Customer Reviews

Abbott's Encyclopedia of Rope Tricks for Magicians

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book is a classic of magic. Anyone interested in doing magic with ropes must have this book. It's nearly 400 pages are packed full with just about everything a magician can do with a rope; penetrations, restorations, false knots, you name it. It's a small price to pay for this wealth of knowledge. -Diamond Jim Tyler

This is an excellent book for anyone involved in magic; amateur or professional. It contains an incredible number of tricks, many of which are professional quality. For example, the first trick in the book is very simple, repeatable (yes, repeatable), can be viewed from any direction, and I have used it to fool professionals on several occasions. The tricks are broken into neat categories and cover enough ground so almost anyone can find something they like. The book often has several ways to do the same effect giving the reader a choice.

Why only 4 stars? The illustrations are frequently not very good - an all-to-common problem with books on magic. The directions often leave something to be desired also. While I only found 1 trick I could not figure out (I have gone through over 1/2 of the book) it often took longer than was necessary because of imprecise directions. My example above took over half an hour to figure out, but is teachable from person to person in about 2 minutes. Also, many of the tricks are modifications of the same thing. Lastly, the fact that only a narrow area of magic is covered (and redundantly) may put off some readers.

Please note that most of the detractions above are, in my opinion, not as significant as the overall quality. If I could, I would rate this 4 and 1/2 stars - not quite perfect but very good.

If you are looking for a source of rope magic effects to peruse, looking to add some interesting minutes to your act, this is one of the first books you should buy...and at these prices, you can't go wrong. If you are a newbie-beginner in magic looking for easy tricks, this will start you off...and includes intermediate and advanced magic and methods for you to study. Even seasoned can find great stuff here.

Great book. Don't do much rope work, but really enjoy this book. Bought this one to replace one lent out and never returned. My original was bought in Las Vegas at Lance Burton's shop.

Abbott's Encyclopedia of Rope Tricks for Magicians is a good book serving a reference purpose. Its aspect and manner of coverage will not excite and inspire but there is a lot of useful material in the book. My feeling was the book could have been written more attractively and more efficiently from the viewpoint of the learner. However, a serious student of rope magic needs little more in a limited portion of rope magic. There does not seem to be clear coverage of modern knowhow that goes behind such contemporary routines as by Sands, Daryl, Sanders and Tabary. But this is perhaps for the obvious reason that the book was written long long ago. On the other hand there is much about knots, cut and restored techniques and body penetration.

There may be many rope tricks, but I was VERY disappointed with the lack of illustrations and the poor quality of illustrations that were presented. Difficult to learn even simple tricks due to these factors.