Ortiz, Darwin: Designing Miracles ©2006 A-1 MagicalMedia Hardcover, w/dj, 200 pages

Image courtesy eBay seller Diddy-DVD

Comment (Jake Austin):  Darwin Ortiz has done it again.  His book Designing Miracles will give you the tools to construct magic tricks that astonish your audience.  These tools can also be applied to the tricks you already perform but seem to fall flat when performed. It may not be your fault the audience's reaction is underwhelming!  It may be the design of the trick that is the root cause.   Learn to identify design flaws in your tricks, fix them, and see your audience's reactions improve.

Contents:

9 Foreword by Whit Haydn
13 Introduction
13  Magic as Craft
13  Designing the Effect

17 Chapter One: Picking the Best Method
17  Cleverness
18  Creativity
18  Difficulty
20   Efficiency
21  Whether It Fooled You
22  Novelty
23  The Trick with No Method
24  "It Doesn't Matter"
26  Design

29 Chapter Two: The Magical Experience
29  The Magical Experience
29  Deception vs. Illusion
32  Puzzle vs. Miracle

35 Chapter Three: Causality
35  No Way
36  Making Causal Connections
39  The Design Bonus
40  Analytical Tools
41   Inner Reality vs. Outer Reality

45 Chapter Four: Temporal Distance
45  The Critical Interval
47  Case Studies
49  The Magician Mentality
50  Forward Time Displacement
51   Time Misdirection
52   Time Displacement and Acting
54   Time Displacement and Magic Gestures
55   Time Displacement Convincers
56   The Time Displacement Device
59   Case Study: Carlyle's Homing Card
60   Forward Time Displacement Methodology
67   Double Time Displacement
68   Time Displacement and Presentation
68  Backward Time Displacement
69   Psychological Surrender
70   Case Study: Carlyle's Homing Card
71   Case Study: Oral Hygiene
72   Backward Time Displacement Methodology
76   Backward Time Displacement and Intensity Misdirection
77  Time Displacement and Sleights
77   Where the Dirty Work Happens
78   Where the Move Happens

81 Chapter Five: Spatial Distance
82  Positioning Effect and Method in Space
82  Time and Space
83  Removing the Evidence
86  Secret Transfer
88  Shifting Location of Revelation
90  Isolation
91  Producing a Distant Duplicate
92   The Two-Out-of-Three Rule
93   The Vanish and the Production
95   Subverting the Timeline
97  Creating False Proximity

103 Chapter Six: Conceptual Distance
104  Physical Barriers
106   The Hole Container
107  Information Barriers
107   Case Study: The Trick That Can't Be Explained
111   Information Barriers and Conservation
112   Creating Information Barriers
114   Case Study: Note Under Cup
115  The Veils Principle
118  Barriers to False Explanations
122  Eliminate Suspicion Before It Forms

127 Chapter Seven: The False Frame of Reference
127  The Straight and Narrow Path
129  The "Too Obvious" Theory
131  Method as Effect
134  The Method/Effect Shift
136  The Final False Solution
139  Frame of Reference and Kickers
141  The Crooked Path

143 Chapter Eight: Visual Magic
143  Defining Visual Magic
145  Visual vs. Mental Components
147  Laying the Groundwork
149  Strengthening Visual Magic
149   Momentary Delay
153   Time Displacement in Visual Magic
154   Conceptual Barriers in Visual Magic
155  Limitations of Visual Magic
155  Exploiting Visual Magic
155   As a Time Displacement Device
157   As a Validating Phase
160   As Part of a Visual/Covered Design
161   As Incidental Magic

163 Chapter Nine: Correlation: Making and Breaking Patterns
163  Conviction
165  Repetition
167  Eliminating Pattern Clues
167   Method vs. Technique
168   Complete Time Displacement
168   Combining Different Methods
169  The Composite Perfect Method
171   Case Study: Carlyle's Homing Card
173  The Rule of Three
175  Thematic Misdirection
176  Creating False Correlations

179 Chapter Ten: Manipulating Memory
180  The Fallacy of Deep Motivation
182  Telegraphing Motivation
184  Ruses
184   Incidental Actions
187   Accidental Actions
189   Extraneous Actions
190  Altering the Final Picture
191  Final Points

193 Afterword

195 Appendix One: Darwin's Laws

197 Appendix Two: Glossary