If you want to find magic tricks revealed free of charge, there are two places you can go, the public library or the Internet. This article will look at both in turn.
Books Revealing Magic Tricks – Free at Your Library
If you want to borrow a book revealing magic tricks free of charge, go to your local library and type the keywords “magic tricks” into the library’s online catalog. Most public library systems also allow you to access their catalog from home.
The bestselling book on magic and illusion on Amazon.com is Derren Brown’s Tricks of the Mind. Brown is a popular television illusionist and his book guides the reader into some of the techniques behind what he does on TV. What it doesn’t do, unsurprisingly, is reveal step by step details of how to replicate his tricks. To do so would damage his reputation and “devalue the currency”, so to speak.
A more traditional book on magic is Mark Wilson’s Complete Course in Magic. This 512 page book reveals details of card tricks, coin tricks, handkerchief tricks and all sorts of other conjuring tricks. It gets a five star rating on Amazon and is probably the only book on magic you will ever need.
Magic Tricks Revealed Free Online
There is no shortage of websites revealing magic tricks free of charge. There seems to be a particular fascination with revealing the secrets of magician David Blaine. It is not hard to see why – Blaine is a popular and controversial figure, and his name on a website is clearly designed to increase traffic.
The website goodtricks.com has an entire section devoted to what it calls “David Blaine style street magic”. There is also a page for Criss Angel tricks, featuring YouTube videos of the Greek-American TV magician explaining some of his more popular tricks.
Street magic, also called guerilla magic, is a form of magic performed in a public place, often in a “hit and run” style on an unsuspecting audience. It was first popularized by Blaine, which is why his name appears on so many websites.
One 18-page PDF document called David Blaine’s Magic Revealed shows the secret to many of Blaine’s most popular illusions. It reveals how to create the illusion of levitation, appear to twist your arm 360 degrees, push a cigarette through a quarter and resurrect a fly from the dead, among other tricks. For such a short book, it contains a wealth of material. It is well worth studying if you want to impress your friends.