Price$30.00
Media TypeBook
CategoryMentalism
Date AddedMar 16, 2003
Focus
Goldstein, Phil
Hermetic Press
(Based on 1 review)
Among the many excellent tricks in this volume, Mr. Goldstein has finally parted with "Impressions," a routine with which he has baffled the world's leading magicians. A joker transforms itself time after time into a duplicate of any card picked from the deck, including an imaginary card.
This is just one of the 60 astonishing and professional effects explained in Focus, an important work by one of the most extraordinarily creative talents in magic. Hardbound, 140 Pages and Fully Illustrated
Reviews
(Top ▲)
Phil Goldstein is a national treasure. The quieter, more mechanically minded cardician counterpart of Max Maven, he creates devious plots, often complemented by equally devious methods, then scatters them liberally in books and periodicals around the world. Indeed, by 1990, when this book was released, he had already published over 1000 tricks and routines, dating back to 1965.
This sort of prolificacy puts Mr. Goldstein in elite company, alongside the Hammans, the Waltons, the Dingles of the industry, but of course, these giants did not have alter egos that were equally accomplished in the field of mentalism.
Focus is the first major compilation of Mr. Goldstein's widely dispersed body of work. It contains 60 of what he considered to be the best routines he had published up to then, though he does state in his introduction that selecting the items was no easy task, then he goes on to add, "A few months earlier, I probably would have made slightly different choices; a few months from now, I'll surely wonder why I didn't."
Much of the material is packet magic, most using regular cards, and no small number of routines herein were marketed at one time or another as separate items, including "Tearable," "Tiny Water," "A Fine Mesh" and "Five-Card Polka." Also included is the excellent Cards Across effect, "Shinkansen," which was just released this year.
There is no point in my listing off the items one by one. A small few are simple, one-note effects that border on puzzles (e.g. "Overture"), still more are full-fledged, mind-boggling routines (e.g. "Impressions"), but most fall somewhere in between, a wonderful selection of productions, revelations, transpositions and the like, all of which bear the Goldstein stamp of originality.
In short, this is an exceptional collection of card magic that will engage your mind, your hands and your audiences. I can't imagine anyone not enjoying the book thoroughly.
David Acer
This sort of prolificacy puts Mr. Goldstein in elite company, alongside the Hammans, the Waltons, the Dingles of the industry, but of course, these giants did not have alter egos that were equally accomplished in the field of mentalism.
Focus is the first major compilation of Mr. Goldstein's widely dispersed body of work. It contains 60 of what he considered to be the best routines he had published up to then, though he does state in his introduction that selecting the items was no easy task, then he goes on to add, "A few months earlier, I probably would have made slightly different choices; a few months from now, I'll surely wonder why I didn't."
Much of the material is packet magic, most using regular cards, and no small number of routines herein were marketed at one time or another as separate items, including "Tearable," "Tiny Water," "A Fine Mesh" and "Five-Card Polka." Also included is the excellent Cards Across effect, "Shinkansen," which was just released this year.
There is no point in my listing off the items one by one. A small few are simple, one-note effects that border on puzzles (e.g. "Overture"), still more are full-fledged, mind-boggling routines (e.g. "Impressions"), but most fall somewhere in between, a wonderful selection of productions, revelations, transpositions and the like, all of which bear the Goldstein stamp of originality.
In short, this is an exceptional collection of card magic that will engage your mind, your hands and your audiences. I can't imagine anyone not enjoying the book thoroughly.
David Acer