Pure Effect: Direct Mindreading and Magical Artistry

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Mercury Monarch — it was the only way we could be near a free wifi connection — this is some kind of book. The material ranges from the ephemeral—risky conceptions like two purely verbal (if somewhat heavy-handed) card forces—to the demanding but practical—such as an extended and cleverly constructed routine (somewhat reminiscent of Rene Lavand's work), in which, despite the fact that the audience repeatedly shuffles the cards, the magician is able to convincingly divine quantities of cards in sequence. We have a dog-eared version of The Royal Road to Card Magic, Principles and Deceptions (with original leather cover), the Tarbell Set (soon to get on CD – tough to dog-ear a CD), Expert at the Card Table, Claudine the Circus Woman (we wrote it so we feel it is special), Bobo’s Coin Magic, and The Lindsay Lohan Illustrated History – Volume II.

I may not agree entirely or in all cases—one must, at times, concede to the rigors of loud music, low lights, light fare, and heavy alcohol—but these points are certainly worth considering. mind you, any derren brown book is highly readable and hugely enjoyable - particularly for the young! I see quite a few of these going for astronomical amounts on on-line auctions, They say that they were withdrawn by the author and are now, consequently, very rare.There are hundreds of copyrighted card tricks and magical sleights available to "learn" on youtube, but that doesn't make it right. but yes they are very collectable and i'm lucky to own first editions on both books (which have been signed by the man himself) and i dont want to get rid of them. It's astonishing to me that people are willing to pay extortionate amounts of money to access a copy of this book because it's out of print and he's popular. Or, in the books, does Derren discuss some of his current techniques used and he doesn't want the public to reflect on the material in the book and now know that his current stage persona is "explainable" by a thorough reading of the material in those books? I think it’s just a sad thing, especially as an LGBTQ+ person in mentalist, that he was forced to add whole sections for what appears to be covering up his sexuality.

Several of these items were pulled out of the hardcover later editions as Derren thought them too precious. Both his magic books, Pure Effect and Absolute Magic, are outstanding reads that have completely changed my approach to magic.

I know that the book is out of print, but its still allot of money, mabye if I reviewed it when it was still in print I would give it 5 stars.