Discover Hidden Gems in Magic Books

In this Erudite Magic book discussion, Jeff helps you map a path to mine your own hidden gems in your magic library. Don't be intimidated, it's much easier than you think!💎📚📖
For The Jinx's very own Mental Stud, click here to download it FOR FREE: bit.ly/MentalStud
Denis Behr has a wonderful resource he provides for free via conjuringarchive.com, and it will greatly help you in your magic book exploration...put this one in your favorites!
Here is The Magic Café thread in 'Secret Sessions' (note: you must have 50 posts on the Café with a valid login to access it): bit.ly/BookGems
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[@dustyhill9379]

Reading broadly. Yep. I usually work through 2 or 3 books at a time so I don't fatigue myself on just card trick after card trick. I'll usually have 1 card book, 1 theory book, and 1 wildcard book (mentalism or maybe coin magic) to switch between and keep it interesting. I like what you say, "Don't read anything without thinking there's an opportunity to learn something". That's golden advice right there!

[@EruditeMagic]

I like your strategy! Thanks for sharing. 👌

[@beatz04]

One hidden gem: The card section in Mark Wilson's Complete Course. It's better than some of the "classic" card books.

[@EruditeMagic]

Great point!

[@seraph127]

One of my personal hidden gems is “Thought Stealer” from Royal Road to Card Magic. A nice way to avoid the hassle of memorizing the cards you need to pull out is to write a crib under the flap of the card case - on the flat part, not the big semicircular tuck. There’s also a way to avoid having to run several cars in an OH shuffle. But listen to the effect: You lay out six cards on the table that appear quite random (once you understand the principle, you can choose your own group of six). As you turn around the spectator THINKS of any one of the cards. When they tell you they’ve done this, you turn around, replace the cards in the deck, and shuffle. Now you ask for the cards to be named. You or the spectator can then deal one card for each letter in the name of the card, turning over the card corresponding to the last letter. It is the mentally selected card. You do not know its identity until the spectator tells you. Well worth study.

[@EruditeMagic]

Very cool suggestion, and I love the old-school source!

[@owenjohansson5152]

This literally rekindled my love for magic^ I had it sitting on my shelf for years before that

[@EruditeMagic]

Love hearing that!!

[@colingeddes2792]

Great episode. And yeah, I’ve got too many magic books “on the go”. I need to focus and set that specific time aside, but paid work and family often override 😂

[@EruditeMagic]

I get it! You're not alone with those issues.

[@donunicycle]

One of my latest hidden gems that I’ve re-mined is Bob Hummer’s Mathematical Three Card Monte. The concept has been developed to an unreal degree by Michael Murray, in the Trojan Horse Project.

[@EruditeMagic]

I'm interested in checking that book out soon! Thanks for sharing 👍

[@i.m.9381]

Nice topic, will try and post 1 hidden gem in the comunity tab if I get the chance. It was a really fun artikle in Magic Magazine form a few years back. It was about getting you spectator to 'try' to lift a saltshaker.

[@EruditeMagic]

Nice - I look forward to seeing it! Thanks for taking time to watch and comment 👍

[@donunicycle]

Reminds me of the old gag/trick about asking someone to lift a glass from a tray, and it’s easy to do. Then you place a silk into the cup, and they can no longer lift it off the tray. No magnets, and very simple to make and perform.

[@EruditeMagic]

@@donunicycle where can one find that? 🤔

[@donunicycle]

@@EruditeMagic I found it in an older John Scarne book, but I don’t recall which one.

[@EruditeMagic]

The hunt is on!! 🤓

[@magicbar13]

One way I find hidden gems is when reading a trick, if it references an earlier trick as inspiration (which is the majority of tricks in newer books) I search out that earlier version. Many times I rework that older version or get interested in the older book itself for other tricks too. Hence, I find myself revisiting books from prior to 1980s

[@EruditeMagic]

Got to love it when you get pushed to the old books 👌

[@magicbar13]

@@EruditeMagic yes and funny to think that as we get older there seems to also be more and more ‘older’ books! I noticed a worn copy of Greater Magic on your shelf. I recently went through all the false cuts in I think, chapter X just as a drill to see how many I knew. Amazing when I think of how many of performers learned from that book.

[@EruditeMagic]

It really is astounding!

[@christophermoro]

This is a great topic! Even after many years in the field, and especially after a long interim period of flocking to video instruction, and even as someone who prefers books and knows for a fact they offer much more depth than video... I struggle with this. I read, a lot.... and reading a magic book is not easy, and if it doesn’t wow you for long enough... it becomes easy to skim, glaze over and miss gems.

[@EruditeMagic]

That's why I recommend keeping a journal and tracking progress. Don't get discouraged, get determined! 💪🤨

[@ImpromptuCardMagic]

Great video with lots of gold included!

[@EruditeMagic]

Thanks, Dave! 🙏

[@jakelundgren2116]

Oooohhh... I’m excited

[@EruditeMagic]

Thanks, Jake!

[@dominic_cards]

Really enjoyed watching this video 🙌🏼🔥 Great advice 💪🏼🎩💥

[@EruditeMagic]

Thanks for watching, Dominic! 🙏

[@kalvinhepple5975]

Very good interesting sound advice for finding hidden gems 💎!I bet if we all went through our books,one at a time,cover to cover,there would definitely be really good “stuff” we missed !Excellent topic and presentation!Cheers!

[@EruditeMagic]

Thanks, Kalvin❗ You're totally right - good luck as you go through your library to find items that work for you! 👍📚

[@jayfreeman9357]

Knowledge is power 💪

[@EruditeMagic]

Indeed! 💪

[@ScottRSmith1964]

Great ideas. I’m always looking for hidden forgotten magic. That’s the cool stuff.

[@EruditeMagic]

💯 - there's enough 'forgotten' magic to keep all live magicians busy for the rest of their existence! 😱

[@RobertBallMagician]

Wonderful ideas. You always seem to find those hidden gems in books you haven't looked at in a while.😊👍👏😊👍

[@EruditeMagic]

That's right!! One has to revisit old friends from time to time

[@keithmitchell1374]

Here's a hidden gem: I think I saw a brief clip of the Riser Loomis Micro Chop Cup in Jeff's video. This is one of the very best implementations of chop cup. I liked it so much that I bought a backup used one on Magic Cafe.

[@EruditeMagic]

I use the Loomis routine with it, too!

[@dgoldberg2008]

One hidden gem I've discovered is the Penguin Series on the Tarbell Course. Every Trick In The Book with Dan Harlan. I was a little skeptical thinking "Well I already have those books why should I buy video downloads about them?" Boy was i ever wrong. At just $10 per download you get a lot of bang for your buck. Easily the best bargain in magic right now. What makes these great is Harlan's teaching and bringing the effects to life. Just one example is the section on false cuts rather than just through the list and demonstrate each false cut Dan Harlan came up with a phenomenal routine talking about a high card cutting contest performed in front of an actual audience. For me it's one thing to read something but when I see it it's even better. Plus you can pick and choose just the downloads that interest you cards, ropes, mentalism, stage etc.

[@EruditeMagic]

That falls into the category of getting hidden jewels from others. If it pushes you to your library, I'm all for it. Glad you got a lot out of Harlan's series!

[@jethro1963]

I had thought of that exact same idea (Tarbell on video) 30+ years ago. I am going on memory here so I might have it wrong. There was an effect in Tarbell about balls on string like a traffic light. It was so offbeat that I was amazed when Harlan included it on the video as I had never come across anything else like that, in my travels. I would love to see all the classics get that treatment. Maybe Bobo's Coin Magic or Annemann's Practical Mental Effects or Hay's Amateur Magician's Handbook.

[@Davlavi]

Nice series.

[@georgeyounts9391]

Pg. 217 (Three-in-One Card Trick) & Pg.197 (Carlyle's Migrating Decks) both in Scarne on Card Tricks. Done both for years with an ever developing presentation :)

[@EruditeMagic]

Excellent - thanks for sharing! 😃

[@StoneColdMagic]

Excellent video as usual. Serious questions: 1) how do you define “gem” 2) how do you define “hidden” (in this context)?

[@EruditeMagic]

Thanks, Jeff! This was 2.5 years ago at the time of this comment, so I'm going to need to review what I said in order to respond 😄

[@StoneColdMagic]

@@EruditeMagic - this happens to me all the time. :0] I get questions on review videos I made 10 years ago. I have to go back and re-watch it on 2x speed so I can answer the question. 😜

[@MagicMax96]

I Have seen many of your videos. As I have been wanted to get into magic books I wondering if you had a video on what notes you take while reading a book

[@EruditeMagic]

I do indeed! "How to Journal your Magic" - hope it helps

[@MagicMax96]

@@EruditeMagic awesome thank you so much !!!

[@EruditeMagic]

Best of luck on your journey

[@MagicMax96]

@@EruditeMagic thank you!!

[@jonahberg9280]

What are the best close up magic books

[@kennomagic]

Reading for hidden gems, imho, should not displace reading theory- presentation books at the same time

[@EruditeMagic]

You're right, they're not mutually exclusive, but usually they're in different books. But, it all depends 🤷🏻

[@Poulenc]

As always, great video, however I find the text inserted in the video quite difficult to read in the phone. Maybe there are better fonts to write in and/or just a backround for the text and not only for each letter.

[@EruditeMagic]

Thanks for saying something - I'll look into it! 🔠

[@donunicycle]

I agree. Readable, but difficult.

[@EruditeMagic]

I appreciate the feedback, all. I have implemented a new procedure for the text going forward, so I hope it will be more readable. I truly appreciate the constructive criticism - keep the feedback coming ❗

[@M4dBoOmr]

I am new here and really like your content... but there are way too many Jumpcuts

[@EruditeMagic]

Thanks for sharing your perspective