The Bottom Line
Pros
- Great material
Cons
- Lots of page turning
Description
- Lots of material
- Lots of page turning
- Can be a challenge to read
Guide Review - The Amateur Magicians Handbook
The book has sections on traditional magic with cards, coins, billiard balls, thimbles, cigarettes and mentalism. There’s also chapters on performing for kids and close-up. Amazing Randi offers a section on coaching your performance using videotape and the final section of the book is devoted to staging a magic show. This book is full of moves and manipulations. And of course, you’re free to select what you want to learn.The book is older so it has a different feel to it. Hay is sometimes aggravating as a writer because he bounces around so much referring to moves described earlier. Another irritation, the pictures often don’t match what you’re reading on the page. As a result, be prepared for lots of page turning and referring back and forth.
I’ve got a small paperback version of this book that’s covered with packing tape. I take it almost anytime I go on a trip. I have actually spent late evenings in a tent with a headlamp flashlight reading this book. (It was during a canoe trip down the Colorado river-the book was kept in my dry sack with my camera.). If you’re just starting out in magic, I would recommend that you go with the Mark Wilson course first. But after you’ve got some basics, check out Hay’s fantastic book.
Wayne N. Kawamoto
