Many beginners to magic (and others who should know better) are of the opinion that a magic effect has to be difficult in order to be worthwhile. While there are many killer effects that take months or years of practice, there are equally wonderful tricks that rely on psychology, subtlety, and/or advance preparation. The Self Working series of books are a treasure trove of great magic. This book is no exception. Many of the included tricks are used by successful professional magicians. Admittedly, these are best used in a program with other, more elaborate tricks, but for those moments in your act where you need a short, sweet effect, something in this book might just fill the bill. And as you get more proficient in magic you will find ways to further embellish these tricks and make them your own private miracles.

If you're reading this, you've probably already experienced the dreadful feeling of opening your new tricks' book... and discovering that the most stupid move requires years of training, expensive props and monk-like dedication.

Well... it appears that this book is in fact just the opposite. The tricks are very simple to perform (ok, you'll need some limited legerdemain nonetheless), require no props at all and, most of all, they aren't common or stupid at all.

The approach is very down-to-earth and sincere in pointing out the good and the bad parts of each trick, and this book alone will allow you to spice a dinner with dozens of nice magic tricks within a week's practice.

Be warned: this is NOT David Copperfield material. It's more "So, uncle Jim, can you do another magic?" type of stuff. But then again, you'll probably won't perform onstage as often as you'll be dining at a bored table. So...

If you see a book written by Karl Fulves on magic that has the words Self-Working in the title then buy it. There is a wealth of knowledge in each of these books. -Diamond Jim Tyler

I told my wife that if I am ever in a coma clinging to life, she should play these tapes. I can't say enough about MacQuarrie and his story telling ability. No one can describe better the experience of huddling in a pre dawn duckblind as wings whistle overhead in the darkness. Nor what it's like to feel the sure pluck of a brown trout at your fly during a spring rain. You will feel the glow of the woodstove and relish the ache in your arms that comes from rowing your boat back to the cedar cabin on a North Wisconsin lake. MacQuarrie's literary voice, the subject, and characters of his stories make my heart ache for a time that I was born too late to experience. Buy this trilogy. If you are a hunter or fisherman you will never regret it. If you aren't but take time to listen to these stories, you might find yourself looking at old shotguns, bamboo flyrods, and bluebill decoys in a different light. You might even find yourself in sleeting rain on a North Lake someday as wings whistle overhead.

This is for anyone who is ever thinking about buying a book with stories by MacQuarrie in it. Buy it and don't look back. MacQuarrie wasn't an advertiser like so many things are today. He wrote about everyday people and their love of the out doors. You must be careful though because after you read MacQuarrie it will be hard to find someone to out do him. I never heard of him before I found a book that Zack Taylor compiled with the stories of MacQuarrie flyfishing. Buy anything you can find by him and you won't be sorry. Enjoy MacQuarrie in your private times when you need things to be enjoyable and he'll never let you down.

Hi; Whether you are a beginner or experienced magician, you will find a wealth of great magic in these books, especially if you enjoy the subtle (sneaky!) instead of complicated sleight-of-hand.

If you see a book written by Karl Fulves on magic that has the words Self-Working in the title then buy it. There is a wealth of knowledge in each of these books. -Diamond Jim Tyler

I have had an interest in South Asia for twenty years. Dr. Schmidt has brought the many facets of the area into focus through capsules in time and events.

A ready source that stands alone yet provides ample bibliographal resources for deeper study.

if you hunt ducks this book is a must. it is packed full of the "good old days". not only that, but each story makes you feel as if you were there. you can almost feel the cold of the morning and the excitement of each flock that passes by.

^You have misspelled the name:

Please write _Les_ Levine in the next issue

Maquarrie is one of the greatest writers hunting and fishing has ever seen. He brings to life every story, and you can feel yourself in the blind or on the stream with the ODHA. His stories can be read over and over again, without loss of excitement.

If you see a book written by Karl Fulves on magic that has the words Self-Working in the title then buy it. There is a wealth of knowledge in each of these books. -Diamond Jim Tyler

Cons:

1) Definitely not for beginners, it presuposes a more than basic understanding of German grammar and vocabulary.
2) Extremely brief explantions before the execises. If you are a beginner, you'd better look for a frendlier book; if you are intermediate, they can only serve as a reminder of what you already know.
3) Rustic, typewriter style. Accents and umlaugs are handwritten, letters have varying darkness and thickness, no images or visual aids whatsoever.
4) Keys at the end of the book are compressed, apparently to save space, making it more laborious to verify some of them.

Pros:

1) Plenty of exercises.

I'd only recommend it to german speakers who stopped practicing for a long period of time and now want to recover vocabulary by doing plenty of written exercises.

I highly recommend this book. It is a wonderful tool for a speaker of English to really expand your vocabulary in German. It helps you learn to start figuring out words for yourself and you realize you know more than you think you know. It helps you get past "the hump" (frustration) of learning a new language when you don't know enough to even try. Even if your grammar is awful, if you have a decent vocabulary, I have noticed that people will try very hard to figure out what you mean and work with you. Thus, communication in German begins. Once you start communicating, it makes learning a new language more enjoyable and fewer "drills" are needed to learn the same material. This really truly is an easy and interesting way to expand your German vocabulary. German teachers should really consider making this book one of the required texts because it helped me tremendously in a very short period of time and it compliments any system or text being used to teach. Buy this book.

I think this is one of the best books on German vocabulary I have seen. It's a bit academic, but it more than compensates for that by taking an approach to vocabulary that is largely ignored, that is, by explaining how all those column-width words are formed. By seeing how words are formed, one gets a better idea of the literal sense of the word, and I found that helps me understand better the derivation of English words from German.

Every serious student of German should own this book and work the exercises from cover to cover!