Ogden, Tom: The Complete Idiot's Guide to Magic Tricks ©1999 Tom Ogden; Alpha Books (Simon & Schuster Macmillan Co.) Softcover, perfect-bound, 374 pages

Image courtesy Bryan-Keith Taylor

Comments: This is a good beginner's book of magic. Easy to read, lots of good tips and information, and some good entry level tricks. Comes with a set of punch out cards for some of the card tricks (featuring Bicycle backs). Throughout the pages are small text blocks with tidbits of information such as Tip of the Wand, Say the Magic Word, Now You See It, and Hocus-Quote-Us. Recommended for beginners. Available through most booksellers.

Contents:

xvii Preface by Jason Alexander
ixx Foreword by Lance Burton
xx Introduction: it's about tricks
xx The Tricks: teaching
xx What Won't I Find? No secrets to stage magic, no dangerous stunts
xxi Apology to the Lefties
xxii How to Use This Book
xxiii Magic Boxes: use of information boxes in the book
xxiv Acknowledgements
xxiv Special Thanks to Max Maven
xxv Special Thanks to Bob Borgia (Illustrator)
xxv Bicycle Rights Statement

1 Part 1: Open Sesame. Introduction

3 Chapter 1 The Big "M": Magic! What is Magic?
4 Out on a Limb: magic tricks vs. "real" magic
6 It's Us Versus Them: secrecy
6 Mark Wilson Anecdote
7 A Rose By Any Other Name: Magic, Conjuring, Thaumaturgy, etc.
8 It's A Trick! trick vs. effect
8 Effective Immediately: the types of effects
10 A Method to Your Madness: method is more than the secret
10 There's More Than One Way to Skin a Cat: other ways to categorize magic

12 Chapter 2: Let's Get the Show on the Road
14 Can Anyone Do Magic? Yes
14 What's In It For Me?
15 Let Me Entertain You. List of right reasons
16 I Want More: education, Gospel, therapy
17 For the Love Of It: Amateur, Semi Pro, Pro
18 Your Basic Bag of Tricks. No special powers, It Costs How Much?, Perseverance, How Little You Can Get Away With, Danger (tricks to avoid)
20 Release the Genii Inside: excuses

23 Chapter 3 The Magician's Pledge
23 Taking the Pledge. Never tell the secrets, practice the trick, don't say what you're going to do, don't repeat a trick, don't run when you are not chased, don't be a wise guy, be a performer
28 Tricks of the Trade. The magic moment, the too perfect theory, be natural, using flourishes, use audience's senses, audience requests, the KISS principle

35 Chapter 4 It's Wanderful, It's Marvelous
35 Wielding the Wand: some magic wand history and some basic uses
38 The Trick Stick: making your own
38 Wand From Nowhere: wand from coin purse
40 Static Cling: wand suspends from open hand
42 Trapdoor Trickery: wand penetrates middle of handkerchief
43 Wander Away: wand is wrapped in paper and the paper is then crushed: the wand has vanished
44 Accessorize, Accessorize, Accessorize! Mention of some commercial trick wands

47 Part 2 All The World's A Stage: building your confidence

49 Chapter 5 How Do You Get to Carnegie Hall?
49 Practice Makes Perfect
51 Stress Rehearsal: Rehearsal vs. practice
51 Putting It Together
53 Everyone Line Up! Routines. Doing What Comes Naturally
54 Open and Shut Case: openers and closers
54 Can You Top That? Encore
55 Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow: Change for Change's Sake
56 Index Indicators: building an index library of tricks
57 So Many Tricks, So Little Time: how to choose

59 Chapter 6 Say the Secret Words
59 Pitter Patter: what is patter?
60 When All Is Said and Done: development
61 The Mad Patter: How to be Funny
63 Magic Words: the magic moment again
64 Sing Out, Louise! Being heard
65 The Silent Script
65 Speak Up, I Can't Hear You! Mime
66 Music Hath Charms: a bit on using music

69 Chapter 7 Every Move a Picture
69 The Character Actor: developing a persona
71 Curtain Up! Walking on stage
71 Let's Take a Trip: creating a suspension of disbelief
72 Get Off Already! getting off the stage
72 What I Really Want to Do Is Direct: magician does it all
73 Cleanliness Is Next to Godliness: looking Good
74 Get Dressed! your clothes
75 Now You See It: Pochette's and Profonde's

77 Chapter 8 One Last Look
77 Boo! Stage fright
78 Things Go Wrong: (and what to do if) Someone arrives late, Someone walks out, No One Laughs, No One Applauds, microphone fails, you mispronounce something, someone yells they've seen it or knows how it works, trick goes wrong
81 Get Out of Here: when no one notices
81 Oh Yeah? hecklers
82 Cliche City: corny questions from spectators
82 May I Have a Volunteer, Please? choosing one
83 Now You See It: Harry Blackstone, Jr. and volunteers

85 Part 3 Easy Does It: No Skill Required

87 Chapter 9 The Key to Kard Konjuring
88 Your Basic Pick a Card, Any Card: a key card revelation
91 It's A Revelation: defines
92 The Circus Card Trick: the next card I turn over will be yours (the card has just been passed)
92 Heavy Handed: the cards are "weighed", with the selection the heaviest
93 Elementary, My Dear Watson: cards are examined for fingerprints
93 The Eyes Have It: looking into the spectator's eyes
93 Just Look! glimpsing the selection allows for other reveals
94 A Mental Case: reading the spectator's mind
95 Heart Throb: the spectator's heart beat reveals the card
96 Top That! 5 more reveals when selection is at top of deck
96 Reverso: selection appears face up in face down deck after deck placed behind magician's back
97 The Airdrop Turnover: As the pack is dropped to the table, the selection turns face up
98 The Clapper: as the hands are clapped, the selection leaps out of the deck face up
99 Crimping Your Style: making a card crimp
100 Hey Shorty: the short card and 3 ways to get selection to top

103 Chapter 10 Playing With a Full Deck: choosing good card tricks
104 The 21 Card Trick: spectator thinks of one of 21 cards from three rows of cards. Spectator merely tells which row the card is in. This is repeated twice, and the magician reveals the card
108 The Four Robbers: 4 Jacks (the robbers) placed near bottom, middle, and top of the deck. All four arise to the top
110 Recollect: 2 black Aces and Ace of Diamonds are shown. One is placed in the middle, one at the bottom, and one at the top. The deck is cut, and all three end up in the middle of the deck
111 Cutting to the Aces: spectator cuts the deck into 4 piles and mixes them up as instructed by the magician: the top card of each is an Ace!
112 Reverso: Spectator freely chooses a card and returns it to the deck. It becomes reversed in the middle
113 The Slop Shuffle: cards are mixed in face up and face down packets and shown thoroughly mixed. Suddenly, they all face the same direction. With optional card revelation ending

117 Chapter 11 You Gotta Have a Gimmick: using prepared cards
118 Spots Before Your Eyes: A card changes from four to one to five to two spots as turned over
120 Miko: A die is rolled and a previously selected card matches the die roll
121 Two Card Monte: Two cards shown, one face up and one face down. One is placed behind your back, and spectator is asked to state which one, but is always wrong
123 Three Card Monte: Two Aces sandwich a Queen. The cards are turned over and the middle card removed. The Aces are shown, but when the tabled card is turned over, it is blank!
127 Transformo Cards: 4 Jacks are shown. An Ace is changed for one of the Jacks, and all the cards turn to Jacks!
128 Phantom Cards: 5 cards are covered with a handkerchief and 2 are removed. The other 3 vanish
129 Phantom Poker: as above, with a poker theme

131 Chapter 12 Money Makes the World Go Around
131 The Cattle and the Rustlers: coins are taken in each hand from two rows along with a story of cattle and rustlers. At the end when there should be equal coins in each hand, one has only two.
133 Linking Loot: paper clips on a dollar bill link when the bill is pulled
133 Coin Go: coin vanishes from a handkerchief though held to the last minute by a spectator
137 Riches from the Rolls: a coin is found in a dinner roll
139 Coin Confederacy: a coin vanishes from under a handkerchief (uses a confederate)
139 Buddha Papers: a coin is wrapped in three layers of paper. When unwrapped, the coin has vanished

143 Chapter 13 Arithmetricks
143 1089 Now and Forever: a number written down. A spectator performs some calculations and arrives at the prediction. This can be repeated twice
145 Nein: spectator writes down large number, performs some calculations, and circles one of the digits. Magician determines the circled digit
146 Elephants in Denmark: Spectator thinks of country, animal, and a color that correspond to a number arrived at through mental arithmetic. Magician predicts the answers
147 Devil Dice: spectator rolls a pair of dice, stacks them, and adds up the 3 sides not showing. Magician declares the total
148 Devil Dice II: spectator rolls 3 dice, adds up some sides, and the magician declares the total
149 Mathemental: Arithmetic prediction repeated three times. On third try, answer is a fraction, so spectator thinks they got you
150 CompuCards: a set of cards with numbers on them are provided to the spectator. They select any number, and remove all the cards with that number. From the remaining, magician can quickly determine which number was chosen

153 Part 4 Getting Down to Basics: Simple Sleights With Ordinary Objects

155 Chapter 14 You Got the Moves
156 Just Whaddaya Mean By That? card terminology explained
158 The Overhand Shuffle
159 The Riffle Shuffle
160 The Hindu Shuffle
161 False Shuffles
162 The False Overhand Shuffle
162 The False Hindu Shuffle
162 May the "Force" Be With You
163 Criss-Cross Force
163 The Countdown Force
164 Hindu Shuffle Force
164 Force Decks
165 It's a Revelation!
166 Revelations: 13 ideas for revealing a forced card
167 The Magician's Insurance Policy: a card revelation fails so magician pulls out his insurance policy and reads the terms. As he opens the policy, a large poster of the selection is revealed

171 Chapter 15 We're in the Money!
171 A Moving Experience: intros to vanishes
172 The Standard Vanish: false pass
174 The French Drop: coin is "taken" from other hand
175 The Classic Palm
176 The Old Coin From Behind the Ear Trick: coin vanishes to be pulled from the spectator's ear
177 Coin Flight: one coin across (one coin joins the other in the hands)
178 The Ten Count and Countdown: a longer one coin across
179 Rubaway Coin: a coin rubbed into the elbow vanishes
180 The Coin Fold: a coin vanishes from the folds of a paper
182 Coin Through Handkerchief: a coin penetrates a handkerchief
184 A Bird in the Hand: two in the hand, one in the pocket

187 Chapter 16 Magic With Everyday Objects
187 Stretching Your Imagination: The Jumping Rubber Band
189 All Strung Up: two pieces of string merge into one
190 Rip It! A safety pin is ripped across a handkerchief without damaging it
192 Ashes to Ashes: ashes penetrate to spectator's palm
193 Presto Printing: a blank business card prints itself
194 Vanishing Pen and Business Card: In the act of vanishing a business card, a pen vanishes and appears behind your ear; then the business card vanishes
195 Ah, Choo! torn and restored napkin
197 Ah, Choo Two: in showing how the torn & restored napkin trick is done, the hidden torn pieces are restored, too

199 Chapter 17 Playing With Your Food
199 Bend Away Spoon: a spoon is bent and restored
202 Levitating Buns: a dinner roll levitates behind a handkerchief
203 Bouncing Baby Bun: a dinner roll bounces like a ball
204 Toothpick Pulse: a toothpick resting on the fingers moves in rhythm with a spectator's pulse
205 Salt Shaker Through the Table: a coin is covered with a salt shaker and napkin to penetrate the table. The coin fails, but the salt shaker penetrates instead.
208 Dot's Crazy: The Paddle Move: dots jump back and forth between two handheld paddles
211 The Cups & Balls: simple no sleight routine of ball penetrating the cups

215 Part 5 Life is a Cabaret

217 Chapter 18 Give a Magician Enough Rope...
217 The EZ Cut and Restore Rope: extra loop
219 The Cut ad Restored Rope: The Real Work: A rope is cut in the middle and restored
222 Restoration Number One: trimming the ends
222 Restoration Number Two: knot is pulled off the rope
223 Restoration Number Three: rope is wrapped around the hand and knot vanishes
223 The Professor's Nightmare: Three ropes of different lengths are shown and pulled to one length then restored to original size
227 Rigid Rope: a rope stands up in mid air when held at the bottom
229 Sawed in Half the Hard Way: spectator passes through two ropes

233 Chapter 19 Silken Sorcery
233 The Silk Route to China: Psst, Wanna Buy a Silk? info about silks
234 Whippersnapper: a knot appears in a silk when snapped in the air
235 Silk From Nowhere: a silk appears in the hands
236 Pocket Prestidigitation: handkerchief vanishes from pocket.
237 Production: of silk from pocket
237 Transformation: silk in pocket changes to different color
238 Transposition: silk travels from pocket to pocket
238 Sympathetic Silks: Two silks are tied and two are held by spectator. The knots transpose

243 Chapter 20 It's All In Your Mind
244 Psychological Sorcery: Audience: names a color, a number from one to 10, name a flower, draw two shapes, odd number. Magician names many of the them
246 The 1089 Book Test: a number is arrived at and a book, page, and word are selected corresponding to that number, matching a prediction
247 Equivoque: The Magician's Choice
248 Mental Vacation: magician predicts vacation selection
249 Color Me Magic: magician determines color of crayon placed behind his back
250 The Center Tear: magician can discern message on paper written by spectator
252 Living or Dead? Names of living and dead persons are written on papers. Magician can determine which sheets have which
253 Billet Reading: The One Ahead Principle
254 Pseudo Psychometry: small objects from different spectators are placed in envelopes. Magician can link objects with spectators.
256 Second Sight: confederate mentalism

259 Chapter 21 It's Just a Stage You're Going Through
259 Afghan Bands: Loop of cloth is ripped into two rings. One new ring is ripped in two and produces giant ring. Other ring is ripped and creates two rings linked together. Uses circus story theme
262 Clippo: a section of newspaper is folded and cut, but when opened is restored. This is repeated at an angle, and then straight again
264 The Root of All Evil: intro to two money tricks
264 Miser's Dream: coins are snatched from the air and dropped in a cup until the cup is full
267 Dollar Bill in Orange: a dollar bill vanishes and is found in an orange

271 Part 6 Past, Present, and Future Perfect

273 Chapter 22 Magical History Tour
273 In the Beginning...ancient magic
274 Mummies, Oracles, and Other Old Stuff
275 Extra! Merlin and the Alchemists
276 That Old Black Magic: the Middle Ages
277 Nobody Expects the Spanish Inquisition
277 Are You Going to Scarborough Fair?
278 Come Into My Parlor Said the Spider: Robert Houdin
279 Magical Dynasties: Maskelyne & Devant and more
281 Ties That Bind: Harry Houdini
282 The Really Big Show: Harry Blackstone & others
283 Right Under Your Nose: close up magic
284 The Millennium Approaches: magic in the 20th century
288 Your Photo Here

289 Chapter 23 Magic and the Performing Arts
289 Let's Go to the Movies: listings of magic in the movies
293 The Small Screen
293 The Real Thing: magic on TV
295 Dramatic License: TV series with magicians
297 Just Playin' Around: magic in theatre
299 It Isn't Over 'Til the Fat Lady Sings -or Dances: opera & ballet

301 Chapter 24 There's No Business Like Show Business
302 Where Do I Go From Here? Places to perform
302 Now We're Just Dickering Price: finding a price
303 Ya Gotta Do What You Gotta Do: deciding a price
304 Going Down: lowering your price
304 Raise Them Rates: raising your price
305 Bah! Humbug! charity shows
305 Teen Talk: shows as a teenager
306 Tools of the Trade: business cards and so forth
307 Check the Classifieds: advertising
308 Free, Free, Totally Free: free advertising

311 Chapter 25 Join the Professionals
312 Look It Up, Dude: what is a professional
312 Another Satisfied Customer: professionalism (Give 'Em What They Paid For!, How Time Flies, Give a Little Take a Little
314 Can't We All Just Get Along? variety acts
314 Giving Good Audience: revving up the audience
315 Miss Manners Visits Back Stage: meeting a magician after a show
316 The Thief of Thoughts: stealing material (don't)
318 Making Magic Your Own: creativity and originality
319 You're a Success! How you know
319 Go And Do Likewise: end notes

321 Appendix A Say The Magic Words: glossary
331 Appendix B Where to Learn More: books, shows, magic mentor, videos, classes, performing, magic shops, clubs, magazines, conventions, magic camps, Internet
347 Appendix C Recommended Reading: General Magic, Magic for Children, Miscellaneous Specializations & Stage Magic, General Close Up Magic, Coins, Cards, Mentalism, Mathematical Magic, Performance & Showmanship, History & Biographies
355 Index