Hope you have fun with it. Just always keep in mind the scope of the book and not the section alone to keep things in context.
If I can assist, let me know.

Best,

Dorian Rhodell

There are about a dozen known errors in the book, but could you provide some examples of the author's inconsistent use of terminology, or lack of coherent directions with the terms you mentioned?



Examples? The truth is, we have Vernon's actual typed manuscript on Erdnase. To say that his comments are "sparse" would be an understatement. He thought the book was near-perfect and was difficult to improve upon.

I happen to agree that the book isn't for beginners. But that's not due to any fault with the book. It's just that beginners aren't ready for it.

Jason

Yes, there are errors in the book, but they're few and far between. You're only talking about the odd "left" that should have been "right", that kind of thing. While preparing the free PDF for my blog, I didn't find any of the descriptions to be incorrect (although I haven't studied each one in detail yet).

There are also some strange spellings, and his use of grammar is inventive at times. Other than that, I have to agree with Jason. The writing is excellent and fairly easy to understand, so long as you take your time.

Marty

......Thank you for the free download!

Just read your blog, going to be an interesting journey,

Marty,
Regarding your June 10th response:

Point 1: I understood you to mean you WERE going to study Erdnase 'in isolation' because you wrote "This is my intended approach. I want to learn the moves for myself from the text directly, and not rely on a second hand interpretation. Using the DVD set to learn the moves would defeat the point of the project, and also severely reduce the learning experience." Thanks to your clarification, I understand better your intended approach. My point entirely was that you should be open to consulting other sources because Erdnase can be difficult to follow. I was simply pointing out what I saw as an unnecessary constraint in your apparent approach. Not an issue in your actual plan, so I strike the comment. Go for it!

Point 2: I neither love nor hate Erdnase. I recognize EATCT as a landmark resource that covers a remarkable range of material in a very limited number of pages. I also recognize the author was a card shark, and neither a teacher nor a writer, so it presents some difficulties for beginners (which you have also addressed by noting that the book is not for beginners). I do the fact that he wrote a book describing material that was 90% invented by others (which he freely admits) just needs to be remembered by those who would elevate him to demi-god status. He didn't single-handedly invent card manipulation, but some folks want to act as if he did. Hey, it's a free country and they can adore him if they want. Likewise, I can choose not to if I so desire without being trashed for choosing not to worship their chosen hero. (Hey, they probably don't like my particular heroes, either.) He just wrote the stuff down, to our everlasting collective benefit, for which we are all grateful. You didn't trash my opinion. You responded thoughtfully and graciously. Thank-you for that, Sir.

Point 3: An example of my difficulties with EATCT is the description of the longitudinal shift. His description of the diagonal pass is very clear. His description of the longitudinal shift is clear as mud. I am thoroughly convinced the shift is physically impossible to perform if you only do exactly what Erdnase describes. He has left something out and I don't know what it is. The fact that Dai Vernon described Erdnase's description as "lucid" is utterly irrelevant. Vernon isn't the person sitting at my kitchen table trying to learn this sleight from Erdnase's verbiage. I am. Some people will read Erdnase's description of the longitudinal shift and understand it immediately. Some will take a bit of fiddling around with the deck to get the sequence of movements correct. And some will run into a stone wall because it appears Erdnase is telling them to do something that is either impossible or simply has no meaning. A good teacher teaches to the entire class, not just to the brilliant students. I think this particular sleight is an excellent example of why EATCT is not for the beginner (which I am). A more experienced card manipulator will instinctively fill in the missing details without even realizing they are doing it. If you stood in front of me and spent 10 seconds demonstrating this move, I have no doubt my response would be something to the effect of, "Of course! Now I see what he meant." Fitting the words to the visual is much easier than constructing the visual from scratch based on just the words.

Bottom lines: My concern about an artificial limitation in your approach was incorrect. Your approach is sound. And EATCT needs to wait on the bookshelf for me to catch up to it.

Thanks for your comprehensive reply. I agree that Erdnase is not for beginners, but it is a book that beginners should read at some point in their studies.

The key thing to understand about a book like this is that it requires more effort to understand than modern books. The language is more arcane and the descriptions are brief (too brief in some circumstances as you rightly point out).

I've just posted part 3 of my exploration:

http://wp.me/p3aDns-in

Hi Marty,

I posted something similar to the Café about two months ago here: http://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/viewt......rum=2&29 It received both encouragement and mild derision.

Also, about ten years ago I also did a cursory try at every move in the book. It was a satisfying experience. I second Maximilien's recommendation of the annotations by both Vernon and Ortiz.

For me moves in Erdnase are satisfying to practice in their own right; that is why I continue to study. The blind shuffles, diagonal palm shift, and bottom palm have spent much time in my hands happily passing hours. The bottom and second deals have been café companions while sipping coffee. Slow mastery is intrinsically rewarding.

If you're like me, be prepared for an adventure, to suck for a long time, and for others to tell you suck for longer! It's great.

Shaun

Great project, I admire your ambition.

Hi Shaun,

Thanks for sharing your experiences with the book, you're Video Dialogs are very interesting. I do plan on reading the two annotated copies you mention, but only once I've worked through the entire book.

It's been a while, but my latest post on the "Professional Secrets" chapter is now live for those interested:

http://wp.me/p3aDns-ir

Marty

P.S. Thanks for the kind words MMMagic29.

Hi Marty. It is so refreshing to see someone who is a true student of magic. In this day and age of instant gratification, it is rare to find someone like you. I too have worked through Erdnase (many years ago). I have been away from magic for awhile, but for some reason I picked up a deck tonight and stumbled upon this thread. Thanks for some inspiration! Time to look at my library of books (whew, I almost let the wife sell them...). I think I will dig in and get back to it.

Hey, a crazy question. Your pic looks just like a Jacobs that I went to school with. I was friends with Jeff and Howard Jacobs both, and seem to remember a younger brother named Marty. Any chance?

Steve

Hi Steve,

Erdnase is a book that demands study. Reading it in a casual manner, as I've done several times in the past, doesn't seem to help you understand the content. That's why I decided to go through it page-by-page in a very deliberate manner. I'm glad you're finding the posts interesting. I was hoping they would inspire others to pick up the book and have another go at reading it.



I'm not the Marty you remember as I have two sisters and no brothers. I also hail from the UK, not the US.

All the best,

Marty

Erdnase is thick stuff to wade through but pure gold. The more time you spend with it the more you realise you haven't even scratched the surface yet.

So, I took a break from Erdnase due to a new job, but I'm now back on the bandwagon! I've just added blog number five, which discusses both the "Technical Terms" and "Erdnase System of Blind Shuffles" section of the manuscript:

http://wp.me/p3aDns-iv

I've also converted the book into a web-based manuscript, which is available for free at my new magic website School Of Secrets:

http://j.mp/sos-erdnase

You'll need to register with the site before you can access the book. It's free to join SOS and I promise not to spam you!

I'm also adding extra resources to the manuscript. At the moment, there's a Support Forum where you can ask questions about the text and discuss the finer points of the book with other hard-core Erdnase enthusiasts. There's a list of "further study" resources to expand your knowledge of The Expert at the Card Table, and I've just added two practice checklists that will help you keep track of your progress through the material in the Card Table Artifice and Legerdemain portions of the book.

Marty

P.S. The following link should make it easier for those interested to find all of the Erdnase posts on my blog:

http://www.magiconthebrain.com/tag/exploring-erdnase/

Nice to see that your project is still going on. The web-based version of Erdnase is very convenient to navigate easily. Thanks for sharing

This is good to hear, as this was my intention. I'm still making small changes to the layout to make it easier to read. I'm finding the book a lot less intimidating when broken down into small chunks. It's like the old saying, "How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time!" If I ever get a pet elephant, I think I'll call him Erdnase!

Erdnase the Elephant... sounds like a great children's book about magic!

For those still interested in Exploring Erdnase, I'm resurrecting this project. While I continued to study The Expert at the Card Table, I stopped blogging about it far too soon. To make amends for my failure to complete this project as intended, I plan to run a year-long book club via the blog; the first book we read, you guessed it, will be The Expert at The Card Table. Full details can be found on the book club page on my blog.

I really hope that this project encourages others, especially reluctant readers, to tackle perhaps the most important book on card manipulation published during the whole of the 20th Century.

Marty

My new blog is called Marty's Bag of Tricks. I won't be publishing posts until the New Year, but I thought I'd give people advance warning in case they want to read the book before I start blogging about it again. I'll also be publishing a monthly Ruseletter that will give the keenest readers advance access to upcoming blog posts, along with an exclusive magic trick only available in the newsletter.

Great project, thanks!

Thanks, balbec. I'm just rewriting my first few posts on the book. It should be a fun project and I promise to stick with it this time!

For those who haven't already noticed, there's a nicely formatted edition of The Expert at the Card Table available via my blog: bit.ly/teatct

Marty