Where?
Nice review, except – the reviewer talks about me saying how great I am! Whaat? and Where? Sometimes these revieweres just make up things. I would love for him to cite one damn example where I say how great I am. What the hell is he talking about. I do wish people would just stick to reviewing, if in fact they know how to do that.
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"Mnemonica" by Juan Tamariz
"Mnemonica" by Juan Tamariz- Translated from the Spanish by Rafael Benatar
I would like to start off by saying that Mnemonica by Juan Tamariz is one of the greatest works on the memorized deck in the history of magic; an encyclopedia on the subject Tamariz has painstakingly researched nearly every form of memorized deck since the 16th century. Lovers of magic will consume his 50 page bibliography in which he makes comments on the best memorized deck effects from such masters as Theodore Annemann to contemporaries such as Simon Aronson and Martin Joyal. Indeed the bibliography suggests a lifetime of "required readings" that will provide a plethora of inexplicable "pieces of strange" that will captivate and fool any audience neophyte of experienced magician. In addition he also generously provides another section dedicated to useful sleights including a number of useful glimpses, deck switches, and crimps from the likes of such legendary cardmen as Edward Marlo, Dai Vernon and Tamariz himself. The reader will also discover a number of useful complete false shuffles and other brilliant ideas such as the Tamariz Perpendicular control and the Green Angle Separation. There is also extensive ideas for resetting the stack even after it has been riffle shuffled AND overhand shuffled by spectators. All this and I haven’t even described the main reason for buying Mnemonica, this being the stack and the tricks provided itself!
For starters, the Mnemonica stack itself is a brilliant creation that was recently released to the magic community after 20 years of development by Juan Tamariz:
"The Mnemonica stack contains all the tricks for a memorized deck; all the tricks using stay stack; "Super Poker"; "Any Poker Hand Called For"; the production of whole suits of hearts, spades or clubs; Aronson’s routine using the whole diamond suit; the routine of lucky coincidences; two stories told by the cards; the mental spelling of ten cards; a series of fifteen cards for a divination of three thought-of cards; rummy, poker, bridge and blackjack demonstrations; a version of "The Vernon Poker Demonstration"; other productions and spellings for the Aces, Kings, Queens, and Jacks, spellings to several selected cards, the four Deuces, colors, suits, values, etc.
And finally. It is set from new deck order.
Can be converted to stay-stack order and
You can finish with the whole deck in order."
If you’ve never learned a memorized stack before, or even if you have, you are probably thinking about what a daunting process it must be. I can assure you the system that Juan has devised, entitled "Ultra Rapid Memorization" is just that; the stack can be easily learned in as little as three hours. I did it over the course of two afternoons, about two weeks apart, spending about an hour and a half for each session. And because of the way it is memorized it will stay with you for life. I’ve gone three weeks without thinking about the stack and it is still automatic- the learning process burns the image of the card and its corresponding stack position in your mind indefinitely.
The tricks are divided into a number of different chapters including "Specific Tricks for Mnemonica," "Tricks with the Whole Stack", "Tricks Specific to Mnemonica with the Stay Stack Wheel,"Tricks Unique to Mnemonica using Only Half the Stack," "Tricks with the Half Stack," and "Tricks that Improve with Mnemonica"
Each chapter is filled with many different professional caliber effects and presentations that can be used in both restaurants and for more formal close up demonstrations at the card table, many of which are completely inexplicable even to other magicians. I can’t encourage you enough to pick up this book and see for yourself why Juan Tamariz is considered the master of the memorized deck.
Here’s what Simon Aronson (another giant of magic) had to say about Juan in the introduction of his book:
"Juan is way ahead of us, all the time. Always thinking, always observing, always innovating, always making use of whatever opportunity presents itself. That what makes his use of the memorized deck, and all of his magic, such a joy to experience, and such an inspiring example to learn from. Juan’s magic is a living illustration of his own theoretical writings, urging us to gently cause the spectator to just "give up" rational analysis so that he can revel in the joyous impossibility of that moment."
For those who want to take their card magic to the next level, consider Mnemonica and you will enjoy a wealth of material that will keep you busy for the rest of your life.
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My Favorite Book Ever
This book is just a joy to read. It is written as if John is with you and a few other magicians having a chat at a magic convention. The effects are really well thought out and there are some great routines that will fool magicians as well as laymen.
A great read, and contains some great effects.
I really can’t rate this book highly enough!
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Indispensible!
If you’re unsure about this book and need a review to persuade you to buy it, take my word for it: it is terrific. I’ve told several people how strongly I feel it should be on the shelf of every magician…
As well as being easy to follow, the sheer range of material makes it incredibly useful to anyone who performs, plays with or creates magic. Whilst some of the material will be beyond the novice, I imagine almost everyone who reads it will come away with plenty of great, practical ideas. Highly recommended.
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A tribute to a Great Man ripped off by everyone
Basically a collection of magic trick instructions from Jack Hughes’ Unique Magic Company. Supreme magic bought all of the Unique Magic properties. At the time of publication, Edwin Hooper had no idea if Ken Brooke was alive or dead, and he did not care.
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Excellent!
Not being familiar with a great number of marked decks, the Boris Wild MD seems to me to be a fine gem. This books is exceedingly well written and the author credits numerous persons who’ve gone on before him. A nice read indeed.
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EAsy to follow
The effects in this book are easy to follow and are easily fitted into anyones routines.
They are hard hitting and will fool all laypeople and magicians alike.
There are not to many moves that have to be practiced and any magician will be able to perofrm all the effects with minimal practice (although as always a beginner will need to practice practice practice. But this would be the same for any trick with any beginner)
I enjoyed this book and use some of the routines all the time
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One of the greatest close-up magic texts ever!
As one of the premiere authors on magic and magicians, Walter Gibson performed an invaluable service for the magic community by compiling this tome dedicated to sleight of hand and entertainment. This is a "must-have" book for those seriously invovled in the art and it will lead you expertly through the most useful techniques of close-up manipulation of cards, coins, balls, thimbles, etc. He has even included a section on Mental Magic as a form of close-up.
Gibson’s skill at leading one through clearly defined moves is augmented by critically angled photographs of the author’s hands in action. Included with all this are the tips and secrets to overcoming some of the serious difficulties entertainers often experiene when performing crucial sleights.
Though out of print for some time now, copies can still be found in a variety of book dealer websites. I have had a copy for 28 years and still use it to learn and review from. This will keep you busy for a long time.
Along with Bobo’s masterpiece on coins, Ganson’s manipulation series, and Garcia’s extensive writings, Gibson’s work will always rank among the most important teaching tools in Magic.
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The Best Card Book Ever
This is the best card book I own and my library exceeds 800 magic books. Most all the effects use sublety as opposed to sleight of hand. All the effects in the book are fantastic, I cannot find one I do not like.
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The Holy Grail of Card Flourishes
This book takes you through the basics to the full blown knuckle busters that only Jerry and God can do. My fingers were in traction for weeks and I was only to page 30 something. Seriously, this opus is the first and last word on card flourishes. I would highly recommend it to beginner and expert alike. After watching the dvd that I purchased with the book and finding the energy to lift my jaw off the floor, I found that with hard work and lots of practice, I was performing some of the more difficult moves with more skill than I thought I had in my pethetic hands. (I was born with 2 left thumbs 🙂 The moves are taught and explained very thoroughly, so well that even an idiot like myself was able to follow along. Also, thankfully there were thousands of pictures that illustrated each point in the flourish. Phew! Highly recommended.
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