was supposed to be released a couple of months after the book was out and we still don't have it! Anyone who has the book and can help me out, it would be appreciated. Thanks! Not sure what to do in the meantime.