Customer Reviews

The Real Work: Essential Sleight of Hand for Street Operators

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Although the book is somewhat thin, the information it contains is invaluable. I like author's who stick to their point and avaid exccssive rambling. I have read several books about street sleights, but this one explains the moves and sublties better than any of them. Overall I found the book to informative and entertaining. Maybe, the person complaining about the size of the book was simply dissapointed that he devoured the info so quickly. In my opinion, the information is well worth the price.
Remember, it's not the size of the size of the wand, but the magic in it.

The book is damn entertaining. The sleights are well described and the photos are superb. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is curious about street scams or street magic.

This book isn't really good for anything. There are much better sources for learning the three card monte and the shell game (school of scoundrels is the best source IMO). His dice switch is completely unpractical and not used by real cheats. Save your money.

I heard Paul Price on Howard Stern. He told listners how to get free soda and cash from vending machines. The book describes how to do that and more! He even tells you how to get free money at ATMs! This book is not for the weak of heart, but it is wonderfully entertaining and quite informative. Some of the author's adventures as a "Street Operator" are quite amusing. He's not a bad writer either. He knows how to communicate his point elegantly and with style. I highly recommend this book to anyone curious about street cons.

This book has lots of information about sleight of hand from a street operator's perspective. I really enjoyed the Three Card Monte section. The effects Price describes are miraculous. Although they take a little a bit of practice, the results are worth the effort. I highly reccommend this book. He also talks about street scams.

I heard Paul Price on Howard Stern. He told listners how to get free soda and cash from vending machines. The book describes how to do that and more! He even tells you how to get free money at ATMs! This book is not for the weak of heart, but it is wonderfully entertaining and quite informative. Some of the author's adventures as a "Street Operator" are quite amusing. He's not a bad writer either. He knows how to communicate his point elegantly and with style. I highly recommend this book to anyone curious about street cons.

Like one of the other reviewers, I also heard the author on Stern's radio show promoting the book. Unfortunately, the book is _very_ small (73 pages) and has fairly large type. There just ain't much here.

90% of the book is devoted to slight-of-hand scams like 3 Card Monte and so on. But those are better-explained in more traditional books on card magic and manipulation. The street hustling portion of the book is entertaining, but there just isn't enough of it to make the book worth [the price].

The publisher, Loompanics, has a number of fairly bizarre yet fascinating books out there that are pretty entertaining and informative. Unfortunately, THE REAL WORK just isn't one of their better efforts. If they sold this as an electronic download for a few bucks, that might be one thing; but [this price]for a 73-page paperback? No way.

The accusations don't make sense. How could the person who claims to have an admin friend use a random SSN to discover that Paul is the person they claim? Paul would not be linked to the SSN. All of the detective nonsense about the SSN is implausible. The fact is that a overspirited reader found a webpage for a student who redesigned Paul's site, and then assumed the student was Paul. I found the page too. It has all of the info the person claims to have obtained from Paul's SSN. The student even says that he was redesigning Paul's site. Even if it is Paul, what's wrong with using pseudonym? At any rate, the book is damn entertaining. The sleights are well described and the photos are superb. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is curious about street scams or street magic.