This bok is great book for starters! I really do recomend it for starters. Other than that its an ok book. You can master the book in 3-4 days, and a magic book should last much much much longer. I do however recomend this book for people who are intrested in starting card magic.

This is not an excellent book, but it's not a bad book either. It's a good book: it contains tricks for you who doesn't know sleight of hand and for you who knows it. The self-working tricks contained here are not dumb, they do have that great climax too. You'll also find some tricks that require gimmicked decks, such as the Stripper Deck, but most of them only require a normal deck and/or usual props such as a rubber band. If you look for some classic tricks but not the one's shown on TV, you'll be happy to own this book.

This book has a wealth of information on card handling and technique. There are many top notch card effects including some different and offbeat tricks. Charles Jordan was definetely a card genius and you will see why in the way his card magic is done. A must have!

Karl Fulves is a wonderful writer. He has a concise, clear, and laconic style that I find refreshing. If you need a break from struggling with the serious, heavy tomes of card magic, this book will be an easy read. I must admit to a bias: I don't really like the majority of self-working card tricks. Unless they are abetted with some rudimentary sleights such as false shuffles, they come off as exactly what they are--self-working card tricks. That said, the serious card worker will easily be able to add sleights to the slick tricks presented here and make them really outstanding. For that Fulves deserves his four stars. It's a great book and value for the beginner and expert.

Everyone who is interested in card magic, MUST get a copy of this book. This book contains AMAZING & OUT-OF-THIS-WORLD card tricks. You won't bekieve how good these tricks are until you actually read them for yourself. You will totally mystify your friends and family.

THE BOOK IS INCREDIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The "main" trick in this book (the one "advertised" on the cover) is absolutely mind-boggling. The first time I saw this routine it was done to me by a "resident magician" in this magic store I was shopping at. I thought I had to get some kind of elaborate card deck. This book is all the magician said I needed. Any books by this author is great. I also recommend his rope book.

I got this because the other reviews said how good it was, but i opened it and gave up almost immediatly. The instructions are difficult to follow.

The tricks in this book are not totally self working. You have to remember a lot and tell people what to do.

This book, along with all the other Fulves Self-Working series are full of really great magic that can be done without years of practice. That however, doesn't mean no practice. As with any presentation before an audience, attention to instructions and good audience management are essential. This means that, just like an actor in a play, the magician-to-be must know exactly what to do and when to do it, what to say and when to say it. This requires several run-throughs with no audience. (Sound like practice to me!!) I think that 'self-working' in the title means that you can do the effects without working on sleights for several months/years before you can do anything magical. This material can be presented after a few hours practice!

The master magician Karl presents 63 easy magic tricks that are as mystifying to audiences. The tricks are simple and easy to practice and also contains step-by-step illustration to guide an amateur to learn about magic.

Little has been published on this unique artist, and what has been published is mostly out of print , or only found in Europe. It was in Europe that I first saw Carroll's work in Kassel, Germany during Documenta 9 , the most important exhibition of contemporary art held every 5 years. Ever since I have been intriqued and drawn to the work. Mr. Millazzo's essay alows an entrance into the process of Caroll's work, and allows questions to form that engage the reader. Beautifully designed and illustrated with mostly color plates allows the viewer to glimpse into the range of this talented painter. Carroll's fascination with the fleeting, temporary nature of our very own exsistence is written about thoughtfully in the text. Carroll has been exploring these personal and complex ideas since the early 80's
I highly encourage this book if you are interested in contemporary art of our time.

I have wasted hours and hours reading these selfworking books and have learned ONE trick which is foolproof and i like greatly. All the other tricks are so easy to figure out or mathematical which is not very impressive. It is in these type books that mathematical tricks that have ruined card magic are learned. I used to think card magic ... until finally I saw some good card tricks. All the goodcard tricks i have ever seen require sleights, such as the glide, double lift, false shuffles, or else need gimmmicks that can be examined like the short card and stripper deck. These self working books have tricks without sleights or gimichs. Good card tricks don't work if there isn't sleights or examinable genius gimmicks. So don't waste your money on these over priced books

This is another really fine book of material for the average magician. Much is from 'Pallbeares Review', a magazine published by the author, and now considered one of the best sources for excellent material.
Many of the effects in this book are mathematical, and will fool most people,including magicians. The nice part is that you don't have to understand the mathematics, or why it works, to be able to do it. All that is required is attention to detail and good audience management. For that reason, the magician-to-be should be at least 12 years old, although some of the tricks could be done by someone who is younger.

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

Wow, what i surprise that these books are still in print. And even more, other people have given other Karl Fulves books a rating of 5 stars. Here is why i don't like any of Fulves Self working books:

1. Way to expensive for tiny books with bad material. these cost 6 dollars for 128 pages while the superb book MOdern coin magic costs only 10 with 320 pages of priceless information.

2. Most importantly, the tricks aren't very good. My mom bought 5 of the self-working books so i understand very well what these books are like. I have spent days on some of Fulves card tricks reading through them and then performing them to many people. Either everyone figured them out or else the tricks were mathematical in which the audience wouldn't care. Magic tricks need to be impossible, magical which decieves the eyes. Mathematical tricks are NOT atall magical. It seems like all the tricks are really old out dated tricks just so that the author could say that this trick is in print for the first time. The best tricks are however classics, in which many books have these. I felt like Dover books were really awful after reading these books until i bought Modern coin magic, a fantastic book in which the tricks are both magical and fool people. All of my self working books where left in Madagscar when i moved. Before i didn't like card tricks because of this book until a friend showed me some sleight of hand. I never got one good trick out of 5 books by Karl Fulves, except for the cups and balls. 3. Self working tricks in general don't work. In self working, there aren't any sleights or gimmicks. Time has shown that the classic, or the best tricks that have proven the test of time, have either for the most part sleights or gimmichs and in the most part are not self working. By not including classics inorder to be origional, the book contains bad tricks. 4. Get the royal road in card magic, Mark wilson cyclopedia of magic, and bobo's modern coin magic for great classic tricks and card tricks that have stood the test of time which proffessionals use. Hope this helps.

This is a very good book for anyone who does not want to put in the hours it takes to become a sleight-of-hand card magician. Many of the effects in this book come from a magazine that was published by the author, which is considered one of the greatest sources for magical material ever!
Many of the effects in the book require no skill, just a careful management of your audience and attention to detail. Most will fool knowledgable magicians, especially those who depend on sleights and not mathematics.
An excellent book for a beginning magician, but not for those who are under 12, since most of the material requires strict adherence to directions.
Check out the last chapter for some excellent routines that duplicate sleight-of-hand magic, but don't use it.