Just wanted to say thanks for all the info on this section! Will be a while before I post I think with so much reading to do!

After reviewing this entire thread.... I can only say I wish this information would have been available when I was building my reference collection. And I never thought about "The Art of War" being a magic reference.... but now I see the light!

I have a couple to add, that surprisingly enough have not been mentioned.

If you want to do cups and balls, the only reference you need is Michael Ammar. I have the DVD's (The Complete Cups and Balls), but I understand the book contains exactly the same information.

If you want to do silk magic, it's Rice's Encyclopedia of Silk Magic.

If you like coin magic I would recomend JB Bobo modern coin magic; it is a great book and it has a lot of coin sleight; I have not even learned them all.

Street Magic by Paul Zenon is an excellent beginners book. Forget the street part since that's an obvious branding by the publishers as a genre, the book is handsomely produced, well illustrated with photographs and has many great effects. Also presents good information on how to present the trick and the patter to go along with it. For beginners he presents a nice selection of different types of magic with strong effects, mentalism, coins, cards, street hustles like 3 card monte, Fast and Loose and the shell and the pea games. It's not encylopedic but for beginners learning a few good tricks in a field is enough to give them an idea if they want to pursue that branch of magic. It's also a fun read.

Can't think of a better book on magic for a beginner to read. I've seen some of these effects advertised for 5-10 dollars as a downloads.

Like a lot of you, I started with Mark Wilsons Complete Course in Magic, then studied card magic (Royal Road to Card Magic, Expert At The Card Table). I've also recently gotten into coin magic and found Bobo's book excellent.

Cheers

Paul

I bought the book "Mark Wilson’s Complete Course In Magic" today in Hong Kong.

It definitely is a magic treasure for me!!

Hi everyone

I've just got back into magic after a gap of 15 years and wanted to start out right, so I looked around and thought things through book wise before buying. I've bought the following which considering the advice here seems a good working set to own, to begin with anyway.

Mark Wilson's Complete magic course
Downes The art of magic
Hugard's Magic manual
Curry Magicians magic
Nelms Magic and showmanship
Bobo Modern coin magic
Hugard Royal road to card magic

Regards Phil

I definately have my sights set on Card college vollume 1-5 as soon as I have the money. I think it has great diagrams and explains everything well, worth every penny

Ive read all the post so far as to what books to buy. I'm going with Complete guide to magic by Mark Wilson and I think card college has more approvals than Royal Road, so it will be card college. Time to save my pennies

Tarbell, The Royal Road to Card Magic, Bobo's Modern Coin Magic, Bill Tarr- Now you see it,Now you don't. Anything by Mark Wilson!

Mark Wilson's Complete Course in Magic is good, but you can get a lot of the same info in the Cyclopedia of Magic, also by Mark Wilson. The format is slightly annoying (the book is 500 pages or so, but it 3" x 5"), but it is full of a variety of effects, including card, coin, silk, stage, etc. The advantage is that the Cyclopedia can be bought used from Half.com for only a few bucks.

If you want a complete coin intro, check out Bobo's Modern Coin Magic.

Mike Vance

It seems to me you've all missed out the books that have probably been the most use to my brother 'Matt the Magic Man', he is currently working for P&O Cruises for the winter, and will be in Oakwood Theme Park in West Wales in the summer.

His inspiration has come from Eric Sharp's books from South Wales, UK.

http://www.bookschildrensmagic.co.uk

It has really helped him to develop his skills as a magician and he has gone a long way in a short space of time using these books.

I am fairly new to magic but the first book I had was "Hokus Pokus Fidipus!" by Uwe Schenk & Michael Sondermeyer. It's a book for children and in german...

My second one was "Magic for Dummies".

The Royal Road to Card Magic, Mark Wilson's Complete Course in Magic, and The Amateaur Magician's Handbook are books that you have to get.

John

What about Magic and Showmanship a little out dated but a lot of info

But, the Cyclopedia does not have the same amount of material, if you want the whole book, not just a portion of it then look into buying the Complete Encyclopedia.

I would like to re- second the Mark Wilsons Course in Magic, I got it about 6-7 months ago (seems like 7 years! lol) and I can't put it down.

Dear Beginners,

Greeting!:P

In my website.. I recommend a few e-books for beginners also..

Do feel free to visit it:

Hmm let me see. Books I have found useful.
Self Working Coin Magic by Karl Fulves
Hiding the Elephant by Jim Steinmeyer (For Info on how to present magic and how some of the great magicians developed their acts)
Modern Magic by Professor Hoffman
Mark Wilson's Complete course in Magic by Mark Wilson
Bill Severn's Complete Book of Magic by Bill Severn (Can Usually be found in the bargain bin at Barnes an Noble)
Magic With Cards by Garcia and Schindler
In terms of Dvd's
I am a big fan of Jay Sankey's Revolutionary Coin Magic
That's about all I can think of off the top of my head.

Magicians should read on presentation too and history:

Jim Steinmeyer, excellent history

Strong Magic, Darwin Ortiz

Card College 2: AT LEAST READ THE THEORY SECTION! Very good!

How can you read just about tricks and be successful? Study the classics above though.

Just had to post that,

Christian