Links
Here are some links to some other magicians, entertainers and organisations I've had the pleasure of working with
Leon Simmonds
Leon’s freshly unique approach to his art has seen him performing professionally for every type of audience possible, in numerous venues all across the South. With hundreds of performances under his belt, his talent has attracted a whole number number of corporate clients such as Warner Bros, Lego and American Express.
Leon is a Brighton based award-winning magician with a great range of styles from his specialist close-up and table magic, to performing for large crowds as the founder of the Smoke and Mirrors project.
www.leonsimmondsmagic.co.uk
Leon is a Brighton based award-winning magician with a great range of styles from his specialist close-up and table magic, to performing for large crowds as the founder of the Smoke and Mirrors project.
www.leonsimmondsmagic.co.uk
Dan Edwards
Dan is an award winning magician who lives in the Midlands. Dan was one of the Smoke and Mirrors performers along with Simon and some other special guests.
www.danedwardsmagic.co.uk
www.danedwardsmagic.co.uk
I'm often asked where someone can learn to do magic. So here are my recommendations.
I’ve added them as links to Amazon or other magic suppliers, but many of the books can be (legally) downloaded as PDF’s from sites such as Lybrary and Trickshop.
Also with the DVD’s I’ve just linked to just one retailer (not necessarily the best/cheapest one) just so you know what you’re looking for. I would recommend having a hunt around before buying anything.
I would seriously recommend having a look on ebay or other similar sites for whatever it is you're looking for. Magicians tend to constantly run out of space on their shelves and need to clear out the old books and DVDs that they not longer refer to
Its also worth having look on the internet for free download pdf versions of some of the old classic books which are out of copyright. The presentation of the effects might be old (not many people carry around a cigarette case these days) but quite often the techniques behind them are still used today and books such as The Royal Road to Card Magic are still considered a foundation of magic.
Here's some links to get you started
http://www.magic-ebooks.com/free-magic-ebooks.html
http://www.lybrary.com/magic-free-c-21_4326.html
http://www.ibmring81.com/Free_EBooks.html
https://openlibrary.org/people/scintnl/lists/OL23088L/Magic_Tricks_ebooks
General
Mark Wilson’s Complete Course in Magic – In my opinion the best buy for beginners. It covers everything from cards, to rope, to mind-reading to stage illusions.
Joshua Jay – Magic: The Complete Course – A really nice book with some simple but very effective tricks (including one of all time favourites) and comes with an accompanying DVD
Tarbell’s Course in Magic – The classic course in magic. A little dated but if without a doubt the most comprehensive set of magic instructions.
Card magic
Self Working Card Magic by Karl Fulves - Self-working magic tricks are effects that require very little technical skill to be able to perform.
The Royal Road to Card Magic by Hugard and Braue – The definitive book for anyone wanting to learn “proper” card magic using the sleight of hand. You can also buy a DVD version of this. There’s two versions, one with Paul Wilson (from The Real Hustle) and the other by Magicmakers. The Paul Wilson version is the better (though more expensive) of the two
Joshua Jays Amazing Book of Cards – A great beginners book on card magic
Coin Magic
Bobo’s Modern Coin Magic – The classic book of coin magic. Some of the effects are a little dated but it’s got everything in it
Jay Sankey’s Modern Coin Magic (DVD)- Jay Sankey is one of those magicians where you either love him or hate him. He’s a bit “zany”, but his magic is very good and generally quite easy to master
Mentalism (aka Mind-Reading, aka Derren Brown stuff)
Self Working Mind Magic by Karl Fulves – Again all self working so really easy to perform
The Thirteen Steps to Mentalism by Tony Corinda – Its the “classic” course in mind-reading. A lot of the effects in it are quite dated but the principles behind them are still just as relevant today. One for the serious student who wants to learn the techniques rather than a wanting to just get straight on with performing. It does also come as a DVD which is a lot more accessible, though considerably more expensive
The Unexpected (DVD) by Peter Nardi and Marc Spelmann – Its a DVD with about a dozen or so “impromptu” mind-reading effects. I like it because most of the effects are really simple and there’s a great variety of effects there
So there you go; just a few suggestions to get you started
I’ve added some Links to web-sites which specialise in skeptical and criticial thinking (looking at actual provable evidence and based your conclusions on that) and highlighting the failures in pseudo-science such as homeopathy, reiki, angel healing, crystal healing, magnetic therapies, faith healing etc, and other psychic phenomena.
I heartily recommend them for learning a little more about how “psychics” and other pseudo-science works, or doesn’t work as the case may be
The James Randi Educational Foundation - A charitable organisation which is dedicated to advancing skeptical and critical thought, set up by the magician and psychic debunker, James Randi. They also have the $1,000,000 challenge, which offers a prize of $1m to anyone who can demonstrate they have paranormal powers under “lab conditions”
Ben Goldacre’s “Bad Science” blog - Ben Goldacre, a qualified doctor and journalist for The Guardian, writes on the poor reporting of science and pseudo-science related subjects in the media
DC’s Improbable Science - A blog by the Chair of Pharmacology at UCL, Prof David Colquohoun. He’s been campaigning for years to get pseudo-science removed from British educational institutions
Sense about Science - A web-site helping people make sense of science reporting (and particularly bad reporting) in the media
What’s The Harm? - A web-site that gives details of all the people who have been killed, injured or left out of pocket as a result of their belief ins psychics or pseudo-science
Bad Psychic Forums – The actual BadPsychics web-site was sadly discontinued due to the site-owner receiving death threats, constant harrassment and aggression from supporters and believers of the psychics “named and shamed” within. The forums are still live and list many of the UKs (and overseas) psychics and their numerous failures
Ian Rowlands web-site – Ian Rowland is a magician and “mind-reader” who wrote the definitive work on Cold Reading (the technique that ALL ”psychics” use to make it look as though they’re talking to the dead/angels/aliens/babies) called “The Full Facts of Cold Reading”.
And information on pretty much everything can be found at
The Skeptics Dictionary
Happy reading
I’ve added them as links to Amazon or other magic suppliers, but many of the books can be (legally) downloaded as PDF’s from sites such as Lybrary and Trickshop.
Also with the DVD’s I’ve just linked to just one retailer (not necessarily the best/cheapest one) just so you know what you’re looking for. I would recommend having a hunt around before buying anything.
I would seriously recommend having a look on ebay or other similar sites for whatever it is you're looking for. Magicians tend to constantly run out of space on their shelves and need to clear out the old books and DVDs that they not longer refer to
Its also worth having look on the internet for free download pdf versions of some of the old classic books which are out of copyright. The presentation of the effects might be old (not many people carry around a cigarette case these days) but quite often the techniques behind them are still used today and books such as The Royal Road to Card Magic are still considered a foundation of magic.
Here's some links to get you started
http://www.magic-ebooks.com/free-magic-ebooks.html
http://www.lybrary.com/magic-free-c-21_4326.html
http://www.ibmring81.com/Free_EBooks.html
https://openlibrary.org/people/scintnl/lists/OL23088L/Magic_Tricks_ebooks
General
Mark Wilson’s Complete Course in Magic – In my opinion the best buy for beginners. It covers everything from cards, to rope, to mind-reading to stage illusions.
Joshua Jay – Magic: The Complete Course – A really nice book with some simple but very effective tricks (including one of all time favourites) and comes with an accompanying DVD
Tarbell’s Course in Magic – The classic course in magic. A little dated but if without a doubt the most comprehensive set of magic instructions.
Card magic
Self Working Card Magic by Karl Fulves - Self-working magic tricks are effects that require very little technical skill to be able to perform.
The Royal Road to Card Magic by Hugard and Braue – The definitive book for anyone wanting to learn “proper” card magic using the sleight of hand. You can also buy a DVD version of this. There’s two versions, one with Paul Wilson (from The Real Hustle) and the other by Magicmakers. The Paul Wilson version is the better (though more expensive) of the two
Joshua Jays Amazing Book of Cards – A great beginners book on card magic
Coin Magic
Bobo’s Modern Coin Magic – The classic book of coin magic. Some of the effects are a little dated but it’s got everything in it
Jay Sankey’s Modern Coin Magic (DVD)- Jay Sankey is one of those magicians where you either love him or hate him. He’s a bit “zany”, but his magic is very good and generally quite easy to master
Mentalism (aka Mind-Reading, aka Derren Brown stuff)
Self Working Mind Magic by Karl Fulves – Again all self working so really easy to perform
The Thirteen Steps to Mentalism by Tony Corinda – Its the “classic” course in mind-reading. A lot of the effects in it are quite dated but the principles behind them are still just as relevant today. One for the serious student who wants to learn the techniques rather than a wanting to just get straight on with performing. It does also come as a DVD which is a lot more accessible, though considerably more expensive
The Unexpected (DVD) by Peter Nardi and Marc Spelmann – Its a DVD with about a dozen or so “impromptu” mind-reading effects. I like it because most of the effects are really simple and there’s a great variety of effects there
So there you go; just a few suggestions to get you started
I’ve added some Links to web-sites which specialise in skeptical and criticial thinking (looking at actual provable evidence and based your conclusions on that) and highlighting the failures in pseudo-science such as homeopathy, reiki, angel healing, crystal healing, magnetic therapies, faith healing etc, and other psychic phenomena.
I heartily recommend them for learning a little more about how “psychics” and other pseudo-science works, or doesn’t work as the case may be
The James Randi Educational Foundation - A charitable organisation which is dedicated to advancing skeptical and critical thought, set up by the magician and psychic debunker, James Randi. They also have the $1,000,000 challenge, which offers a prize of $1m to anyone who can demonstrate they have paranormal powers under “lab conditions”
Ben Goldacre’s “Bad Science” blog - Ben Goldacre, a qualified doctor and journalist for The Guardian, writes on the poor reporting of science and pseudo-science related subjects in the media
DC’s Improbable Science - A blog by the Chair of Pharmacology at UCL, Prof David Colquohoun. He’s been campaigning for years to get pseudo-science removed from British educational institutions
Sense about Science - A web-site helping people make sense of science reporting (and particularly bad reporting) in the media
What’s The Harm? - A web-site that gives details of all the people who have been killed, injured or left out of pocket as a result of their belief ins psychics or pseudo-science
Bad Psychic Forums – The actual BadPsychics web-site was sadly discontinued due to the site-owner receiving death threats, constant harrassment and aggression from supporters and believers of the psychics “named and shamed” within. The forums are still live and list many of the UKs (and overseas) psychics and their numerous failures
Ian Rowlands web-site – Ian Rowland is a magician and “mind-reader” who wrote the definitive work on Cold Reading (the technique that ALL ”psychics” use to make it look as though they’re talking to the dead/angels/aliens/babies) called “The Full Facts of Cold Reading”.
And information on pretty much everything can be found at
The Skeptics Dictionary
Happy reading