Pure Imagination (Book)
Pure Imagination (Book)









Scott Robinson creates some of the most interesting visual close-up magic that we have ever seen. In his hands, coins appear in three separate locations at once and cards dematerialise in ways that we never thought were possible. His magic is the rare complete combination: deceptive, entertaining, and visual. In his introduction, Steve Beam called him "one of his favorite magicians" — and we understand why.
Andi Gladwin and John Campbell worked together to describe 46 of Scott's finest card and coin magic. Many of these pieces have been in Scott's repertoire for over twenty years and several have become instant modern classics (such as "Riding the Wave," Scott's impromptu Invisible Deck routine that many other versions are based on). They are lavishly illustrated with full-color photographs, and described in just the right amount of detail to allow you to learn each trick with props in hand.
While most of the routines use sleight of hand, there are effects for all skill levels. For example, his "Different Differences" is a coin routine that is as easy as it is visual. You place three silver coins into a coin purse and make it transpose with a copper coin, with the silver coins appearing in three different places at the same time. His "Sucker Monte" is a close-up worker's dream; an easy impromptu monte routine that uses subtly over sleights. And his "Tooth Fairy" effect is a rare coin effect designed specifically for children.
For those who want to work a little harder, you'll learn Scott's "Heavy Metal," where twelve Spellbound changes happen in rapid succession! And of particular interest is Scott's work on the Wild Coin plot, where he elevates the effect from a small coin trick to a full performance piece.
The book itself is stunning – with thick, glossy photo paper, and over 740 full-colour photographs. The satin-style cover and purple book ribbon make this book a gorgeous addition to your collection.
Contents of Scott Robinson's Pure Imagination
- Spoiler Alert (Steve Beam)
- The First Rule of Sleight Club (Andi Gladwin)
- The Toy
- The Willy Wonka Card Trick
- Willy in Your Pocket
- Different Differences
- Sucker Monte
- Loose Change
- The Queen Thing
- Visual Retentive Vanish
- Slide Load
- Quick Kings and Aces
- Trading Spaces
- Carpal Tunnel
- Sliding Scale
- Just One Move
- Who's Counting?
- Bill Me
- Over the Hills and Back Again
- 100% Probability Sandwich
- Severance Pay
- Automated Teller Card
- Big Bang
- A Buttery Spread
- Manifold
- Sprite
- Repackaged Prediction
- Triple Crown
- Top Slop Gag
- Changing Hands
- H.G.'s Pocket
- Riding the Wave
- Sponge Coin
- Changing a Fan Belt
- Daley Double
- Daley Double Change
- Changeling Coin
- Da Vinci Coins
- Dragnet Jacks
- The Tooth Fairy
- Money Changers
- SACC (Semi Automatic Cascade Control)
- Coins, By Golly
- Home Wrecker
- Count Me
- Heavy Metal
- Totally Under Control
- The Sound of Silence
Customer reviews for Pure Imagination (Book)
There are routines (ranging from easy to very advanced) for every magician! My favorite one is “Queen Thing,” a cards to pocket that has a surprise ending!
With so many tricks that a worker like myself can easily put in my set, I fully recommend this incredible book!
I was there the night it was released and watching it sell out in 10mins was breathtaking.
To be honest, I don’t know why this isn’t priced higher. The sheer volume of material in this book completely outweighs the cost. Scott’s coin work is my absolute favorite. Highly visual stunners!The photos are clear and perfectly illustrate each effect, and the production values are incredibly high!
This may be the most beautiful book Vanishing Inc has ever produced!
There is a ton of magic all very clearly explained along with step by step photos, all in complete color, all on heavy weight glossy paper. The book easily opens and stays open to whatever your page you are reading.
Scott's magic is very creative and has something for everyone.
You will be very pleased with the purchase of his book!
member
This book is absolutely gorgeous. From the beautiful satin cover to the stunning photos.
Scott’s material is fun and ranges from attainable with some effort to challenging at times, but completely worth the effort
I’m only part way through my first read through. “Queen Thing” has been mentioned in a few other reviews here and is indeed a great effect.
I also enjoyed “Quick Kings and Aces”, and just may need to put in some of the work for the “100% Probability Sandwich”.
There’s a reason this book sold out in 10 minutes at its debut.
Scott's handling is within the reach of any card or coin handler, but when enough work is put in to get fluidity and finesse, these routines look phenomenal. Scott has clearly put a lot of time into developing and refining these techniques over the years, and it shows in both economy of action, structure, and deceptiveness. I'm already in love with several of these routines, including the Willy Wonka Card Trick(though I do prefer the pocket version as it's a wonderful routine) and Loose change(which I now always carry two coins around for). There's great thinking in terms of presentation and premise here, Scott's handling of Wild Coin uses the mug to perfectly justify the effect and I love the uniqueness of The Toy. Absolutely great work Scott, and I hope whoever is reading this picks up the book to enjoy it as well!
TRICKS ARE REALLY AMAZING AND THE PRICE IS REALLY FAIR. IM GETTING TIRED OF THESE 65-80 DOLLAR BOOKS ARE THEY ARE COLORLESS, CHEAPLY MADE ECT. THIS BOOK IS WORTH EVERY CENT
Scott is very good at constructing killer effects that incorporate devious and clever methods to create routines that are truly magical. People tend to gravitate to routines like Differences or the Willy Wonka Card Trick, but there are SO many more outstanding routines and sleights taught in the book. The Semi Automatic Cascade Control is one you’ll be using in no time. The Sound of Silence is probably the most beautiful routine in the book! Read it. You’ll also notice while reading the book that nearly every routine starts with an interesting plot. A great example of that is The Tooth Fairy which is a coin trick for kids and another one of my favorites. Some of my other favorites include Sponge Coin, Big Bang, 100% Probability Sandwich, Who’s Counting, Home Wrecker, and Trading Spaces.
I could go on with more of my favorite routines from the book, but I’ll just reiterate what everyone has said already; YOU SHOULD BUY THIS BOOK.
My personal favorites are the Willy Wonka card trick, the Queen Thing, Trading Places, and Loose Change. The coin tricks are all excellent, but loose change was a great place for me to begin.
The book itself is beautiful with stunning photos that make following along with the trick rather easy.
I've already learned so much but just barely scratched the surface of the years of knowledge packed inside the pages.
member
This was money well spent , wish I could say the same about other books I have bought in the past.
This is a wonderful book, in terms of production value and quality Vanishing Inc do make the nicest books. In terms of content it's excellent. There's a huge number of coins and card tricks, most of which are within anyone's reach if they're willing to put in a little practice. If I had to make one criticism it would be that it's sometimes difficult to visualise how to get to a particular step due to 90% of the images being from the spectators perspective and those that aren't not being particularly enlightening. That being said it may be more down to my ability or lack of knowledge rather than a fault with the images themselves. Either way, this is a minor complaint and isn't a huge issue.
Some prior knowledge of card sleights and moves is also necessary. Whilst a number of tricks are well within reach of beginners, existing card magic skills will be very helpful and even essential for some effects.
In short this is an amazing book, made to Vanishing Inc's usual high quality. It's definitely one I recommend to fellow magicians. And as an added bonus, a number of the effects work perfectly over things such as Zoom, Skype etc.
This book reads like a thesaurus of close up magic. That is to say that if you're looking for avant garde versions of great close up routines or just something incredible unique to put into a walk around set... this book is for you.
Now for the material contained in this book. Whether you’re a beginner, or advanced this book is for you. Many books I have purchased over the years wind up sitting on the shelf. This book I can see myself going back to time, and time again. It really gets you thinking outside the box.
If you purchase this book great. If you don’t purchase this book you will loss out on one of the best books ever printed on card, and coin magic.
For starters, it's a beautifully made book with a rich purple cover, it just looks attractive. The tricks are a great mix of coins and cards and different skill levels. Also, more importantly, they are tricks I will actually do for people, not just interesting ideas. I like the format, simple and direct. Good Pictures and good explanations, for the most part.
One negative - the explanations can sometimes be a bit fuzzy, not as clear as I would like, but I figured out what was going on with some thought. Funny thing is, this might not be a negative at all, as it almost forces you to hone your creative thinking and problem solving skills.
I do really really love this book, everything about it, and I'm so glad I got it.
Buy this book if for no reason than it will be the most beautiful book in your bookcase. It feels like magic should feel.
I have only got around of a third of the way through it in detail but it is already worth every penny even if I don't like the classic move taught in the first few pages. There are other methods and books like this don't just show you tricks they make you think. It will make you want to take the ideas a mould and create something magical in your own style.
I have an ever growing collection of magic books some of which are more useful that others. Some I never use some well thumbed and abused. I have little doubt that this book will become a classic over time and will be reproduced in soft back with smaller pages and on less lovely paper.
At this point I will almost certainly buy it again and keep this one as Sunday best to be shown round reverentially in the company of the cognoscenti on evenings with fine brandy for their admiration and delight.
Owning beautiful things makes me happy and this book is a beautiful thing!
Granted, many of the handlings and slights are a little beyond my skill level, but that just pushes me a little harder to improve my technique.
Regardless of whether I use some, none, or all of the material in this book (and it's all very usable!), the book is highly collectible, and looks fantastic on the shelf.
I will be getting the others, slowly but surely!
I highly recommend the Pure Imagination download available from VI also, and I hope Scott releases more downloads from the book. It is both a pleasure and instructive to watch him perform with such a deceptively casual manner, gentle humor and scripts that seem off-the-cuff but are polished to a T.
described and better than wow.
Aside from the excellence of its content, and detail , I’ve worked in the printing industry for years and this publication is beautifully printed, clean and …
Forget that. Concentrate on expanding your knowledge and skills
Second of all, the materials are amazing and a lot of fun. There's a variety of coin and card tricks which is perfect for me and the routines are not too difficult as well. However, I do find myself having to read some passages several times to really understand what it meant.
But overall, this is a great purchase and an excellent project.
The book lays flat so the pages are open flat and easy to turn, and the photos! Wow! The photos are in great detail and the wording of the tricks correlate with the photos well so they are very much easy to understand. I haven’t had a chance to look at the other tricks yet but I really love the Willy Wonka car wash trick!
This is one of the first magic books that I have purchased in over 25 years. And it’s great to know that vanishing Inc. makes great magic books. And I love the satin cover and the bookmark because it’s great just collecting magic books even though I don’t plan on doing every single trick on every single book that I purchase. I just love reading about magic and it’s great it itself!
I’ve read through some of the other tricks, and I can’t wait to get to them. What’s also great about reading this book is that you can really see the kinds of moves and the kinds of skills that you need to learn the trick.
It shows you step-by-step how to do it, and it’s very intricate. I’m definitely up to learning them. So before I get into a trick, I really look and see what kind of sleight of hand it takes to get into the practice of it.
I really try to see if it’s worth going through the moves or not in addition to all the other tricks that I have purchased from here. Oh! I did already mention once again the great satin cover? This is a really great book!
Community questions about Pure Imagination (Book)
Have a question about this product? It's possible others do too. Ask here and other Vanishing Inc. Magic customers will be able to respond with assistance! Alternatively, email us and we can help too.
Stephane asks: When exactly this book be reprinted ?
- 1. Vanishing Inc. Magic responds:There are no current plans to reprint this.
Brent asks: What is the skill level required for the Willy Wonka trick? I may get the video from expert card magic as I’m not mechanically good at learning from books but didn’t want to discount the idea of it had easy slights and lots of photos. Thx!
- 1. Vanishing Inc. Magic responds:The Willy Wonka Card Trick is for Intermediate to Advanced. It's a beautiful routine with sleight of hand.
Michael asks: Of the total tricks, how many of the tricks are card tricks and how many of the tricks are non-card tricks? And, I guess for completeness, how many of the tricks use combined cards and non-card items? Thanks for the information. Mikw
- 1. Vanishing Inc. Magic responds:25 card tricks 16 coin tricks 5 combined tricks (cards and money)
Makino asks: What and how many coins, including gimmick coins, are needed for the coin magic performed in this book? I only own half dollars and shell coins.
- 1. Michel responds:Outside of what you have, you will need a C/S coin.
Mike asks: Besides all three Trapdoor bound copies, I also own all of Steve Beam's semi-automatic books. What are the new items in Pure Imagination, or can you list a table of contents and I can cross reference the effects. Thanks.
- 1. Mike responds:Nevermind, I just saw the list of contents on your page. Sorry about that.
Tan asks: Are there many effects that require gimmick coins/ cards ?
- 1. Scott (creator) responds:Hi Tan - A majority use no gimmicks but there is some that do. On the card side, 3 use some sticky stuff, 1 uses a DB and 2 use gimmicks you make (super easy). One the coin side, I think there are 2 that use a C/S and 1 that Uses a Shell. The rest use regular coins. Let me know if you have any other questions!
Yves asks: Hi, I owned the three Trapdoor volumes where I think most of his materials has been described previously. How much of these are new and have not appeared in print before?
- 1. Vanishing Inc. Magic responds:Roughly a third of the material appeared in Trapdoor about twenty years ago. Much of it has been updated/improved and all of it has been rewritten and photographed.
- 2. Yves responds:Thank you very much! I surmise as much as I recognize many tricks titles. I will buy the book for sure anyway as I am a book guy. Those who don’t know Scott Robinson are in for a rare treat, his magic is very visual and surprisingly economical and very doable. Looking forward to read it!
mark asks: Hi is there new video performance to go along side the book? Thanks
- 1. Vanishing Inc. Magic responds:There is no video released alongside the book.
Robert asks: For the card tricks are there any sleight free effects.
- 1. Scott (creator) responds:Hi Robert I would say 3 of the Card Tricks (The Toy, Severance Pay, Repackaged Prediction) are 100% Sleight free. However there are a number that require only basic card handling ability ( Sucker Monte, Quick Kings and Aces, Trading Spaces, H.G.'s Pocket, Money Changers, Count Me) and are easy within reach of everyone. I hope this helps!
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