talkmagic.co.uk

I may get this anyway, just because it's something to aspire to. I'd like to point out something though: I just decided on searching for it on amazon to see the prices, and as I couldn't find it from the long list of books after searching for 'Juan Tamariz', I decided to search google to find it.
I searched for 'mnemonica by juan tamariz amazon' so I'd get an amazon page, and when I scroll down the results I see this:

edit: removed link in case anyone quicky nosing around the site abuses it.

Already p***ed off that this book was being revealed, I clicked on the link and realize that some re***d has uploaded around 1000 books!!!!
These are quality books being given away for free, and for what?? A little fame for the f***ing uploader!
Bloody hell, I scrolled down that list of contents and found 100s of great magicians' work! Seriously, if anyone has any contact with these magicians, contact them and bring that page down!
I am flaberghasted at the malicious and cruel breach of copyright of these magicians who have collectively spend hundreds of years working on their magic.
The owner of that torrent deserves to be executed and I'm not joking.

Yes, download/torrent sites are a pain, and very disrespectful.

On the subject of buying stuff that is currently out of your league, I agree that it can be worth getting things in for future reference. However, if someone has limited resources (don't we all?), there may be better things to buy now than even a very good book that will only be useful a long way off in the future.

I guess...

Anyway, I'm too excited - so I've ordered the book off of emagictricks as it's apparently "VAT free week" so I've gotten it delivered free and the book for £34.77. Unfortunately that is uninsured, so if it gets lost in the post I'm going to get really annoyed!

Anyone had any experience with Standard Delivery (because I've only ever used next day delivery on my occasional large)? *snobbish I know hehe*

Is it actually possible for an item to begone 'lost' by the Royal Mail, or does it just take longer to arrive? And also, with this free P&P, will the book get damaged (or have more chance of being damaged) in the post?

Bye,
Fabian.

fab1qaz wrote:...Is it actually possible for an item to begone 'lost' by the Royal Mail...

Er, yes! Mistakes happen and sometimes items will go astray, but it is rare so you should be OK. Having said that, I placed an order with Magic Tricks ten days ago and I'm still waiting for it. (It was sent by first class). They're chasing it for me but I'm hoping it will show up in the meantime. I don't often have packages go missing in the post, but sometimes poo happens.

...And also, with this free P&P, will the book get damaged (or have more chance of being damaged) in the post?

It's unlikely to get damaged; it all depends on how well it's been packed. Free postage and packing doesn't mean they wrap it less well. It generally means the level of insurance you have, should it go missing. I could be wrong, but I don't think you can claim for compensation on something that has been sent by standard first class post. On a £30 book, you would need recorded or registered delivery. I forget which.

Anyway, I'm sure you'll get your book in a day or so. Hope you enjoy it.

I looked on the Royal Mail's website and it says 3-5 working days, so hopefully Friday at the LATEST!

Thanks for your quick reply, Replicant!

Fabian, make sure you have a way of recording and playing back your voice, some coloured marker pens and a spare deck of cards.

Lenoir wrote:Fabian, make sure you have a way of recording and playing back your voice, some coloured marker pens and a spare deck of cards.

Microphone: Check
Pens: No!
Cards: Check

Must find pens.... must find pens!

Well, I'll not doubt Standard Mail again, because Mnemonica has just arrived! emagictricks said they posted it on Monday, and it's got here on Tuesday morning! Basically next-day delivery at no additional charge. I'm lucky...

Good purchase with Mnemonica.

Something that I found useful was to holepunch each card in the corner and have them attached to a keyring. I can then have them in my pocket and run through them while waiting for a train etc.

Not really necessary but it helped me carry them around without fear of accidentally taking the wrong deck out of my pocket and shuffling them.

EDIT: Obviously this is just for revision purposes and not performance!

I forget if this is in the book or not, but you can, in addition to your "art" deck, create a second deck for testing yourself by using the cunning technique of writing the stack number on the back. That way you can shuffle them out of stack order and go through them out of sequence. Useful for ensuring you've got the stack down independent of the order. If that makes sense.

Oooh, very clever. Need more decks though.

Thanks for a great review.

I've only very recently begun experimenting with using a stacked deck for Rainman by Lennart Green. It got me mulling over other possibilities and led me to Mnemonica.

I'm very tempted to get a copy but at the moment my magic arsenal is a little light on some of the essentials for this kind of work. I can't yet do a perfect faro (although it sounds like this may not be necessary to begin with), I don't have a good full deck false shuffle or know of a good method of glimpsing (anything other than the top or bottom card). Are these sleights covered in the book or is it assumed that they have already been mastered? If they aren't covered, are there any suggestions for good source material to learn them or anything else that is a must?

Thanks very much...

Hi Fort:

Royal road to card magic!

Meanwhile, a memorized deck is, thus far, the most valuable tool I have in my arsenal. I can't recommend it enough. I do use the Mnemonica stack, although there are several other very good ones, including Simon Aaronson's stack. It is worth investigating the differences up front, so that you wind up with the memorized deck that suites you the best.

For example, different set-ups lend themselves to different effects. If you like gambling effects, one deck will be better than another - etc. Mnemonica works great for me - but in my case, I could have committed ANY deck to memory, and I could acheive good results. Mnemonica does, however, have many wonderful aspects built right into it - the book is certainly stuffed with great ideas and wonderful effects.

There are a couple specific effects I use this deck for - and my deck, at least at the onset of a session, is always in this order. Miracles lay in wait!

Mnemonica or Aronson? Mnemonica or Aronson?

It seems to me that the jury is out with people advocating one or the other. I don't have spare brain cells to learn both.

Can one do dead cutting with Mnemonica, ie do you learn the position of every card in the way that you apparently do with Aronson?