Hello, and please to meet You all (since this is my first post!).
Personally, I vote for Henry Hay \'Amateur Magician\'s Handbook\'.
Anyway, Joshua Jay\'s \'Magic\' gets a good second place; a modern choice - to me.

Pier wrote:

Hello, and please to meet You all (since this is my first post!).
Personally, I vote for Henry Hay \'Amateur Magician\'s Handbook\'.
Anyway, Joshua Jay\'s \'Magic\' gets a good second place; a modern choice - to me.

I also think that Joshua Jay\'s book is the best. I also think Mark Wilson\'s Cyclopedia of Magic is also a great place to start out(as mattr said).

Once you have learned some effects, don\'t forget to learn about the performing aspects that are a must as well to become really proficient. Books and Lecture notes like:

Showmanship for Magicians by Dariel Fitzkee
Magic and Showmanship by Henning Nelms
Tri-anything by Tom Ogden
More than meets the eye by Dan Harlan

Also get some basic info on theater terms. Learn what it means when someone tells you to come in from stage right, move upstage center, etc. Learning how to breath in the right manner alows you to speak in a manner that allows your voice to carry without yelling.

These things are as important to the ART of magic as learning a dbl lift is to card magic.

I believe Richard Kaufman was coming out with a new book aimed at the beginning audience. Does anyone know if this came out yet? If so, does anyone have it and can give a quick review?