Magical Mathematics reveals the secrets of amazing, fun-to-perform card tricks--and the profound mathematical ideas behind them--that will astound even the most accomplished magician. Persi Diaconis and Ron Graham provide easy, step-by-step instructions for each trick, explaining how to set up the effect and offering tips on what to say and do while performing it. Each card trick introduces a new mathematical idea, and varying the tricks in turn takes readers to the very threshold of today's mathematical knowledge. For example, the Gilbreath Principle--a fantastic effect where the cards remain in control despite being shuffled--is found to share an intimate connection with the Mandelbrot set. Other card tricks link to the mathematical secrets of combinatorics, graph theory, number theory, topology, the Riemann hypothesis, and even Fermat's last theorem. Diaconis and Graham are mathematicians as well as skilled performers with decades of professional experience between them. In this book they share a wealth of conjuring lore, including some closely guarded secrets of legendary magicians. Magical Mathematics covers the mathematics of juggling and shows how the I Ching connects to the history of probability and magic tricks both old and new. It tells the stories--and reveals the best tricks--of the eccentric and brilliant inventors of mathematical magic. Magical Mathematics exposes old gambling secrets through the mathematics of shuffling cards, explains the classic street-gambling scam of three-card monte, traces the history of mathematical magic back to the thirteenth century and the oldest mathematical trick--and much more.

It?s the hip-hop of hocus-pocus. Forget about David Copperfield, cruise ship illusionists, and birthday party magicians. They?re so twentieth century. Think cutting-edge magickers like David Blaine and Criss Angel. People starting out in magic today want something edgier, grittier, quick, visual, and maybe a little dangerous. This guide will teach you how to do it! What makes The Complete Idiot?s Guide® to Street Magic different from other books is the type of tricks and the thematic presentations that readers will actually learn. Out of the literally thousands of tricks that could have been included, only those that have the greatest impact, both visually and psychologically, appear in this book. It includes: ?75 to 100 tricks ?200 illustrations, from how-to shots to photos of street magicians at work ?Contains something for all levels, from easy-to-accomplish tricks for complete beginners to more challenging sleight-of-hand for those who seriously want to pursue the art of legerdemain

Now in paperback comes Jim Steinmeyer's astonishing chronicle of half a century of illusionary innovation, backstage chicanery, and keen competition within the world of magicians. Lauded by today's finest magicians and critics, Hiding the Elephant is a cultural history of the efforts among legendary conjurers to make things materialize, levitate, and disappear. Steinmeyer unveils the secrets and life stories of the fascinating personalities behind optical marvels such as floating ghosts interacting with live actors, disembodied heads, and vanishing ladies. He demystifies Pepper's Ghost, Harry Kellar's Levitation of Princess Karnak, Charles Morritt's Disappearing Donkey, and Houdini's landmark vanishing of Jennie the elephant in 1918. The dramatic mix of science and history, with revealing diagrams, photographs and magicians' portraits by William Stout, provides a glimpse behind the curtain at the backstage story of magic.

Vintage deck of 52 cards with miniature cards in the upper left corners and descriptive pictures with meanings on the remaining portions of the cards. Also suitable as a regular deck of playing cards. Includes instructions.

The beginner's guide to mental magicNo rabbits. No wands. Just dozens of first-rate effects, illusions, and tricks guaranteed to amaze. Mind Magic&Mentalism For Dummies pulls back the curtain and introduces the secret world of mentalism for the first time.With this book and the included DVD, budding practitioners have everything they need to master some of the most astounding illusions imaginable from exercising psychic powers and reading minds to harnessing mental energy to control fire and bend metal from across the stage.Each effect in the book is presented from three perspectives: what the audience sees, how the trick is performed, and how to present it in a way that thrills spectators, making it the comprehensive, essential guide to blowing your audience away. The DVD includes performances of many of the effects outlined in the book to help readers put the information into action Provides both introductory-level lessons on the art of performing and a host of great effects that will meet the needs of beginnersMind Magic&Mentalism For Dummies is the essential introduction to this mysterious art that can seemingly provide readers with the powers of clairvoyance, mind control, divination, and precognition.

Scores of methods — previously known only to card experts — include passes, palming, false shuffles, false cuts, changes, crimps, jogs, reverses, rear palms, and more. Altogether, 341 sleights and tricks. 318 illustrations show exact position of fingers and hands.

Celebrations of Curious Characters cracks open the personal vaults of Ricky Jay—raconteur, historian, and one of the world’s great sleight-of-hand artists—exposing a wonderful world of amusing and arcane knowledge. Adapted from his popular radio series “Jay’s Journal of the Air,” Celebrations of Curious Characters features one-page anecdotes of mind-bending performers (limbless jugglers, banjo-picking birds, Anglo-Texan saxophone-playing siamese twins) paired with engravings, mezzotints, and broadsheets from the author’s remarkable collection. You’ll find engaging vignettes on a daunting variety of topics: musical prodigies, cannon-ball catchers, conmen, card cheats, and performing politicians. Plus, a man who made a model of Lincoln Cathedral out of 1,000,800 bottle corks; a woman continuously pregnant for six-and-a-half years; a theatrical strong man who became the world’s leading Egyptologist; and a healthy number of digressions on time, money, and the argot of thieves.