best Books List

By Request

I was gonna pen a top 10 book list. Alas, I don't think that's possible.
I simply love magic books way too much.
I could come close, but instead, I'm just gonna list what I think are books the aspiring magi simply must read:

First and foremost,

The Collected Works of Alex Elmsley (Two Volumes by Stephen Minch)
These are not the best beginner books... but they are my favorite magic books ever penned.
I think Elmsley's "Automatic producer" is an amazing system for producing competant magic performance and the tricks within these two volumes stand the test of time (yes, mostly cards, but LOTS of other great stuff as welll... his T&R newspaper is just waiting to make someone a reputation)

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I guess before progressing... I should list a few good beginner's books
This is pretty easy for me. I have a top 5 list that any/all magic enthusiasts should own.
They're cheap and good. Chock full of enough info to build an entire career.
Here ya go:

Bill Tarr's Series: Now You See It (1 & 2) and 101 Classic Easy Magic Tricks
The Now you see it books focus on Sleight of Hand Technique and the Easy Magic book describe some of the classic stage / prop effects. All of these books are wonderfully illustrated and they're all available at a reasonable price.

Mark Wilson's Course in Magic. An Incredible Encyclopedia of EVERYTHING.
Simply Amazing how much info Wilson Fit into this volume.

The Magic Book by Harry Lorayne (this one is a little harder to find these days)
This is the book that changed the game for me. A good tome with a wide variety of close-up and parlor magic

The Tarbell Course.
You want it all? Here it is.

Honorable Mention: Joshua Jay's Beginner book. He gives away ALOT of killer stuff and the tipped in DVD allows the beginner to see the magic performed. This book is almost too good to be on Barnes & Nobles Shelves
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Ok, onto the meat

I'm a sucker for a zine compliation.
I think some of the best stuff to see print has been in the various 'Zines' that aspiring publishers have released.
Howard Lyon's & the IBIDEM top that list... following that, in no particular order:
Epilogue (Fulves) Apocalypse (Lorayne) Hierophant (Racherbaumer) Almanac (Kaufman) Trapdoor (Beam)

Moving onto more serious books....
The Books of Wonder (Minch) are invaluable sources of inspiration and guidance.
The magic within is challenging to perform to Tommy Wonder's level of perfection, but the interwoven essays provide the guidance you'll need to get there.

Carneycopia (Carney/Minch) is another hand's down must have
The opening chapeter on 'how, when, why magic can be art' is worth reading & re-reading
And the magic within is top notch grade A wonderworks material

Cellini's The Royal Touch is what a magic book should look like
It's a work of art designed by a master for the student. Read this book and become a better magician.

Paul Cummins FASDIU 'notes' Volume #1 & #2 contain some of the most practical card magic to ever see print. There's also a handful of coin items that might strike your fancy. Get your card tricks here!

The Art of Astonishment Series is Paul Harris' compilation of his best stuff.
It's a gold mine of magic. Some of the best stuff to EVER see print is in this 3 volume set.
Get it.

Card College (5 volumes... and then some)
Wanna learn cards? Just get this. Thank me Later.

Coins? Expert Coin Magic by Roth and "CoinMagic"  (both penned by Kaufman)

God, there's so much more... The Dingle Book, The Jennings Stuff, Cervon (and on and on and on)

I've gone way past a top ten list and could easily list another 10...
(in fact, a 10-20 list is a more interesting challenge... some stuff off the beaten path)
maybe I'll do that tommorow ...
For now, it's a busy day and I've got things to get done.
surely you do to? If not, get one of the above books and get started on it!