I'm an avid reader of books like "Magic and Showmanship," and if you are too, you might enjoy this lecture. The majority of it is Lu and Dan chatting about audience perception, about the considerations of televised performance, and a few very counter-intuitive insights into truisms that magicians (especially mentalists and mental magicians) have held sacred for generations.

This does not contain a lot of tricks. The final trick, while it plays incredibly strongly to magicians, may be no more impressive to laypeople than a standard card trick. The tossed-out deck is really, really good, and Dan has some ideas that can make it even easier to perform. The number prediction is good, but not world-changing.

I'm glad I saw this, but I'm also glad it was through the subscription. I would not have been satisfied if I'd payed $40 for it.

Sometimes it hurts to give poor reviews. Lu Chen is clearly an accomplished magician, and could likely fool the pants off of you or anyone. Indeed, there is at least 1 fooler on this video. But I am not rating Lu Chen as a person or a magician. Indeed, he does nothing wrong here. I am, however, rating whether this is a good purchase for other magicians. And in my opinion, it is not. First, it is not a typical magic lecture. It is primarily an interview. And while Lu Chen's perspective is presumably more valid and well-thought out due to his vast experience, there is nothing in it to justify the almost $40 price tag. There are three tricks "taught." But they are not taught clearly. In the first trick (tossed out deck), Lu Chen references that an important aspect of the trick is Luke Jermay's, and refers the view to view Mr. Jermay's videos. The second trick (a prediction)relies heavily on a secret gimmick, and there is no instruction on where to purchase the gimmick, how to craft the gimmick, or where to purchase the supplies to create the gimmick. Lu Chen does, however, mention that the pad that is used is manufactured by a Japanese brand/manufacturer. I have read some other comments about this, stating that the description clearly states that Lu Chen only teaches 3 tricks. Admittedly, the description does state that. But the tricks are not taught well, clearly, or thoroughly. I understand that with magic purchases you sometimes are disappointed with what you purchase because be secret is not as complex, clever, or deceptive as you thought it would be. But here you get a low quality production. It is low quality because the tricks are not taught thoroughly, clearly, or well. The rest is a conversation with Lu Chen. So if you want to pay $40 to listen to Lu Chen speak - and you very well might, he is certainly interesting and has an informed opinion on his magic - then this is a video for you. Unfortunately, I was purchasing it for the magic instruction and, in this instance, the instruction was exceedingly poor. In my opinion, this video is overpriced and does not live up to the quality standards I expect from Penguin.

I agreed with what Tetelos had said. If you read about the content beforehand, it should be a surprise for that the video contain three tricks.
Very glad to be able to hear many of his personal opinions about showmanship, especially sections about how to structure the flow of the performance. Also his unique and exciting career is definitely a highlight. It is very intersesting and entertaining to hear stories from a different cultural context. The last trick is fun and a nice fit for magician gatherings. Hahaha, smart and sneaky.

Before I give my review I have to adress the other reviews of the lecture.
If you read the description of the lecture, in the "What will he teach" section you can see only three tricks. Also in the trailer of the lecture you can understand that this is not a lecture full of tricks. So please don't complain about that.
Also I have to say I don't think this lecture is overpriced. How much money would you pay to attend a live lecture like that held in magic circle in London?

This lecture contains a lot of theory, performance philosophy and stories from Lu Chen's career that I found very interesting and usefull. I don't think that you waste your time when you hear a seasoned professional share his thoughts.

The effects he shared are very interesting. The nuberber prediction is somethig I will definetely use. Easy to do and bulletproof. He makes sure that the spectators cannot reverse engineer anything. and the revelation is very smart (and fast).
The presentation of the tossed-out deck is a master class on how to improve the routines you already use. He took something that a lot of magicians use with mediocre reactions and turned it to a real miracle.
Finally the blind folded card trick is the reason I bought this dowload. It's a great piece of magic thater and the method is brilliant.

I really enjoyed this lecture

The routines he shares are all masterpieces,each of them is worth the price I paid.The philosophies and stories are so valuable and inspiring.It`s a priceless lecture for professional magicians or someone who is thinking or doing magic seriously.

This is an interesting lecture to review. Parts were outstanding and other parts were less than interesting....in fact parts were boring. Of course with someone of Lu Chen’s reputation it is easy to automatically rate this a 5-star lecture. However, the content was not 5-star material. The lecture contained TOO MUCH theory discussion that was neither compelling nor riveting. The tricks, which were few, were ok. I enjoyed listening to Lu Chen’s experiences. The main point I’d like to convey is this: the most valuable and highly rated Penguin lectures are the ones that fellow magicians say they watch over and over again...... or refer back to several times. Each time they gleam new insights, new ideas and new methods from the lecturer that they can apply to their evolving study and work. Sadly, this isn’t one of those lectures.

There is a lot of discussion about presentation and methods, nothing bad about that but this kind of discussions is going on in every magic club. If you like listening to a lot of theories than this lecture is for you. If you want something new in methods or presentations, well, than this is not for you. At all for me this is too much money for this! Very disapointing!

I knew Lu Chen when we were much younger, yes, we are of the same age and even back then talking to him, one would know that he was destined to be a star. He always had out of the box additions to existing routines, even new ones we just saw.

Over the years, I witnessed his incredible rise to stardom and he is HUGE in Asia. I am not sure if he still remembers me but I am so proud and happy for him.

I am not sure if I will ever get to put his theory to use, especially those he shared about selection and handling of effects for TV but through his generous sharing in his lecture, I know I will make considerations that I would not have otherwise considered.

His touches to the 3 routines he taught in the lecture also showed a glimpse into his brilliance, layering of methods that rendered an audience little way of backtracking and most importantly, how he is able to present the effects intriguing enough that one can’t help but be on the edge of his seat wanting to find out what happens next.

I really enjoyed this lecture because not that the tricks taught were not good enough, they are great but because it’s inspiring to know that so much thought can and should be put into the performance of magic. And I thought I was crazy, I am mild in comparison ;)

Although there are only few tricks he taught, all of the tricks are fool proof. I love Lu Chen handling and his presentation.

I agreed with what Tetelos had said. If you read about the content beforehand, it should be a surprise for that the video contain three tricks.
Very glad to be able to hear many of his personal opinions about showmanship, especially sections about how to structure the flow of the performance. Also his unique and exciting career is definitely a highlight. It is very intersesting and entertaining to hear stories from a different cultural context. The last trick is fun and a nice fit for magician gatherings. Hahaha, smart and sneaky.