Magic Tricks

This is, without a doubt, one of the best books I have ever read on magic, mentalism, etc. Barrie Richardson's thinking is simply ingenious. The great amount of work and time he has put into each and every one of these effects is evident through his writing. The explanations are clear and concise, and there are many illustrations to help you understand what you are learning.

Also, this book is published by Steven Minch's Hermetic Press, meaning it has great production values and is a very high-quality book.

Some of my favorites from the book are...

Ovation Position-Production of a glass of liquid from your sleeve and then a subsequent production of a bowl of water. GREAT opener

One in a Half-Million Brilliantly impossible phone-book prediction test

Dollar Divination-Allow yourself and spectators to apparently divine serial numbers on a borrowed dollar. Great audience participation.

Bill in Lemon-A bill travels to a lemon with a corner torn off, serial number noted by a spectator AND signed. Possibly the ultimate bill in lemon.

Suspension of Disbelief-A glass magically suspends when a spoon is dipped in the water. Everything can be immediately examined

Mental Motor-Napkin moves on you hand under some of the most impossible conditions. Looks like real telepathy!

Pencil Pusher-A strong spectator cannot lift a pencil one minute, and the next it is a light as a pencil. Nice demonstration of pseudo-hypnosis.

Angel's Flight-A brilliantly constructed mentalism/card routine that could go right into your act, or just be an act of it's own.

The Quasi-Memorized Deck-Apparently memorize a shuffled deck in about 2 minutes or less! This takes work, but it's worth it.

Minds in Unison-One spectator thinks of a letter in the alphabet and the other picks up and object from a group of audience-picked objects. You tell them to stop at one point, and when they do, it turns out you have predicted the letter they would be thinking of and the object the other spectator was holding! It's less confusing when you see it done, trust me.

Wigging the Baldpate-This takes the last trick to a WHOLE new level. This is almost too good.

The Totally Isolated Prediction-A piece of paper as a prediction is inside a balloon. The balloon is passed around in the audience as each person who catches it names a letter. Some other questions are asked, and in the end, a spectator pops the balloon inside of a sealed plastic bag. They take out the prediction and it predicts everything that was just said.

Psychometry in a Paper Bag-This is a very simple effect, but with proper presentation it could be a strong piece of magic.

...678-A spectator names a number and you have them take out everything in your wallet. As they are searching through the items they find an old photograph with the very number they freely named written on the back.

Do You Want to Continue?-I can't even properly describe this, but it is a KILLER mind-reading, card effect.

...And One Makes Fifty-two-A spectator thinks of a card, truly. They don't say or write ANYTHING. You deal through the cards and count them as you go. You get to fifty-one and their thought-of card has not shown up. You cleanly reach into your pocket and remove the thought-of card. Awesome.

Think Hot, Think Cold-A great lesson in presentation, as well as a good method for glimpsing cards in a totally fair manner.

It Isn't Mind Control-Five people from the audience all think of cards from the deck, and you are able to tell them their cards with almost no-questions asked. I love this one.

An Experiment in Remote Viewing-Good magazine test that employs a lot of clever thinking. Again, done casually, this can seem so real/surreal.

Word Flight-Bold thinking on a newspaper test. The method was NOTHING like I expected it to be. You need to have guts to do this, but BArrie gives you confidence to perform it. You can take any ungimmicked newspaper and perform this.

Any Card at Any Number-Barrie provides three methods for this classic of magic/mentalism. I personally like the version which involves a little bit more set-up, rather than the semi-impromptu version. To me it looks much cleaner and fairer. Great think on these.

What Time is It?-You borrow about ten different watches from the audience, which have all been spun to incorrect times by the audience members. Then a spectator picks any one. When you show your prediction which another spectator has been holding), it tells about the spectator on stage, as well as the exact time on the watch that they are holding...at that EXACT moment, in seconds!

The Parking Lot Mystery-A new take on the old clock trick with several GREAT twists that make this a real showpiece. Also a logical presentation is given that strays away from the old clock idea.

The Test of Time-A four-phase piece of mentalism involving your watch and a spectator's watch. In the end, the performer is able to cause the hands of a spectator's own watch, to turn to on its own...in the spectator's hands. This is very good, but you must make a gimmick that is also used in The Parking Lot Mystery.

As You can see, I have a LOT of favorites from this book, and there are some other ones that I really considered saying they were favorites of mine, but decided against it just because somebody might complain that I practically wrote down every trick in the book!

I give my absolute highest recommendation to this book.