Strong magic

From the inside cover:

Why is it that some magicians get great audience reaction while others who are just as skillful leave audiences so cold? The answers are in Strong Magic, the first -ever book on showmanship specifically for the close-up magician.

As a successful professional magician for almost twenty rears, Darwin Ortiz has appeared before thousands of audiences of all kinds. During that time he has studied what it takes to really move an audience. In Strong Magic, he presents the results of those years of study and experience in a way that every magician can benefit from.

Do you want applause, gasps, and praise? Do you want your performances to be talked about and remembered? Strong Magic tells you how. You already own countless books on card and coin manipulation. Here is a book on something far more important: audience manipulation. Not a dry, boring treatise, it's funny, fascination, exciting reading. Not a book of vague theory, it's loaded with countless examples and concrete techniques that you can put to use right away to give your magic more impact. These are the real secrets of close-up magic--and they are all in Strong Magic

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Review:

Only very few books that really changed my perception; surely Strong Magic is one of them. Even though I just halfway to finish the book, but, I think I’ve learned a lot from it.

I’m convinced that none of us will willing to put the deck down, stop practicing and vigilantly evaluate every trick that in their repertoire. Do they ever figure out why some tricks can gain great reaction from laymen but some of them just fall flat? They may say it’s due to presentation. Yeah right, but presentation is only a part to constitutes strong magic. Your character, your audience and the trick you chose all play the important role to the great reaction. Longer you learning magic easier you trap into this kind of mindset: only choose tricks that fool you. They’re totally ignoring laymen’s preference. But Darwin tells us that if a trick fooled you is not enough reason to perform it. Out of this world never fool you and me but it really kills laymen.

Most of us are amateur magicians and seldom we get chance to perform to real audiences. Consequently, we will just drive our poor wife, pals and brothers crazy making them watch each new trick or just jamming out with our fellow amateurs to show out some new sleights. Though neither of which will make us understand audience’s point of view. Paradoxically, the more you performing for other magicians the more harmful you’ll only get. They’ll give you plenty of feedback but it will very different from what you would receive from laypeople. As such it will only hamper your effort to constitute a strong magic.

When I said the book make me think about my magic, I really mean it. Here I can’t resist to quote Darwin’s line which I found that being the center point of the entire book: “Whenever I pick up a deck of cards to perform, my goal is to each spectator virtually anytime he sees a deck of cards---he’ll think of me.” Instead of performing dozens of mediocre tricks why don’t just perform one effect that will let your audiences remember it for the rest of their life. I think it should be the goal that all of us must strive to achieve it.

Rating: 9 ½ /10 (Nothing is perfect)

For those interesting on this book can PM me.

thx for insight on the book forrest....
though I haven't read, I think book "magic of ascanio" has content of similar quality.....as well as tamariz's books, though tamariz's stuff don't come by easily..

Thanks Forrest Lim for the review.

Jay Sankey also has this kind of theory magic book namely "Beyond Secrets". Check it out and lots of positive reviews. ^_^

Andrew