Solomon, Dave & Jeff Siegfried: The Wisdom of Solomon ©2007, Pro-Print, Highland Park IL Hardcover, w/dj, 212 pages

Comment (Danny Smith): Essentially this is "Solomon's Mind, Pt 2" -- same visual layout and format -- but not as well written. If you're a fan of the cerebral Chicago-style stuff (Bannon, Aronson, Solomon, etc), then this should be right up your alley (you should excuse the expression). Although I appreciate some of that style, in this case I have a difficult time assessing the material. Many effects cannot be described easily or concisely, which makes me suspect audiences would get lost. The material in the last chapter in particular appears over handled to me. There are, however, several extremely clever ideas here, particularly in the Don May chapter. I suspect that if you liked _Solomon's Mind_, you'll also like this one.

Contents:

IX Introduction by John Bannon
XI Preface by David Solomon

03 In the Beginning
03 Just Friends - Spectator cuts deck into 4 piles; one of 4 Ks is clearly cut into each packet. Poof! Kings reappear in the the cardician's hands. Each packet is turned over to reveal a Queen at the face.
06 Pure Vice-Versa - two selected cards instantly located, then dealt face down before the two specs, except cardician gets them wrong, placing spec-1's card in front of spec2. Poof! they switch places. Two handlings, one in the specs' hands.
10 Jokers Are Wild - Signed selection lost in the deck; cardician and spec both sign the back of a joker, which is cut face-up into the face-down deck, which is then shuffled. Cardician claims joker is adjacent to signed selection, but that card has vanished. The joker, still signed on the back has changed into the signed selection.
13 The Houdini Card - card supposedly signed by Houdini is reversed in the deck, which is then cased and placed in the _spectator's_ pocket. Houdini escapes in a flash, leaving the spectator's signed selection in its place.
16 Very Dicey - too complex to describe here: involves 3 spectators, two pair of dice, lots of counting, etc.
21 Revised Mexican Poker - 10-card poker deal, originally published in Magic Magazine Aug. 1999. The original "Mexican Poker" was in Onyx Magazine, Apr 1999. John Bannon has a similar(?) version in his _Dear Mr. Fantasy_.

27 Classic Plots
27 Gold From Straw Elevator - Variation on Peter Duffie's "Hellraiser 2"; standard elevator effect with royal flush kicker. Previous printed in Magic Mag, Sep 2004
30 Real Gone Hour - lightly gaffed version of the Clock Trick; card at S's chosen "hour" vanishes, then found in card case.
33 Whispering Queens - two selections are located by the red Qs.
37 A Quickie With Charlier and Simon - spell to selection (*yawn*); includes Solomon's "Charlier Peek" which is actually a glimpse.
39 Purely A,2,3,4 Thru the Kings - Solomon handling of a Marlo effect: a progressive elevator-type effect.
42 Marlo's Secret Kato - from a Hideo Kato effect, by way of Marlo: chosen card vanishes from its 7-card face down packet, appears as only face down in 7 (now 8) card face up packet
45 Right Side Up - Spectator cuts deck, gives half to the performer. Performer selects card from his half and shows it to spectator. Spectator also selects card from his half butt keeps it secret. Each selection is then inserted into the other person's half, deck is re-assembled and spread face down. Both selections are seen face up in different parts of the deck.
That's a near-quote, it looks better than it reads.
47 The 21 Card Trick - two variations of the old chestnut (cf Jack Parker, Marlo, et al)
51 Three Selection Discovery - Just what it sounds like, plus a variation on Marlo's Pellet Classic from Marlo Mag #1.
55 Play Poker with Me, Please! - Three-phased 10-card poker deal routine w/ ideas from Marlo, Trost, Aronson, Curry, Riser. Spectator's apparent control increases in each phase. Quite strong, really.
61 Card In The Card Case - card vanishes from deck to appear in case; two handlings, one gaffed.
65 Hofzinser King City - variation of the Hofzinser lost ace plot, not bad.
68 Which Switch - Sort of like that David Blaine card switch trick (actually Eddie Fechter's), but different, eh?
71 The King Thing Revisited - overly complicated production of 4 kings. (IMO)
74 Cut Deeper Sans Deeper -

81 Ace Assembly
81 Solmar Aces Revisited - 4-ace trick + "Kick back" (reverse) assembly.
87 Marlo vs. The Observation Test - show 4 Js, 4Qs, 4Ks, and 4As. Aces dealt out face down in a row; kings dealt onto aces, followed by queens, then jacks. (each pile contains A, K, Q, J) - when turned up, Aces in one pile, K's in another, etc.
92 O'Henry Jazz Aces [sic] -
96 Another Succession of Aces - handling of Solomon's Succession Aces (from _Solomon's Mind_) - progressive ace assembly
102 Mayce Assembly - Don May & Dave Solomon - aces assemble under spectator's hand.

108 Don May's Genius
108 My Inspirational Friend Don May - Essay
109 May's Assembly - standard 4 ace effect, the handling has a really nice rhythm to it.
113 May's Take On Vernon's Trick - effect bears little similarity to the Vernon inspiration, "Affinities" (Chronicles, V2), beyond spectator choosing among several piles of cards. Semi-automatic, and extremely clever.
115 May's No- Strip Out Multiple Shifts - five methods.
120 Stinger Monte - "Find the Lady" with 4 packets; surprise blow off when all 4 have queen on top. Good.
123 Nine or Ten Hands - 4 nines lost in the deck; deal 9 poker hands, 9th = four 9s; deck shuffled again; deal 10 hands; 5th = 4 aces, 10th = straight flush, 9S-KS.
127 The Kings' Escape - 2 pairs of Ks vanish from beneath two specs hands, to be replaced by their chosen cards.

144 Mathematically Speaking
133 Casino Clock - variation of the classic; pairs of cards at each hour, spectator's chosen hour is a Black Jack (AS/JS)
136 Think, Spell & Stun - speller
139 Does Anybody Faro Anymore - two-card location
141 Solomon Meets Gardner-Marlo - variation of the Gardner-Marlo Poker Deal (from _Let's See the Deck_)
145 What's Your Number - freely selected card at a specific number in a face-up half of the deck transposes with another selection at a specific number in a face-down half of the deck. (See Ibidem #8, "Solutions to a Problem")
147 Building Math Principles - counting, dealing, Australian dealing (deal and duck)...all the things we love rolled into one effect.
150 Smith Without the Myth - Two specs each cut off a packet of cards and secretly count them to get a number; packets are shuffled together; cards are counted face-up, S#1 told to remember card at his number; dealt again for S#2 to remember card at her number; you name both cards with no fishing.

155 Just a Little Something Extra
155 Diamond Bar, Gaffed - Daryl's Diamond Bar (from the Collected Almanac) but with gaffed cards. (dbl ended cards)
160 Blank jazz Aces - After 3 ace transpositions, the faces of some cards disappear; finally faces of the whole deck vanish. (lots of blanks!)
164 Solomon's Gypsy Curse - uses std. set of cards by Peter Kane, straight forward handling.
167 Outdoing "Hummer Outdone" - spectator gives a 20-card packet a topsy-turvy shuffle, then remembers one of the face up cards; magician sorts the packet by feel, under the table, then shows all are face up except chosen card. (Dbl backers)
169 Blank Thought - two jokers trap a blank-faced card, which then changes to the selection. (cf "Devilish Deuces Wild Sandwich" in _Solomon's Mind_)
172 Doubly Open - two-spectator version of Curry's Open Prediction; uses a deck of readers with two cards roughed(!), although I suspect a memorized deck would also work instead of readers. See Kabbala June '72 for Solomon's original, slightly different, handling.
174 Everywhere and Nowhere - classic Hofzinser effect, using 4 dupe cards.
179 Double Joker Sandwich - two selections, lost in deck. Spec inserts a pair of jokers into the deck which then trap the first selection. That one is removed and placed in the card case. Repeat, but this time the 1st selection is again trapped; the card in the case has changed to the 2nd selection. dbl facer

185 For the Card Expert
185 Million Dollar Oil & Water II - standard 3-phase O&W effect
191 S-V-S Shuffle Stack - 4 Ks placed on top of deck, three shuffles: Ks back on top; repeat, but only two shuffles, now show 1 K + 4 As on top; repeat, only one shuffle, spade royal flush is on top.
196 Kissing Cousins Twice Removed - Variation of Curry's Kissing Cousins (_Worlds Beyond_).
201 Christian's Prediction - three prediction cards are removed unseen and placed aside; three spectators each choose a card which are returned to the deck. The predictions are shown to match them.
205 Clearly Up the Ladder - reworked version of "Four for Four Squared" from _Solomon's Mind_.
210 Army Card Trick - card is peeked; deck spread to reveal a face up ten spot, which turns out to be 10 cards away from the selection; offer to repeat, this time the ten (with odd-back?) is openly inserted out-jogged while another card is peeked. Shuffled, then locate the odd-card. Instead of 10 away, the 2nd selection is named and its value used to count from the odd-backer. (whew!)