I just got my copy from Simon--along with the four gaffs that you can get for free if you order the book from www.simonaronson.com. It came out beautifully--a stunning, big book of card magic.

Thanks! I will let my magic shop know. I would like to order directly from you, as I do for gaffs, but you don't ship books out of the US. My store deals with Murphy's and has inquiries about the book with them already. Look forward to seeing it, but till then I have four of your older works keeping me plenty busy

Le

Got mine from Simon, as well, along with the number deck. I appreciate the free gaffs, but darn the USPS for beating the heck out of the book in transit.

Just got my copy as well. I really like his thinking process. It was a pleasure to skim last night, will take time to digest all of it. Looks like another winner
Gary

I thought this was still on preorder as per vanishing inc magic?

Supporting the author directly has benefits.

Can someone with the book share their thoughts?

Well it's a very early read so far-- one quick read through--I would say this is going to be a very popular book.

The book is beautifully produced. Very high quality. The end paper inner covers are color photos; the dust jacket cover and color photo of Simon on the back cover are very classy as well.

So far, I would say lots of very usable material. Ironically, I would say this is his most Bannonesque book. Commercial plots, not-too-difficult methods, clever variations of classic plots--his own plots and others'. Some of it is material that has been published in the last decades in the magazines.

It's light on memdeck stuff. He acknowledges that he is a victim of his own success, and no longer feels he has to convince the world of a memdeck's power.

There aren't, as far as I can tell so far, any brain-crushing new principles like the UnDo Influence or the Cancellation principles. However as I say, there are some excellent new effects that you will want to do right away. They are all explained in Simon's eloquent, detailed way.

Probably the biggest surprise is the large amount of space given over to items that depend on gaffs--double facers and the like. Simon has always employed them in past books, but I would say this book has the largest percentage of such tricks. We've already seen how when a guy as clever as Simon puts his mind to using a gaff, the poor audience doesn't stand a chance. There are several items here where Simon uses gaffs as effectively as he did with Red See Passover. The ability to be so far ahead of the audience makes for some startling mindreading type effects.

Also includes two thoughtful essays on the sadness of dis-illusionment, and the circumstances that make a prediction believable and effective.

Worth every penny.

Thanks for the first-pass review, Landmark. Very hopeful!

Question: as you note that there isn't a lot of memdeck work in the book, would you mind commenting on the number of stack-independent memdeck effects?

...or a more complete review!??

Best,

Zedd

Murphy's is now listing the book in its catalogue. Canadians who can't order direct from Simon should know that Browsers' Den in Toronto has the book on order.

I have, and have ordered gaffs and individual effects like Red See Passover directly from Simon.

But he doesn't ship BOOKS outside the US, and supporting my local store through a Murphy's order is good too. Ordering directly from Vanishing Inc. is attended by somewhat costly shipping, so I let my store do that

In general, I think supporting one's local magic shop has benefits too. They are becoming an endangered species.

Les

Everything I've read in this book so far is absolute gold. He even has a new version of Fate which can be used with any datebook and a regular deck of cards!!!I'm about 2/3 of the way through so far.

Sounds Solomonesque...

Thanks for the initial reviews. Added to my holiday list

Not to belabor the point, but: still looking for some info on the amount of stack-independent (i.e. not-specifically-Aronson) effects/theories in the book. Thanks!

Ive been doing Fate with a regular deck for years......just saying!

Hi. There are four memdeck effects in the book: Shuffle Tracking, Gemini Meets the Stack, Christ-Aronson Aces, and The Aronson Stack Makes Good. The first two are stack independent, while the latter two depend on the Aronson set-up. As a bonus, all four effects leave the deck in memdeck order at their conclusion.

Thanks, Landmark. Really good info to know. As Shuffle Tracking has been released multiple times, I'll likely pass on it for a singe stack-independent effect.

Just got my copy and it is full of gems. It does NOT emphasize memdeck work, as has been previously noted, but that is fine by me--that isn't the only stuff I have loved in Simon's work.

I make some technical observations:

A couple of effects use Bicycle Joker gaffs and require, for matching, the old-style monochrome Jokers. But the newer Bike Standards that folks buy cheap and in bulk at Costco and the like ship with coloured jokers. The old-school 808 decks, with the card back on the box and the monochrome joker, can still be found--I have bought a few through an online seller. One other source of the jokers is the gaff deck for Simon Lovell's Packet Killer--it is available separately on a certain auction site, and includes three monochrome blue-back Bike jokers, as well as a lot of other goodies (double enders for B'Wave and Twisted Sister, various useful DBs, some interesting split cards, the Jack-Ro-Bats packet trick, etc.). The Mandolin back jokers are monochrome, but there is no Guarantee joker, just two standard jokers (albeit marked with 809, not 808). A red rider-back Guarantee joker can be inserted into the Mandolin deck and not be noticed unless you look closely--I use Rider-back DBs with my Mandolin deck and can barely tell the difference myself. I also wonder if one can get one-way force decks of nothing but monochrome Bike jokers--if so, you'd have an ample supply.

The excellent card-to-box Thinking Inside the Box requires an old-style card-back-on-the-box box for reasons that are clear when you read the trick. The Mandolin Back box will do, I think. (I happen to like the Mandolin Back Bikes and have plenty.) Some sources sell the Rider back boxes--just the boxes. I have also saved Rider Back boxes every time I get set of gaffs that ships in one.

The superb Two by Two provides an excellent excuse to also acquire Try the Impossible in order to learn the full theory of the trick's diabolical underlying principle. Indeed, in reading the trick it became clear to me that the trick was doable without the gaffed number deck (children's flash cards or even a blank deck with numbers printed neatly with a Sharpie will do), and the better one understands the math the more leeway one has in varying Simon's presentation. Simon does not get much into the math in Art Decko, and for this reason the entire first section of Try the Impossible should be highly recommended reading for one who wants to understand the trick fully and see how far one may comfortably vary the parameters. I may very well splurge on Simon's number deck myself, but in the meantime I know enough about how it works to experiment without the deck in accordance with what I know of the original principle and Simon's own comments.

I appreciate Simon's no-stack approach to birthday effects, but, as one who has memorized a stack, I still think the memdeck approach is a lot simpler if one has already gone to the trouble.

The relative absence of dedicated memdeck effects is not weakness for me, but if folks turn to Simon largely or solely for memdeck tricks this isn't the book for them. That said, the Christ-Aronson Aces and Aronson Stack Makes Good look like awesome stack-dependent effects that do not require complete memorization of the Aronson stack (though knowing some key landmarks in the stack is important for speed and smoothness). This is good news for me, a Mnemonica guy.

Overall, it seems an awesome book, though I have barely scratched the surface.

Les