In Strong Magic, Darwin Ortiz's fascinating insight is unfortunately balanced by his condescending
hubris and distracting plugs for his own material. The first third of the book offers some
brilliant insights; however, he quotes so extensively from Henning Nelms's Magic and Showmanship I
wish I had just read that book instead. It's apparent from his grouchy, derogatory comments
regarding amateur magicians that he's forgotten what it's like to be one. Yeah, I know we're an
annoying bunch, but we keep him in business...and he really seems to hate that.
17 of 26 magicians found this helpful.
Theory to the maximum. There is so much info in this book. It fells like you have transformed from a
amateur magician to a master magician after finishing reading this, kind of. Here are just a few of
the many many many important points in the pages:
-Building your prestige/ blowing your own
horn.
-Be a gracious winner.
-Forshadowing magic moments.
-Ways to make an audience
feel special, induced responses/planned spontaneity and
-Everything all about
assistants/participants and explained in high detail.
I have learned so much from this book
and you will too. The questions that you have about all things Magical will be answered in this book
and even the questions that you don't know you will about magic will be answered.
This is a must
read if you want Strong Magic.
Most highly recommended!
Perform and entertainment to your
and their(everyone else involved in the magic) very fullest potential is what this book teaches.
3 of 3 magicians found this helpful.
This Book will make you a better magician period, not because I agree with everything Darwin Ortiz
says, but due to the fact that this book will make you think, it will make you think about you
magic, it will make you as question, hard question!
Why did I choose this effect? Why did I
choose this method or this presentation?
What can I do about hecklers, and of course, much, much
more? in these 379 pages of pure delight ,that is fun to read and is adjusted to our modern time,
no more examples of hypity hoppity rabbits , but modern strong tricks that get you where it hurt,
Ortiz gives as examples a few bad tricks in order to tell you what not to do.
There is not much
more I can say about this book, but go out and buy it, you will not be disappointed!
Magicmatan
3 of 3 magicians found this helpful.
I can't say enough about this book. There is so much to learn. It should be required reading for
anyone in the art. It should be on all of our book shelves. Ortiz will make you a better performer
regardless of your current skill level. Get it--you won't regret it!
2 of 2 magicians found this helpful.
This is a must have book! Get your hands on this and actually read it. Then read it again and take
notes and follow those notes. You and your magic will grow exponentially.
2 of 2 magicians found this helpful.
Strong Magic is one of the very best books on magic theory out there. Although it is written with
the close-up, card magician in mind, I continue to gain valuable insights and advice from its pages
as a stage and parlour conjuror. The book will make you think twice about the motivations and
driving force behind each effect and help you make your magic all-around more deceptive. At a price
like this, you can't afford not to invest.
One other note: I liked the book so much I
ordered one for a friend of mine in magic. I asked Penguin to put a personal note in the box for me
and remove the packing slip. They were more than willing to oblige me. Thank you Penguin for your
stellar customer service!
1 of 1 magicians found this helpful.
There are two books in magic that I would say are MUST READS and this is one of them. This book, if
you read it, will make you a better magician. Add to cart, right now
1 of 1 magicians found this helpful.
I have everything that Darwin has put out, except for two old gambling books, Darwin Ortiz on
Casino Gambling and his Gambling Scams. I cannot find a bad thing to say about any of it, but this
one is the tops. Everything he does is exploded out in this book. No not the effects, but how he
arranges them, how he develops them, how he perfects them, how he performs them, how he improves
them. Even better, he passes this on to the rest of us to learn from. If you take the time to study
and absorb this book there is no way that your art cannot improve. If you have one magic theory book
in your library, then make it this one. It's a must!
The book has four parts consisting of 22
chapters covering things like Subtext, Challenges, Timing, and many more items. Each could be a book
by itself. I think my favorite part is the first appendix where he breaks all the key points down to
a simple list that he calls Darwin's Laws.
1 of 1 magicians found this helpful.
This book is filled with anything and everything that anyone and everyone should read and take notes
over.
Each and every single page is helpful to close-up magicians/mentalists in here, and
that is really saying something for how long of a book it is.
Every single part of
presentation is gone over with remarkable details and very well related examples given along with
them. It is a must read.
Buy this, you won't regret it.
1 of 1 magicians found this helpful.
I can’t believe that magic can be broken down into so many different points of view. I would say the
book is a little bit wordy and at times a little bit hard to read, so I kind of get lost into what I
can use tell my magic get stronger. So I decide to do is to add to bookmarks one for my regular
reading and want to reread and hopefully find the information that helps pertain to my performance
of magic since I’m just an amateur magician who doesn’t make a living doing magic. What I found
helpful when rereading the first few chapters after finishing the book, which will be soon, I love
the part about being clear with your effect . Darwin says that the audience will believe you
whatever you say to them, and that’s what I decide to do with every effect I perform. I see what I’m
gonna do. As a result, my effects are stronger!