Hi Again
Here is another rating question. What volumes of Daryls Encyclopedia of Card Sleights would you recommend for a beginner. Just the first few or the whole set? Any particular volumes better than others?
Thanks

Well I have never watched any of these, but I'm going to take an educated guess that you should study them in chronological order.

I'm biased towards books, I am a huge book lover. May I suggest you purchase volume one of Card College?

Darryl's Encyclopedia of Card Sleights are actually DVDs. I have the set. He goes over the sleights pretty quickly, but they are loaded with tons of information. Not that many tricks included. Some people may not recommend them for beginners. I'm a beginner too, but I've been using them as a reference in conjunction to books. If I read about a sleight I'm not sure of, I refer to the dvds to get a better idea. Vol 1 is very basic, he goes through different terms, types of cards, and various types of controls. Vol 2 and onwards, he gets more in depth into the sleights, controls etc. I would recommend getting the whole set because I don't think one volume is better than the other. Go to one of the online magic sites to check out what is covered in all the different volumes.
I hope this helps.

This should probably go in the DVD/Videos/Audio Tape forum instead.

Oh I knew they were DVDs I was just saying that other fact about the books. I guess I wasn't too clear.

I have all 8 EoCS dvds and they are an excellent resource. I really love both sides of this contentious coin: book learning vs. visual learning.

I have no doubt that there is a much greater amount of raw information in books but sometimes it is invaluable to have something demonstrated.

I love 'em all!

Regarding EoCS, I would also recommend getting them in order. The material on different dvds/tapes may or may not be easier or harder but occasionally a topic will span 2 tapes/dvds. For example, the Jog is explained on vol 1 and continues in vol 2.

I think these are just fine for beginners. There is a huge range of material here. From easy to impossible. Besides, I find seeing the impossible stuff inspiring rather than discouraging. I have these all on VHS tape and can't wait until they break so that I can justify buying them again on DVD. I would also recommend getting them in order as catbertek has mentioned.
Mark

Hi,
vol 1 is very basic... and I really enjoyed it cause he taught some very basic and important stuff in that vol...

if you are just a beginner, I suggest getting vol 1 first, then practise and decide what you want to learn and take it from there...

I actually started with vol 1 and jumped to other volumes, based on what I wanted to learn... and guess what... I end up buying all the volumes in the series... and if I had known earlier, I would have bought the whole set... much cheaper this way...

as mentioned in the posts earlier, there are not much tricks to learn, but you learn a lot of sleights... but every now and then you get a "trick break" as daryl calls it... and he teaches you how to use the sleights you have learnt to perform those tricks... a good example would be the 8 card brainwave...

if you want classic tricks and come basic sleights, you should get Ammar's easy to master card miracles... and get the whole set at once, don;t buy individually, you save a ton of money if you buy the whole set of 6 volumes at one shot... that's what I did... and that was the best bargain I got in a long time... highly recommended... you will love it....

cheers
eric

I went with card control and shuffling because I find that allot of what you do with cards is just that, I believe that it was number 8 but I don't have it on hand to check.

Roger

It's worth your money. Go get it. I have them all though I am still taking my own sweet time to go thru. Lots of resourses. U will not regret it!!!

Sounds like a great investment, but at a price of more than £200 in the UK I'm in no huge rush to buy them all at once. Did you know that you would save more money if you buy them all individually but miss out the first volume than purchasing them all together in a set. After all, if you're not a complete beginner then what's the point in buying the first volume

Volues 5, 6, and 7 have the most useful techniques in my opinion. advanced double lifts, second deals, vanishes, color changes, everything