Customer Reviews

Self-Working Close-Up Card Magic: 56 Foolproof Tricks (Dover Magic Books)

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

 

 

Having had no magic creating experience, it amazed me how with the clear illustrated instructions in this book, I could within a very short time have over a dozen card tricks at my command..now I've ordered Fulves' other "Self-Working" books to expand my ability to entertain and amaze others! It's really fun!

This book, along with all the other Fulves Self-Working series are full of really great magic that can be done without years of practice. That however, doesn't mean no practice. As with any presentation before an audience, attention to instructions and good audience management are essential. This means that, just like an actor in a play, the magician-to-be must know exactly what to do and when to do it, what to say and when to say it. This requires several run-throughs with no audience. (Sound like practice to me!!) I think that 'self-working' in the title means that you can do the effects without working on sleights for several months/years before you can do anything magical. This material can be presented after a few hours practice!

I'm an amateur magician who does magic just for fun. I've been doing amateur magic (mostly with cards) on and off for at least 20 years.

I love this book. I've had this book and 2 other of Karl Fulves self working card magic books since the 1980s. These books are all classics which give you an abundance of self working material. By self working he means you don't need sleight of hand or complicated moves that require weeks of daily practice. However, some tricks do require learning the routine and the use of simple props to do them right. Besides cards most of the props are simple items that are easily obtainable.

The tricks range from very easy to difficult. The easiest tricks can be learned in about 10-20 minutes whereas the harder ones can take about 30-60 minutes or more to learn. Each of his books, including this one, should provide you with at least a dozen very good tricks. This and the book "Scarne On Card Tricks" (probably the best one ever) are fantastic books that contain many amazing self working card magic. In my opinion, this is a perfect starter book for beginners.

Karl Fulves has been putting out these kinds of books for what seems like an eternity. They are good books for kids and even a skilled performer can pull some good material from these books.

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I got this because the other reviews said how good it was, but i opened it and gave up almost immediatly. The instructions are difficult to follow.

If you see a book written by Karl Fulves on magic that has the words Self-Working in the title then buy it. There is a wealth of knowledge in each of these books. -Diamond Jim Tyler

The tricks in this book are not totally self working. You have to remember a lot and tell people what to do.