Year: 2006

Definately worth a look.

This is a wonderful book featuring the complete compilation of Richards Almanac, a monthly (and eventually quarterly) magazine that ran from 1982 to 1985.

First of all, there are "bonus" items worth a mention. The book starts off with an interesting history of the magazine, why it was made, original plans for its name and so on. There are also a few extra tricks that did not make it into the final magazine, and for the sake of curiosity, the first issue in its Japanese form.

The magazines themselves are very good, featuring wonderful magic from many of the best magicians, including Dingle, Sankey, Roth, Jennings and many others. There are simply too many good peices of magic to describe here.

Finally, the Bull column is an interesting one, which often talks about the then current events in the magic world, so it is nice to look back and read about them.

Highly recommended to all.

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The final volume.

This, strangely, was the first (and so far, only) volume of this epic compilation that I bought. Please bear in mind that I haven’t read the other volumes, if you think this will affect my review.

You will buy this book for the magic, no doubt. And there is tons of it. I challenge any close-up magician to look through this book and NOT find a trick or an idea they would use.

The overall quality of magic is very good, though there may be some stinkers. Of course, this is down to personal opinion, different strokes for different folks, whatever tickles your pickle. Suffice to say, there is something in here for everyone.

I’ve read in other reviews that this is one of the weaker volumes of the collection, if so, I can’t wait to read the rest. There is plenty to play with in this book.

Negatives? Not many that I can think of. The magic is taught very well, as you can expect from Harry Lorayne. If you can ignore his self-infatuation, that is. It is sometimes annoying when reading the book to see Lorayne talk about how great he is. Still, he manages explanations VERY well, and things are easy to follow (yep, even those rubber band tricks).

Another negative might be the size. The book is very large, and while not arm-strainingly heavy, it can be quite cumbersome to read.

For magical content alone, this is a wonderful book, and worth the price tag.

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