Customer Reviews

Knack Magic Tricks: A Step-by-Step Guide to Illusions, Sleight of Hand, and Amazing Feats (Knack: Make It easy)

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As someone who has been doing magic for almost forty years and has been teaching magic for twenty of those forty years, I am always on the lookout for a book that I can recommend to my students. My students typically range in age from 10 to 15 years old. I was looking forward to reading KNACK MAGIC TRICKS because Richard Kaufman has been a moving force in the world of magic for the past 30 plus years. He has written some of the most influential books and in addition to devoting his time to the writing and publishing of books, he is also the editor and owner of Genii magazine. Genii is a monthly must read for magicians be they professionals or hobbyists. I have just finished my first pass through this book and I would like to share my impressions with you.

If your intention is to introduce your youngster or your young teenager to magic, this is the book to buy. The instructions are clearly written and the pictures, which are charming, clearly illustrate what the instructions describe. With one or two exceptions, all of these tricks can be prepared with things that you probably have lying around your house. The selection of tricks is well thought out. There are tricks with cards, with coins, with handkerchiefs, with bills, and with ropes. There are also several parlor type illusions that can be found within these pages, as well as several mentalism effects. Some of the tricks are easy to do - provided that performance is preceded by practice and an interesting way to present the effect has been decided upon. The book helps you with presentation ideas, but your student will have to put in the practice.

Some of the tricks are more challenging and require limited sleight of hand. A goodly number of magic classics can be found within these pages. Although the target audience for this book is the younger set, veteran magicians would profit by taking a tour through these pages. There is a mentalism trick by none other than Max Maven and it is both mystifying and fun. The "Buddha Bills" is, for me, a totally new way to present the "Buddha Money Mystery" using natural objects. The price to value is amazing. If you were to buy commercial inexpensive versions of the tricks described within these pages, your bill would run close to $150. For $20 or less, you cannot go wrong. Try it. You'll like it.

This is a review of Knack Magic Tricks (2010) by Richard Kaufman.

David Copperfield asks in the Foreward, "Does the world really need another book about how to do magic?" I was surprised to read his one-word answer: "Perhaps." But then Copperfield went on to describe Richard Kaufman, a personal friend since their high school days, as a "real writer and teacher," as someone who "has written or published many of the most famous books in the world of magic," and as someone whose "work is superb." When it came time to select a writer for the textbook of Copperfield's Project Magic, a hospital rehab program for kids and adults, Copperfield chose Kaufman.

Even though Kaufman's Knack Magic Tricks was written for non-magicians, many of the tricks described in this book first appeared in print by magicians for magicians. Credits for the professional tricks described in this book read like a Who's Who in magic: Jim Steinmeyer, Larry Jennings, Paul Curry, Jack Miller, Edward Marlo, Martin Gardner, Harry Lorayne, Max Holden, Wayne Dobson, Dai Vernon, Frank Everhart, Frank Garcia, Shigeo Takagi, Mike Shelley, Al Schneider, Stanley Collins, Jack Kent Tillar, Edmund Balducci, Harry Kellar, Karl Germain, Stewart James, Joseph Kolar, Roy Baker, Howard Lyons, Max Maven, Theodore Annemann, John Northern Hilliard, Albert Spackman, Hiroshi Sawa, Bill Madden, Bernie Trueblood, Bob Carver, Bob Read, Nicholas Night, and Lubor Fiedler.

Tricks by the professionals include card tricks (automatic, simple, intermediate, and advanced), coin tricks (simple and advanced), anytime tricks, string tricks, mental magic (simple, intermediate, and advanced), rope tricks, bill tricks, handkerchief and napkin tricks, fruit tricks, glass and cup tricks, and magic for kids.

Just as good as the tricks from the VIPs of magic are the classic effects explained by Kaufman, such as, Do As I Do card trick, Coin Vanish trick, Spoon Bending trick, Cut and Restored Rope trick, Buddha Bills trick, Cut and Restored Napkin trick, Card in Orange trick, Cups and Balls trick, and homemade Magic Production Tubes.

Much of the clarity of this book is due to the lucid and consistent style of the Knack Make It Easy series. In this Knack book, there are 450 full color photos by Elizabeth O'Keefe Kaufman of props, gimmicks, fakes, setups, and tricky moves accompanying Richard Kaufman's step-by-step explanation of each illusion, sleight, and feat.

Don't overlook the page about Routining Magic in the back of the book. Kaufman shows his readers how to put various sequences of tricks together into routines, creating acts that make you look like a "card expert," "mentalist," "platform magician," or "kids' magician."

The back of the book also includes a number of helpful Internet resources featuring dealers of magic and magic clubs (both public and private). Magician's lingo -- words like equivoque, key card, misdirection, and patter -- is covered in a brief glossary.

There are several other features that added to my appreciation for this book. For instance, there are special interest boxes on many of the pages. "Zoom" boxes supplement the step-by-step instructions by adding in-depth commentary. "Who Invented This?" boxes tell about the creators of the tricks. "Variation" boxes suggest alternative ways to perform or end tricks. "Red Light" boxes warn readers to beware of steps that are easily messed up. "The Art of Magic" boxes put tricks into their historical context.

I especially took note of the fact that Kaufman does not skimp on the importance of personality, presentation, and patter, which are just as crucial as, or even of more import than, the secret methods employed by performers.

Does this book pass my litmus test? I discovered a long time ago that practically every volume I've added to my collection of magic books over the past sixty years has included a chapter on that classic of classics, the Cups and Balls. This is the oldest trick known in magic and still the most popular. A book's treatment of this trick has become my litmus test for the composition as a whole. Is the trick presented as an unremarkable modus operandi or as a smoothly choreographed, catchy little routine? Kaufman kept the classic form of the trick where the balls gather and penetrate through three cups. But then he added a sequence where a piece of fruit is magically produced from each cup at the end. This finale is the professional touch that makes Kaufman's version of the Cups and Balls pass my litmus test. What's even better was my subsequent confirmation of the litmus test when I discovered the way Kaufman added his personal touch to many of the illusions and feats in this book of magic tricks.

About the Author: I first became acquainted with Richard Kaufman as the editor and publisher of Genii, the Conjurors' Magazine, the world's oldest independent journal for magicians. Genii operates MagicPedia, the largest online encyclopedia of magic. A card expert in his own right, Kaufman specializes in the basic sleight of hand methods needed to do card magic. Master the sleights taught in Knack Magic Tricks and you will be on your way to becoming an expert with a deck of cards. Kaufman's writing ability has been perfected through the more than 100 books he has written since 1977.

As an amateur hobbyist, I must say that this is the best book on beginner to intermediate magic I have ever seen. I have a number of older to recent books on the subject. There are 3 things that makes this publication stand out:
1. Excellent Content (much better than average beginner tricks.)
2. Complete and easy to understand explanations.
3. "How To" Photographs taken from the performers vantage point rather than the audience view.

The author has given the Magic Community a fresh look at some "old chestnuts". One trick alone costs more in a Magic Shop than this entire book.

Excellent book on magic-enables people of all ages to perform mini-miracles!!!recommend for novices and pros--Well done!!Love it!!!

Well written book and easy to follow instructions. Recommended for either the new or experienced non-professional magician.

I wish I had this book decades ago when I was first interested in magic. It's very well written - no surprise given that Richard Kaufman is highly admired for his many books and Genii Magazine. The pictures are so helpful...you don't have to try to imagine what to do. And the magic is superb. You can read this book...do the required practice!...and then go out and amaze friends and family.

This could be your entree into the wonderful world of magic. If it is, you've made a very wise choice.

I've been a full time professional magician for 21 years. Most pros have a certain reverence for well written magic books. The problem is most entry-level magic books are not well written. Magic books offer a distinct advantage over DVD's and You Tube videos, as long as the book is well written. Knack Magic Tricks is very well written with an unusual collection of clever, but not difficult, professionally constructed routines.

Richard Kaufman is a great writer of magic books. He has written dozens of magic books that have become modern classics. Magic books need to be concise and clear. Every sentence deserves consideration. This is an intelligently written book for beginners. Kaufman instills respect for the art by offering brief historical backgrounds. He offers insight into not only how but the reasons why the trick works. This is more than a collection of magic tricks. This is a collection of magic lessons.

The performance of magic develops confidence, attention to detail and public speaking skills. Magic teaches you how to highlight your strengths and mitigate your weaknesses. These are interview skills that will help you for the rest of your life. Knack Magic Tricks is a great way to get started. If you only buy one magic book in your life, it should be this one.

While there are many beginner's books on magic tricks, most of them all suffer from a feeling of "sameness." Indeed, many of them feature the very same tricks.

This book, however, serves not only as a great introduction to magic but offers some great twists on classic effects that will interest the intermediate and even advanced student. As the publisher of GENII, one of the world's most respected magic magazines (in addition to also writing and/or publishing some of the most enduring magic books of the last three decades), the author, Richard Kaufman, has always had a great eye for solid, entertaining magic and the choices he's made for this book are impeccable.

If you're interested in magic in the least, I believe you'll find this book to be a most welcomed addition to your library.

Wondering what to get that bratty nephew of yours in Poughkeepsie? Want to re-ignite the passion you had for that cheesy magic kit your parents got you? Would you like to read and learn magic from the greatest writer/publisher of magic books that has ever lived?

Then buy this book before it disappears!

For over thirty years our fearless author has been producing and publishing the greatest magic books ever written for the professional magic community. Up until Knack Magic Trick's publication, you could only find Kaufman books hidden in obscure, hard to find magic shops. That's because the good stuff is supposed to be hidden.

So why don't we drum Richard Kaufman out of the Magic Corps, break his wand and send him packing?

It's because magic's greatest secrets have always been hidden in the same place. They're hiding right where Mr. Kaufman has placed them;

Between the pages of a great magic book.

If you'll just buy Knack Magic and learn how to do the tricks, you'll be a magician too!

Not a bad book, but it is a primer. If you have an interest in magic, not a bad place to tinker.