Joshua Jay's book was only recently published in November. Bought a copy as soon as I could.

I am sill a big fan of Mark Wilson's Complete Course in Magic. The excellent drawings and easy-to-follow instructions continue to make this a winner in my book. I even went so far as to buy an autographed copy from his website, and personalized to boot!

I grew up reading Mark Wilson's book. I still refer to it on occastion. I just bought Joshua Jay's book for my niece, who recently started learning magic. Jay's book has tons of color photos, lots of clear directions, and as others have mentioned, it includes a DVD which demonstrates about 35 of the effects. Highly recommended for beginners of any age (well, perhaps older than 9 or 10).

-Mark

By the way, if you ever get a chance to see Joshua Jay doing a lecture, go see him! His lecture is outstanding.

Can't go wrong with Card College Vol.1 if you're focus is cards.

What do you think about Derren Brown's books? My friend recommended them to me, were both interested in mentalism.

I think they are stimulating;fabulous; but for the beginner in Mentalism the classics like Practical Mental Effects and Corinda's are basic to understanding of the field. Parts are still being marketed as tricks, like the Phantom Artist.

You have to learn how to paint before you try to exhibit a painting in Paris.

Expert at the Card table. When you done, start over.

I personally think that it would be better to start with Card College or Royal Road than Expert at the Card Table. Erdnase's book is pretty advanced, and doesn't cover the basics too well.

I would also recommend the Mark Wilson and Joshua Jay complete courses.

If you're interested in becoming a sleight of hand card magician, I recommend buying first Card College vol. 1 and Card College Light, maybe one of the Fulves self-working card books.

Working through Card College volume one, it will be some time before you do any real card magic. Getting the fundamentals down is a long process, and CC Light will teach you some self-workers that will quench your trick performing thirst while you're learning the basics of SOH.

A good book for beginners is The Practical Encyclopedia Of Magic by Nicholas Einhorn. And the best part is I found it at a book store in the mall, don't need to hunt down a magic shop, or special order it! There are like 120 trick ranging from Card, Coin, Silk, Rope, Money, and Mind Magic. 250 pages great pic's with good explanations and tricks from all skill levels. I still use it, and keep going back to it. It also shows you how to build some of your own gimmicks! Not a bad read for like 10 bucks out of a discount bin!

Teach Yourself Magic (Hodder & Staughton, UK, and McGraw Hill, USA) covers the basics of card and coin magic, and magic with everyday objects. It begins with self-working tricks, then introduces the basic sleights. There are also chapters on mentalism, entertaining children, doing a cabaret spot, etc, as well as useful advice on performance and patter.

When I first started in magic my first book was The Royal Road To Card Magic By Jean Hugard & Frederick Braue. I recommend this book if money is an issue otherwise I strongly recommend Roberto Giobbi's Card Collage Volumes 1-5. Also look out for the ebooks on CD-Rom of Roberto Giobbi's CC Vol 1-2, not only does the Card Collage cover every slight the effects are some best you'll come across. Hope this helps

When I started my first book was the royal road to card magic. its a great starting point, and will get you from 0-60 in card magic. The only thing I found difficult about the book is they use an older context of wording, so some words may be difficult to udnerstand depending on how you are,(knowledge wise), but other than that there is diagrams that demonstrate the sleight for you and so I think its really great.

Good point: it means that you need to understand the effect and rewrite a script that reflects the personality of the character you chose to impersonate.

R Paul Wilson made an excellent DVD on the Royal Road to Card Magic that can constitutes a valuable lead in that direction now that you know the book: the differences in patter will most probably be enlightning.

Kind of... half-topic question here.

Mark Wilson's Complete Course in Magic has been mentioned several times, but I can't find it anywhere to sell. It must be an online shop, since I'm not a U.S.A resident. Would someone please enlight me?

Here is a link to it on Amazon. Its definitely a good book that covers a lot of the basics.

http://www.amazon.com/Mark-Wilsons-Compl......4&sr=8-1

Thank you.
By the way, I need a few suggestions.
I can say I'm an intermediate card magician, and a begginer sponge balls one, and I'm willing to focus myself in these 2 types of magic.
I'd like ideas on what books should I buy, regarding cards and sponges. They don't need to be the same book.

Answer to one of the "old" questions above. You can now go to my new, not yet complete, website for magic. It's listed under this post, the website with the word "magic" in its title. You'll see what's available. One of my books that you won't see listed is one that hasn't been mentioned here - interesting - because it's out of print. That's The Magic Book. Anyway... HL.

Oops, my mistake. I was thinking of a different long-ago thread. I glanced at only this last page of this particular thread. Just went back all the way - to 2002 - and yes, my book, there are strong mentions of my book, The Magic Book, and also Close-Up Card Magic - which gives me an excuse to insert a plug - C-UCM is re-written and updated, along with FOUR OTHER early books of mine - in LORAYNE: THE CLASSIC COLLECTION, Volume 1. Quite frankly, I can't think of a better volume for people starting in, interested in, card magic. Just my opinion, folks. Go to the webside I mention above to see what else is available.

Gotta tell you that some of the suggestions for beginners in this long thread gave me a couple of laughs. No, don't ask me which ones - I won't tell you! HL.

7 steps to mentalism is my favorite book

Thanks to all for your recommendations: excellent . . .