Giobbi, Roberto: Secret Agenda
©2010 Hermetic Press, Seattle, WA
Hardcover, 414 pages
ISBN978-0-945296-67-6
Secret Agenda
Image courtesy eBay seller LomaVistaMagic
Roberto Giobbi: Secret Agenda

Comments: Secret Agenda is set up with 365 entries for you to read one per day. Throughout the book are various quotes, anecdotes, and lists on various topics, which are not listed in the contents below (but see Denis' contents listing referenced below if you need the full list).

Contents (courtesy of Denis Behr, conjuringarchive.com)

3 To Separate a Deck at a Specific Point: 2 methods
4 Presentation and Handling for Six Guests in Five Rooms: mathematical puzzle performed with finger
6 An Archive for Special Decks (Leo Behnke): tip for storing many decks
8 Changing Decks (w/Dai Vernon): open deck switch concept, various methods
10 Sucker Bet: counter-intuitive bet with dice
11 Versatile Pellet Switch: rolled-up piece of paper switched as it is picked up
11 Versatile Pellet Switch (Stewart Judah): rolled-up piece of paper switched as it is picked up
12 Penetrating Rubber Band Gag: through spectator's finger
14 Logical Trickery (w/Dr. Jacob Daley): inspired by Note 157 out of Jacob Daley's Notebook
17 A Delicate Double Lift (Cliff Green)
18 Boomerang: applications for the Boomerang Flourish as misdirection
19 Control Ruse: presentation to openly control a card near the top or bottom
24 The Lift Shuffle - A Study in the Polyvalence of a Sleight: Control the top stock in one shuffle
27 Details of Handling on the Cover Pass (w/Gordon Bruce)
31 A Force and a Location: psychological spread force, key card placement out
31 Complete Vanish of a Coin: sleeve
33 Unorthodox Second Deal
36 Bridge Control
37 Double Lift Replacement (Gabriel Moreno)
41 Picking Up the Deck: from smooth surface
46 How to Memorize a Serial Number Entertainingly
47 Simple Single-Card Switch: table edge
50 Best Hop: bluff
51 Fred Kaps's Force: re-count
52 Key Card Placement (Ed Marlo)
62 Swing Cut at a Break: 2 methods
63 Control with a Swing Cut at a Break
65 Teschner's Top Stock Control (Rainer Teschner): finesse for injog shuffle
66 Marlo's Bluff Cut (Ed Marlo): single cut to shift cards to bottom
67 Another Overhand Shuffle Glimpse
68 Multiple Peek Control
69 Teschner's Selection Control (Rainer Teschner)
70 The Sliding Double
71 The Amazing Coincidence: 3 packets are dealt, matching values on top
74 Remember, You Shuffled I (Juan Tamariz): ploy so audience remembers that the cards are shuffled
75 Remember, You Shuffled II: another ploy
77 Push-In: inserting a card at inner end with applications
78 A Humorous Out: out for situation when spectator thinks of any card
79 Out and Quickie: another
81 An Emotional Out (w/Dai Vernon): and another
83 The Goldin Pass: flourish cut
84 Cyclic False Shuffle (S.W. Erdnase)
86 Give It a Stab: stabbing effect with Svengali Deck
87 A Mathematical Control: automatic placement handling
88 A Not So Mathematical Control
89 Double Lift Substitute
91 Fechter's Slide Control (Eddie Fechter): bringing top card to bottom
92 Good and Better (w/Ed Marlo): key card placement after peek
94 Tent Vanish Subtlety: making use of duplicate card/joker
95 Double Undercut Control
97 Fan Control: card selected from circular fan is controlled
97 Fan Step
100 Cover for the Top Change
101 After the Break
103 Controlled Control: control to small number from bottom
104 A Red-Black False Riffle Shuffle
106 Out of Proportion: puzzle
107 Si Stebbins/Galasso: comment on the stack
108 In Lieu of the Diagonal Push-In (Dai Vernon)
109 Triumph for Okito (Gabriel Moreno): method to reverse top half at end of Triumph
129 Dealing Procedure in Gambling Demonstrations (David Malek): how to speed up dealing for a game
133 Tilt to the Hilt: double ambitious sequence
134 Another Card Production
135 Four Ace Production
137 Lapping Elmsley (Jean-Claude Pages)
138 Magic of the Hands: handling of trick using only the fingers
139 More and Further Magic of the Hands
142 Ultimate Magic of the Hands
144 Top Palm Subtlety and Quickie
146 Corner Switch for a Bill
148 Idea for a Close-up Act (Fred Kaps): egg bag as prop container
157 Top-Stock Control with Riffle Shuffle (Dai Vernon)
159 Reindeer Puzzle (Pekka Gunst): match puzzle
160 Torn and Restored Card (w/Charlie Miller) variation on Charlie Miller's The Torn Card
164 Transformation: simple transformation of aces into royal flush
165 Out: gag out when finding wrong card
170 Fred Kaps's Birthday: handling for so-called Hofzinser Top Change
173 A Short Routine with Sponges: using purse frame
174 Flash Production of a Sponge Ball (John Carney)
175 Subtleties for Sponge Ball Magic
177 Vernon Meets Daley: four of a kind appears at bottom of packets
179 Thoughts on Cups-and-Balls Loads
180 Cups-and-Balls Pendulum Loading (Dai Vernon & Charlie Miller)
184 Carta-da-Fé: how to burn a card
185 Clear Writing (Fredo Raxon): getting the spectator to write legibly
188 Staging a Three-Card Monte Game: useful for presentation
189 Bill in Lemon Concentrate
194 Breast-Pocket Ploy (John Carney): breast pocket stays open, is divided into two compartments
196 Details for a Climax (w/Carlhorst Meier)
197 Climax for a Knife Routine transforming a knife into many small knives
198 A Touch for Clifton's Ring Steal
202 The Empty Pocket (Steve Draun): showing trouser pocket empty
203 Double Divination (Gordon Bruce): 2 cards glimpsed in odd-colored half while riffling
203 Tell-Tale Color Glimpse (Judson S. Brown & Jack McMillen): glimpsing odd-colored card while riffling
204 Fantastic Tranceposition (Fred Kaps): from packet to packet
207 Intriguing Thoughts: dressed up divination
210 Card Control Demonstration: retaining aces on top after shuffle and cut
211 Climax to an Unexpected Poker Deal: inspired by the Negative Stock Shuffle problem
212 Postcard Cue Card: strategy to openly do a small set-up
213 Wrong Card: outs when wrong card is located
219 The Fred Kaps Color Change
222 The Simplest Deck Switch: management for simple pocket switch
223 One-Deck Do-as-I-Do (w/Al Koran)
224 One-Way Turnaround (w/Theodore Annemann)
225 The Involuntary Stooge (Fred Kaps)
226 More One-Way Ploys
227 A Safer One-Way (Max Giebe)
228 Cross-Referencing Practice
230 The Invisible Thimble (Fantasio)
231 Folded Card to Purse Frame
232 Ambitious I (w/Fred Braue): handling for Fred Braue's The Pop-Up Card
234 Ambitious II: in card case
235 Ambitious III: Creating an Impromptu Double-Backer 2 methods
236 Ambitious IV (w/Louis Zingone & Fred Braue & Neal Elias) 2 times to top, then secret steal
237 Ambitious V: spelling sequence
238 Ambitious VI: setting up for another double lift
239 Ambitious Problem
242 Pocket-Calculator Magic: presentation for old number trick on calculator
246 Old Props: with example Kangaroo Card
247 Greetings by Night: choice of stamp is predicted, multiple out
248 Tea for Profit: teabag changes into bill
250 Lyophilized Money (w/Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin): burnt white paper transforms into bill, then into higher denomination bill
252 The Creation of an Egg: cigarette paper is blown up into real egg
253 Double Divination (w/Carlhorst Meier): stacked deck
254 Cutting to a Crimp (Dai Vernon)
255 Cigarette Paper Divination (Alex Elmsley): motivation for a switch
259 The Program is Wild (Fred Kaps): idea for wild card plot
260 Another Key-Card Placement dribble handling
261 Linking Rings: general comments
262 Okito-san Meets Mr. Terrific: motivating an Okito Box
264 Edge-Marked Cards: only visible when beveled
265 Relative Circles: arm movement stunt
266 Any Wallet a Himber Wallet (Arnold Liebertz)
268 Card Counting Demonstration
269 Card Counting Enhanced
276 Triple Divination
286 Breaking in a New Deck
294 Paradox Prediction (Max Maven)
295 Two-Coin Transposition and Vanish (Tony Cachadina): Tenkai Pennies followed by vanish
296 Copper-Silver Transposition: coin in hand with coin in purse
300 Bar Bet
301 Another Bar Bet
302 The Vanishing Pen (Steve Beam)
303 Table Magic Opener: number prediction, thumb writer
305 Puzzle of the Nine Letters
306 The Binary Down-Under Deal: mnemonic aid to remember which position a card must start in
309 Bottle Cap Prediction (David Williamson): bottle as prediction, final gag
310 Thoughts on Coin Boxes: thoughts on motivation
311 The Obedient Lemon: stop-on-string ball with lemon
312 Calendar Prediction (Mel Stover): "Days of Force" with calendar
314 The Psychic Rubber Band: prediction written on rubber band
315 Venus VS. Mars (Fred Kaps & Nick Trost): "Eight-Card Brainwave" with male/female cards
316 An Overhand Shuffle Control
317 Automatic Key-Card Placement: out-of-hands
319 Which Wine Would You Like?: forcing wine with Roy Baker's PATEO Force
320 Getting Rid of Extra Cards Above a Selection: 5 methods
321 Lynn's Bold-Pass Card Control (Collin Lynn)
322 The Fake Take and Variations
325 A Built-In Shiner: cards with gilded edges
326 To Practice Estimation
328 Belchou Varied (Richard Vollmer & Steve Belchou)
330 A Bold Force: handling for old re-counting force
331 Quick Sellers (Tom Sellers): spot card forced, that many cards turn over
332 Card to Envelope and Wallet: thoughts
333 How to Limit a Number
334 An Ascanian Buckle Count Subtlety (Arturo de Ascanio)
335 When You've Lost the Card: 2 strategies
336 Finger Questions: puzzles with fingers
338 Marlo's Hands (Ed Marlo): uncommented photographs of some Charlier type pass
340 Seven Tips on Practice
341 Vanni Bossi's Wild Money (Vanni Bossi): presentation for flash cash
342 More Thoughts on "Flash Cash"
343 Yes Another Idea for "Flash Cash"
344 Bridge Over Hindu: doing a bridge and setting it over selection
345 Pass At the Bridge: different handling for The Display Pass
354 Torn and Restored Ploy: thoughts
356 Torn and Restored Justification
362 Ascanio's Subtlety for Stealing a Coin (Arturo de Ascanio)
366 A Touch on the Braue Addition
369 Ten Professional Tips: on different things
370 Applications of the All-Around Square-Up: list with applications
374 A Special-Deck Mnemonic (Lennart Green): how to know if a deck you open is a gaffed one
379 Top Stock Control
381 Daley's Sandwich Switch (Dr. Jacob Daley)
383 Going to the Pocket (Joachim Wolf): tip
386 An Unusual Double Lift (Fred Kaps)



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