The Royal Road to Card Magic is considered by many the place to start your card magic education.
Personally, I like the book. It's cheap, there is a lot of material in the book and therefore a
great value. However I don't think it is the best place for beginners to begin. The text is
difficult to read and understand. It is meticulously written but hard to follow the description of
finger placements. I would recommend a good instructional DVD and then supplement your learning
with this inexpensive book.
2 of 2 magicians found this helpful.
I just got this book and have read around 15 pages as well as skimming through it. It is excellent.
I've already bought several complete course in magic type books that had basic sleights, but this
one explains them SO MUCH BETTER! I was making mistakes (improper grips, etc.) that I see will now
get cleared up. BUY THIS BOOK! It's so cheap, and contains a wealth of information and tricks! It
is the source for getting into card magic without a huge dollar investment.
2 of 2 magicians found this helpful.
The cover was different on mine, but this is proboly the same stuff(it has the same title). Its
great.
1 of 1 magicians found this helpful.
This book is brilliant! and although the title says it needs better tricks it does have some
brilliant ones but it would be nice if they had a few more modern tricks many of them are a little
out dated with people like Blaine and Dynamo people expect you to be able to put a house in a
bottle.
1 of 2 magicians found this helpful.
IF ever a book was worth the price, this one is definitely it. I consider myself an average
magician, meaning I can do some things well and others not so well. This book gives me the knowledge
to accomplish my goal of mastering my skills. It is loaded with many levels of expertise handling
and methods. I would say the only draw back is that it's a book and can not show you proper hands
position, or give you hands on advice. That said, the illustrations are excellent and the
explanations of doing the task is very well written. I would recommend this book to any level person
as a good source to learn from.
I was learning tricks from here, there and beyond. For me to learn alone is a great solution to have
a planned guide into card magic. This is one of the books for the alone and poor magician.
I gave up card magic years ago to embrace mentalism. And I've discovered over the years that some of
the most baffling mentalism routines use card sleights. They are baffling simply because no one
expects a mentalist to be using sleight of hand. (Check out Derren Brown. He has a background as a
cardician, as well as Richard Osterlind. And Bob Cassidy used sleights effectively.) So if you want
to be in the top echelon of mentalists, you'll need to know how to do stuff like false cuts, false
shuffles, the pass, the glide, a double lift, a top change, various forces, and a second deal. And
to learn those moves, there is no better book than Royal Road. It has stood the test of time as the
classic textbook on card sleights. No, I don't do the card tricks in it, but I have an ebook copy
and refer to it all the time. Yes, it's old, and the writing is from a bygone era. But the
explanations of how to do these fundamental moves will have you up and running in no time. You will
have to put the time in on some of the moves--for example, the classic pass--but Hugard & Braue make
it worthwhile. If you buy one book on card sleights, this is it.
I'm into magic for less than a year, and now it was time to get into the basics in detail. This book
is perfect for any beginner I think.
Okay really ask your self something.
Do I... Want to be... A good card magician.
If the answer is YES then buy this book it's that simple. There are so many GREAT effects in
here that I still do from self working to sleight heavy. All are WORKERS and guess what... Work with
a SHUFFLED deck that I borrowed.
So many people look for the next best thing or fanciest
eye candy but overlook the basics that make those things REALLY work.
If you like card
magic... You don't just want to pick this up... You need to.
If you're reading reviews you must be considering purchasing this book. Stop, and just buy it. At
any price it is a steal, but it is downright criminal to not have a copy of this in your library.
Reading even only the first chapter, the novice will learn a lot, the expert a little, both will
find the basis of many tricks you've seen and might even perform yourself. Some have added on or
even turned them into convoluted over-produced versions, but the origins of many tricks are here!
And Messrs. Hugard and Braue provide ample explanation and performance advice that I can't imagine
straying from it as much as some do. Why are you still reading? Buy it.