Now You See It, Now You Don't!: Lessons in Sleight of Hand

gave this as a birthday present after it had been recommended by a man who was incredible at sleight of hand.

Ever wanted to fool around with those clever card tricks at a poker table, or make that coin disappear to your niece or nephew, but just never had time to learn the ropes? Then this is the book for you. Tarr focuses on "sleight-of-hand" as shown in the title, which is to differentiate the practices depicted in this book from the more gear-intensive stuff you'll run into at magic shows. The advantage is obviously that it's low-tech and more skill-dependent, so you don't need too much equipment to wow friends and family. Techniques are taught pictorially so there's a minimum of sifting thru jargon and material that's tough to visualize. Best of all, you don't need any background in the field, making this the perfect beginner's item. A good way to nourish that magic-fancy you've always had.

There are basically two types of magicians -- gadgeteers and finger-flingers. Please note, this is not meant to insult either group. A gadgeteer tends toward self-working magic -- things that are set up, and effectively work by themselves. This frees the magician to focus on presentation and entertainment, and not as much on the mechanics of the trick or illusion. Finger-flingers, on the other hand, tend toward actual sleight of hand, relying on their own skill to perform the seemingly impossible. This takes longer to master, but gives greater confidence, as well as the ability to perform anywhere, with whatever is at hand. This book is for those who want to be finger-flingers, or who want to look at that side of the aisle. Bill Tarr has created a wonderful resource. It's incredibly well-illustrated, showing both the magician's & the audience's view, for each trick or sleight. He also grades the individual tricks based on its' difficulty. And he covers a great many sleights of hand, as well as several complete routines -- you get a lot of "bang for your buck" here. He also is honest and up-front. He tells you straight away that this will require practise. For those seeking instant gratification, seek elsewhere. But if you're willing to practice (not of the sleights of hand are difficult, but they do require time and effort -- like learning anything else worth learning).

This is a great book for any beginner magicians! What the book focus on is SLIGHT OF HAND! Such as using your hand to vanish coins, hide cards, fanning cards,... and so on. The book is very easy to understand because every slight of hand is presented with pictures and the pictures are easy to follow! One disappointment about this book is that it only goes over the basic of slight of hand. An example would be there are 20 ways to shuffle a deck of cards, but this book only lists 4! Another fault I find in this book is that the way the "Pass" (a name of a slight of hand) was presented was not very clear. Beginner might have trouble understand what Bill was trying to convey. Overall, this is one of the better magic book out there!

I had already bought a book by Tarr, and got this. This is the best book on sleight of hand i have seen so far. it gives good illustrations for the tricks. It also gives billiard ball tricks, many used by Raymond Crow, as well as many other tricks used by Lance Burton, and all of the tricks will make you the star at the dinner table.

This is THE sleight of hand book! A step-by-step guide to almost every sleight created! Bill Tarr explains how to do the sleights in an easy and understandable way and the illustrations are so good that you could learn the sleights alone from them! If you only buy one magic book ever, DEFINITLY make it this one!