I've been browsing through some online magic store and compiling a list of books and dvd i'd love to have in my collection.

The little problem is I came up with loads of stuffs in my list. I intend to have them all one day, and intend to build my library over the years.

But as a newbie, maybe can I have a recommendation on what should be my 'must have' list.

I thought of getting titles from Roberto Giobbi, Darwin Ortiz and Jean Hugard. Will that do for starters?

I'm quite impressed with the abundance of knowledge we have amongst members of SMC and your guidance is much sought after.

After all, I hope to be able to start out in 2 yrs as Children's/Close-Up magician, that is after my army days are over.

A bit ambitious maybe but then we all have dreams. And I don't think I'll be able to achieve it going through it alone. Hence, valuable advise is much appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Please get Book of Wonders 1 & 2 by Tommy Wonders. They are so very good. Even if you have his DVDs, you still must get the books.
You might never use any of the routines in these books, but they are still very valuable reading.
The sad part is Book of Wonders Vol 1 was recently discontinued, so whatever you guys can lay your hands on, grab it NOW.

Also Strong Magic and Designing Miracles by Darwin Ortiz. There are no routines in these 2 books and you might not necessarily agree with everything he says, but it puts questions in your head that might never have been there, and that's important.

Then you must surely learn Ambitious Card Routine. No matter what happen, you will still go on top! Ok, I know :off: just can't resist

The Book of Wonders are certainly great, with many profound thoughts by a very dedicated performer. However, if ur a newbie I don't think it do you much good. But you should get it in the long run. (I hope Mr. Stephen Minch will repreint vol. 1, since there wld be demand. :) Btw, he is my fav publisher.)

I think it is more important for newbies to learn more tricks first than about theory and the thinking behind magic. The first step to be a magician is to go out and perform, not thinking behind shut doors. So perform more and get more experience. Hands-on learning!

Correct! I'm going through the basics, ie; learning basic cards and coins move, getting the hang of presenting a routine.

But I just can't help feeling lost when I attend gatherings and hear the more experienced magicians quote certain moves from certain magicians. Hence the curiosity and desire to get out to know more and learn at the same time.

I believe I'm on the right track, ie; I plan to get Card College by Roberto Giobbi, The Royal Road to Card Magic(book+dvd) by Jean Hugard, Strong Magic and At The Card Table by Darwin Ortiz. Some of the titles to start with.

And as a starter, I wouldn't know if these titles are actually of good value, not at least until I get them. And it helps if fellow magicians could give their recommendation.

As a good student, I intend to be able to be adept at theory and practical aspects. Just my intention.

Insomniac,

Your list mostly comprises of cards stuff....you said you were aiming to be a children's entertainer...so..cards only?

I've heard people recommend the Tarbell Magic Course (which I don't have...yet). But if you browse through the syllabus, you'll probably find everything you ever need in there. I'd say save up for the Tarbell books.

And also the Mark Wilson's Complete Course in Magic...not the Mark Wilson Cyclopedia of Magic. The stuff may seem basic, but there's a lot of good stuff in there and it does cover all genres of magic.

btw, this is not guidance. Just my opinion. I'm not qualified to give guidance. :P

I disagree. Well, at least with the way you put it. B) This is IMHO..

The "theory and thinking behind magic" is NOT some advance stage thing that you should only dabble with after you have mastered all the most difficult sleights in the world. It is something that is required from the very beginning.
Basic things like "be natural" and not squeezing your hand into a fist when palming is part of the thinking and theory too.
Of course, when just starting out, we don't go into the really chim (and sometimes ivory towerish) issues and theories but that doesn't mean there's no need for any of it. It should be parrallel with the other aspects, not sequential, and definitely not be left "till the end".

If you think about the tricks that you regularly do, the psychology of magic is required even for the most basic of magic tricks.
Even the most basic of self working tricks (e.g. 21 card trick) requires some psychology to make it convincing.
I think it is equally important to understand why and what makes the magic works rather than just how to do the tricks.

On the books, in my opinion, I think if you already know 20 tricks, they would be meaningful enough to you. And the great part about getting them early is that later on, whenever you read the books again, you will find new insights and understand all the things that you didn't catch the last time you read it. And you will gain something new everytime you read it again. So it's a much more returns on investment. B)
But you are right in that the basics are necessary to be able to appreciate these books. But don't wait too long.

On the first step is to go out there and perform:
I am a very much for performing as much as you can, because magic is a "demostrative" craft, not like stamp collecting which you can enjoy fully by yourself in the bedroom. That's why we take the trouble to organise all these gatherings. To lure all the bedroom magicians out of their bedrooms.
But I disagree that the first thing to do to become a magician is to jump out there and perform, heck care come what may.
I think effort should be put into learning and understanding your tricks and sufficient practise (not FOREVER PRACTISE or IMAGINARY PRACTISE) before taking it out for layman. That's another reason why we organise gathering, for you to try out your routines with other magicians before trying it for layman.
Yes, it's true, layman and magicians like very different kind of effects. Effects magicians LOVE, layman don't understand. Effects that layman loves, magicians roll their eyes and say "too easy". But that's another story altogether.

Anyway, since this post is longer than I thought it's gonna be at the beginning, I shall now quote my most over-quoted person in ending, Mr Jos Bemelman :g:
"Being weak or unknowledgeable in one or more of the three pillars of magic is not uncommon. If you are not well versed in psychology, however, you can stop right now. Magic will not be possible. For, as we have just discussed, how can you hope to change your audiences' thoughts without the use of other thoughts. So if one is not well versed in psychology, one must learn it or forget magic completely."

Oh yah, how can we forget. The Complete Course in Magic. :D
Thousands of dollars of instant downloads worth of magic in ONE book. And it's not even expensive.
This book seriously has the highest return on investment of all magic products. B)

Opps. Loopholes. You are right, Aloy. I ASSUMMED that a magician would do enough practice and rehearsals before one goes out and perform. Well, we all make assumptions. That is why theoretically people are easy to fool. :(

Actually, what I wanted to say is, it is pointless to think so much about theory when one do not have much performing experience. Most explanation on sleights and tricks would give you enough understanding of it to execute it well. And no matter how I see it, performance will always be the first step. Certainly, Tommy Wonder learned most of his stuff form his performing experience (but of course it would take talent). In my opinion, it is important for one to have at least some experience in the performing arts before he goes into the theory. When one has at least some experience, hopefully, he would have his own opinion about the performing art. That way, when he read a book on theory, he would not read it like a bible. He would, hopefully, have his own thought on whether he agrees or disagree with the author. And this is something that Tommy Wonder himself stated:

"I find it curious when people remark, 'That's a great book! It describe exactly how I feel about things.' I would find such a book not particularly worthwhile."

Of course a beginner would not have that feeling. But I think and feel, that beginners with little magic background will easily become a worshiper of some theory book without much thought and read them like the holy bible. (Exaggeration!) (This is only my believe, from what i observe. I might very well be wrong.)

And I am off-topic. Anyway, I think your choice is very expensive!!!. You must be quite rich. I am not so sure about At the Card Table. I believe it is more gambling oriented. Mark Wilson's course is a good general magic starter. If I were you I would get Complete Course and Royal Road first, as they are available in big local book shops like kinokuniya. (Don't worry, most layman wouldn't trouble themselves to those section and look through those books, not to mention buying it.)

I don't intend to go into an extended debate about what to buy, just give you my honest recommendations.

I agree with Aloy on the theory. It's easy to learn tricks. It's not easy to turn tricks into miracles. Strongly recommend you start with at least 1 theory book. But something simple will do - just to get you started. I think you don't want to slog through weeks of reading without learning a single trick to entertain anyone. ;P (I was a layman once too... just can't wait to learn yet ANOTHER trick to go out and fool somebody)

But I was lucky - I started with a magic book that was packed with theory, stories AND tricks.

Since you're mainly concerned with Children's magic (as you indicted) I would suggest you check out material on Children's entertainment. It takes a VERY VERY different type of performance character and performance repertoire to entertain children. Most closeup performers cannot entertain kids for nuts (with some exceptions... you've met one last Saturday performing at the library). Many of the things we do to fool adults don't seem to work as well on children. Children have an uncanny ability to see right to the core of things.

I'd suggest you check with Uncle Bob as to the type of material he'd recommend for Children's Parties. Do Private Message him! I know balloon twisting is not a requirement, but definitely a PLUS. AND, it's a good idea to invest in a few good kids' props too.

Then seriously get down to working on THEORECTICAL stuff - that's where you'll learn to ENTERTAIN kids.

Woah! Loads of information to digest. Ahakz!

Thanks loads for you guys putting in your invaluable advice. I understand I might have only put in books on cards, but as I said that is only a fraction of what I intend to have.

I'd rather systematically go through the various genres rather than doing everything at once and end up a confused person.

I believe in order to go in depth on magic, I'll have to ensure I have a good foundation in the basics. And I know it'll take months/years of practise to even be considered a good magician.

Rich I am not, but rather I hope to look at it as an investment for the long term.

I'll certainly add in Mark Wilson's Complete Course and look uot for the Tarbell Magic Course.

Whatever your views may be, thanks for sharing.

At least I'm now aware of certain issues I might not have considered or realised before.

Thanks and cheers! ;)

Yes the Complete Course...Do get it. I regretted selling my previous copy. :(

bigbadwolf, you can order from borders, I believe they can ship it in for you.

Insomanic, talk to the performers (professionals) about how to plan or build a show, you don't want to waste your time and money learning something you couldn't use for performance...

-Alan-

Insomamic,

You are right! The amount of information and knowledge is vast and overwhelming. I think you must first and foremost decide what you want to start with and subsequently master. Knowing what you want is very important. If you are into magic for yourself and are happy ‘performing’ for yourself, there is nothing wrong with being a ‘bedroom’ magician.

Your choice of cards is a natural and logical choice. I think that your choices are very sound. Card College is the new ‘Royal Road to Card Magic’ and the set is a worthy fundamental study for cards. Ortiz’s works are for the more advanced student but his ‘Strong Magic’ is a must-have for intermediate close-up performance work. If you are looking into coins, David Roth’s Expert Coin Magic along with Kaufman’s Coin Magic are modern bibles of coin sleights, techniques and routines; after Bobo’s Modern Coin Magic.

The studying and experimentation with these books will keep you busy for at least 2 years. If you need more ideas and exposure, Paul Harris’ Art of Astonishment 3 Vol set will keep you busy for another 1 year at least.

Tommy Wonder’s books are excellent and an eventual must-have; but I feel, the books’ greatest value is to the intermediate performer and beyond. The material is too rich and involved for newer magicians whose work will primarily be casual performances. (Not a bad thing at all!)

For newer magicians, I personally advocate the study of techniques (sleights, moves and magic psychology) BEFORE theory (presentation, meaning of your magic, advanced character development, advanced motivation/ logic etc). The practice of theory can only be applied with the mastery of technique and the experience of performance. The study of theory comes as a second step (and Strong Magic is the way to go).

But note, the study of theory is only important if you actually practice and apply it in performance. I see many magicians/ enthusiasts who spout opinions of theory but that same theory is not reflected in their standard of performance. Is there a difference (to the lay audeince) between the performing magician who shows little theory in his performance because he is oblivious AND the performing magician who shows little theory in his performance even though he is full of if but does not/ or does not kwno how to apply it? My answer is No. (Assuming your goal is to be a performing magician)

Here is one last piece of advice: Be discerning who you listen to. Talk to a wide spectrum of individuals. Decide for YOURSELF what magic goals you want to achieve for YOURSELF. Look for individuals who have achieved credible success in that area, not just to people who offer an opinion or have mediocre success. Everyone is learning and the journey never ends. Be wary of individuals who feel they have moved past being students and see themselves as something more.


Best,

J C