Price$35.00
Media TypeComputer CD
CategoryClose Up
Date AddedAug 06, 2006
Closely Guarded Secrets
Michael Close
(Based on 2 reviews)
-The Luckiest Cards in Las Vegas
-The Shuffles Routine
-The Dumbest Casino in the World
-The Cheating Lessons
-The Trick that Lance Burton Showed Me ...and much more.
- Text provides the information
- Photographs clarify the text
- Video shows the perfected sleights
This ebook offers unparalleled instruction by allowing text, photographs, and video clips to do what they do best and can be printed out to produce a spectacular 8.5 x 11, 179-page book.
Each routine is described in complete detail in Michael Close's clear, easy-to-read style. It's almost like having private lessons with Michael Close.
BONUS: Three Essays on Magic Theory and Michael's Presentation & Handling of: Dean Dill's Box & Gary Plants Magnetized Cards.
Estimated ship date is June 10, 2004
http://www.michaelclose.com/newstuff.html
Available from your favorite magic dealer.
Reviews
(Top ▲)
Why I Can't Really Review Closely Guarded Secrets
- and why no one else can, for a long time yet.
Immediately, let's confess that CGS may be the most influential work in the field of 21st century magic. Yet if it does its job well, it will be surpassed - but only because anything which might improve on it, will be standing solidly upon the strong shoulders of Michael Close's book/video.
This is not a trick book. We love trick books and do not degrade them; nonetheless, it is a disservice to trick books and a disservice to this book to consider buying CGS to learn Michael's best tricks. It is wrong to try to learn how to perform as Michael does. And it is wrong because Michael is not you, and the magician that you are portraying - as CGS teaches us - must be you.
I am only up to page 57 (Adobe page 63) and realize how very, very lucky I am to have this book when I am so very, very new to the field of magic. I easily might have become a rote magician - you know the one. The one who does tricks, who might make you laugh, but who never changes your life and who never quite rings true. The reason why one magician is, all too often, interchangeable with another.
CGS will teach you how to become your own magician. Though Michael shares some of his best tricks, it is by way of example throughout this sharing that the real lessons are learned. You'll "hear" the inner debate during the development of "the Trick That Lance Burton Showed Me," and you'll eventually hear your own inner voice asking "What's my motivation?" "Why am I doing this, or that?" "What do I REALLY want my audience to feel?"
I don't know how often I've heard an artist (whether writer, director, musician, etc) say they want to make their audience think. And they fail to involve their audience, and their work is cold and sterile.
I have heard a few writers, and directors, and musicians - and now a magician - who are concerned with how they can get an audience to FEEL. If they awaken something in a person's heart, the mind will realize it learned something a little later.
Don't buy this book to learn how to be Michael Close.
Buy this book to learn how to be you - the best you possible. And don't be surprised when you find your mind wandering to philosophy and scripture. It is the job of philosophy and religion to shape a person into something better.
Michael Close is a philosopher, and magic is his tool. Come sit at the feet of a modern Socrates who challenges you to become better than he is.
Why can a true review not be written now? Because this book must be lived, not just read.
I'm not through living yet. I have yet to discover more Closely Guarded Secrets about life.
*jeep!
--Chet
- and why no one else can, for a long time yet.
Immediately, let's confess that CGS may be the most influential work in the field of 21st century magic. Yet if it does its job well, it will be surpassed - but only because anything which might improve on it, will be standing solidly upon the strong shoulders of Michael Close's book/video.
This is not a trick book. We love trick books and do not degrade them; nonetheless, it is a disservice to trick books and a disservice to this book to consider buying CGS to learn Michael's best tricks. It is wrong to try to learn how to perform as Michael does. And it is wrong because Michael is not you, and the magician that you are portraying - as CGS teaches us - must be you.
I am only up to page 57 (Adobe page 63) and realize how very, very lucky I am to have this book when I am so very, very new to the field of magic. I easily might have become a rote magician - you know the one. The one who does tricks, who might make you laugh, but who never changes your life and who never quite rings true. The reason why one magician is, all too often, interchangeable with another.
CGS will teach you how to become your own magician. Though Michael shares some of his best tricks, it is by way of example throughout this sharing that the real lessons are learned. You'll "hear" the inner debate during the development of "the Trick That Lance Burton Showed Me," and you'll eventually hear your own inner voice asking "What's my motivation?" "Why am I doing this, or that?" "What do I REALLY want my audience to feel?"
I don't know how often I've heard an artist (whether writer, director, musician, etc) say they want to make their audience think. And they fail to involve their audience, and their work is cold and sterile.
I have heard a few writers, and directors, and musicians - and now a magician - who are concerned with how they can get an audience to FEEL. If they awaken something in a person's heart, the mind will realize it learned something a little later.
Don't buy this book to learn how to be Michael Close.
Buy this book to learn how to be you - the best you possible. And don't be surprised when you find your mind wandering to philosophy and scripture. It is the job of philosophy and religion to shape a person into something better.
Michael Close is a philosopher, and magic is his tool. Come sit at the feet of a modern Socrates who challenges you to become better than he is.
Why can a true review not be written now? Because this book must be lived, not just read.
I'm not through living yet. I have yet to discover more Closely Guarded Secrets about life.
*jeep!
--Chet
(Top ▲)
I have come to learn that the most difficult reviews to write are of products which are very good and those which are very bad. The mediocre products offer a lot to talk about - how this could have been better, how that was a disappointment. But both bad and great products often leave little more to say than either "yuck" or "this is great!"
In case there is any doubt, this is one of those, "This is GREAT!" products. In truth it is better than great, and rather than just repeat such platitudes I will try to offer some opinions and thoughts which may help you realize that this is a product that you truly NEED to own.
First, this e-book teaches (not explains, but teaches) more in its introductory material than most books and videos on the market today offer in their entirety. Michael Close is a deep thinker and an excellent writer. When the Worker's series came out, the material took the magic world by storm, but some people realized that those essays and asides within the tricks carried a lot of value too. Well, Michael has had the benefit of a few more years of performances in a very different environment (and a few more years of life) and these experiences have transported him into a rarefied level of thinking about our art. We are lucky that he has chosen to share it with us.
Now, don't get me wrong, the tricks in this book are killer. In fact, having seen a few of them in action at the Houdini Lounge in the Monte Carlo Casino I must selfishly confess that I'm slightly upset that some of these routines are now available for use by magicians all over the world. They are, and I mean this with utter sincerity, too good.
But hidden within these tricks are the real secrets of magic. I'm not talking methods, I'm talking secrets. In fact, I can say again with complete truthfulness, that almost every chapter revealed a secret to me that I can use to make my magic stronger.
How many books or DVD's can you say that about today?
In fact, the release of this product really does put a lot of the current offerings into perspective. It is a first class production, the material is amazing throughout, it has been audience tested, it is well written, and it does more than offer a novel game of show and tell - it TEACHES.
Now, about the product. I hate ebooks. I can't stand reading things on my computer. Michael has solved this problem AND has made me open a bit of my mind to the future of electronic texts. First, he has made it a simple matter to print the ebook into a normal book form. If you choose this option, you have a wonderful 180 page book which you can enjoy late into the evening and know it will soon find a cozy home next to the Workers series. More importantly, Michael has taken advantage of the ebook technology and uses it in his quest to teach.
In the ebook, short video clips have been inserted to help the reader understand the timing on certain moves, and to clarify certain actions that some readers may have difficulty following. In truth, I found Michael's writing to be crystal clear, but will confess that I was happy to check my interpretation of the Bedwell control against the video.
Like I said, this is a text that teaches, and for this, Michael is to be commended.
So, if you want excellent magical thinking conveyed through real world, A+, killer diller material, then you NEED this book. I haven't enjoyed a magic book so much in quite a long time, and I haven't gotten so much value out of a product in ages. This type of release raises the bar for the rest of us. In short, it's #$@!!% great!
Closely Guarded Secrets sells for $35. As a thank you for ordering from Michael, he will include the cards necessary for two of the routines. Here is the link:
http://www.michaelclose.com/newstuff.html
In case there is any doubt, this is one of those, "This is GREAT!" products. In truth it is better than great, and rather than just repeat such platitudes I will try to offer some opinions and thoughts which may help you realize that this is a product that you truly NEED to own.
First, this e-book teaches (not explains, but teaches) more in its introductory material than most books and videos on the market today offer in their entirety. Michael Close is a deep thinker and an excellent writer. When the Worker's series came out, the material took the magic world by storm, but some people realized that those essays and asides within the tricks carried a lot of value too. Well, Michael has had the benefit of a few more years of performances in a very different environment (and a few more years of life) and these experiences have transported him into a rarefied level of thinking about our art. We are lucky that he has chosen to share it with us.
Now, don't get me wrong, the tricks in this book are killer. In fact, having seen a few of them in action at the Houdini Lounge in the Monte Carlo Casino I must selfishly confess that I'm slightly upset that some of these routines are now available for use by magicians all over the world. They are, and I mean this with utter sincerity, too good.
But hidden within these tricks are the real secrets of magic. I'm not talking methods, I'm talking secrets. In fact, I can say again with complete truthfulness, that almost every chapter revealed a secret to me that I can use to make my magic stronger.
How many books or DVD's can you say that about today?
In fact, the release of this product really does put a lot of the current offerings into perspective. It is a first class production, the material is amazing throughout, it has been audience tested, it is well written, and it does more than offer a novel game of show and tell - it TEACHES.
Now, about the product. I hate ebooks. I can't stand reading things on my computer. Michael has solved this problem AND has made me open a bit of my mind to the future of electronic texts. First, he has made it a simple matter to print the ebook into a normal book form. If you choose this option, you have a wonderful 180 page book which you can enjoy late into the evening and know it will soon find a cozy home next to the Workers series. More importantly, Michael has taken advantage of the ebook technology and uses it in his quest to teach.
In the ebook, short video clips have been inserted to help the reader understand the timing on certain moves, and to clarify certain actions that some readers may have difficulty following. In truth, I found Michael's writing to be crystal clear, but will confess that I was happy to check my interpretation of the Bedwell control against the video.
Like I said, this is a text that teaches, and for this, Michael is to be commended.
So, if you want excellent magical thinking conveyed through real world, A+, killer diller material, then you NEED this book. I haven't enjoyed a magic book so much in quite a long time, and I haven't gotten so much value out of a product in ages. This type of release raises the bar for the rest of us. In short, it's #$@!!% great!
Closely Guarded Secrets sells for $35. As a thank you for ordering from Michael, he will include the cards necessary for two of the routines. Here is the link:
http://www.michaelclose.com/newstuff.html