Books of Wonder by Tommy Wonder!
‘If you want to make your magic better, read these books.’ – Max Maven
Magicians like Max call the Books of Wonder (by Tommy Wonder) the most powerful magic books of the century for a reason…
..they are!
No matter what your style of magic, the Books of Wonder will contain something for you. With over 651 combined pages, these two books are your ‘cheat sheet’ to creating miracles in magic.
In this review, I’m going to break down everything you need to know about the Books of Wonder and why—if you really want to perform great magic—they need to be added to your basket, pronto.
Every magician knows that they need to read the Books of Wonder. It’s not a question of IF—but when.
But maybe you need more than just my word for it;. That’s completely fine, and exactly the reason I decided to create this in-depth review of the Books of Wonder.
These books are jam-packed with so much to talk about that I was forced to think very carefully about what to include.
So let’s get into it…
What Are The Books of Wonder?
Product: The Books Of Wonder
My Rating: 9/10
Best Place to Buy Them: Conjuror Community Magic Shop
The Books of Wonder are a two-part series by master magician Tommy Wonder that have been hailed as the most influential magic books of the century.
Do they live up to the high praise?
In my opinion, yes, they are absolutely worth it—and if you don’t have a copy yet, you should grab one while they’re available.
But that’s just my opinion. In this post I’ll do my best to lay out all the information you need to make up your own mind about these books.
Tommy Wonder
It would be next to impossible (and downright crazy) to talk about the Books of Wonder without dedicating some time to talking about the mastermind behind them…Tommy Wonder.
Tommy Wonder was a Dutch magician who is often labeled as one of ‘the’ magic greats, up there with Vernon and the rest. He started his magic career as a young boy and gradually worked his way up the magic ‘ladder’ until he was a regular performer at FISM.
His legacy extends far beyond just magic competitions—Wonder’s timeless and beautiful magic performances have amazed audiences for decades. Just check out some of the clips on YouTube of Tommy performing and you’ll understand just how brilliant he really was. Here’s one of my favorite videos of Tommy Wonder performing… (and yes, this is one of the effects you’ll learn when you buy The Books of Wonder)
What’s Included in The Books of Wonder?
These books contain a great blend of practical effects, techniques accompanied with illustrations, and Tommy’s personal advice on creating powerful magic.
Each volume has over 300 pages, so in total you’re looking at around 700 pages of Tommy’s best work. These books are definitely going to keep you busy for a while.
Tommy covers…
An intensive course in his brand of card magic. Tommy was no stranger to sleight of hand, and that’s evident in his work. One of my favorite sections of The Books of Wonder is the one where Tommy talks us through his famous ‘two second card fold’. This move takes the Mercury Fold to the next level by putting a THIRD fold in the card, making it even smaller and indiscernible, in the same amount of time (or even less!).
But don’t worry if moves like this sound too difficult for your current skill level. Tommy makes sure to include a mix of challenging sleights with simple techniques that are just as impressive! There’s really something for every skill level involved.
Tommy also spends a decent amount of time discussing some of his most effective coin magic miracles, such as his personal take on the classic ‘Coins Across’. The handling Tommy utilizes is pretty much identical to the original; but the true value is Tommy’s psychology and advice on the presentation of the routine.
Of course, Tommy Wonder was famous for his great stage magic and he includes a lot of routines that could well be adapted for a stage show (but will also play nicely close up in most cases). One of these is his Cups and Balls routine (as featured in his FISM award-winning performance).
You’d be hard pressed to find another magician who’s spent as much time on the Cups and Balls as Tommy Wonder did. He dedicated a huge chunk of his magic career to perfecting this routine to the point where it transcended from just being an effect to being truly magical.
More than just the individual effects though, when you buy these books you get access to Tommy’s personal advice on performing and making your magic stronger. Tommy has some of the most interesting views in magic—and I can practically guarantee you’ll learn something new about how to perform your magic in almost EVERY section.
Where Can You Buy Them?
It’s a real shame.
These books are SO good, they should be required reading for every magician. But because demand for them is so high, and there are so few copies, there just isn’t enough to go around.
It took me a long time searching before I managed to secure a copy. The good news is—it IS possible to find them. Magic shops tend to bring them back into stock every so often, so if they’re in stock now, I would definitely recommend picking them up while you can (because you never know when they’ll next be in).
You can also keep an eye out for announcements in the community when these books become available, at places like the Magic Cafe—it might look something like this…
What I liked
I can finally learn Tommy Wonder’s OWN routines. For years I would watch YouTube clips of Tommy Wonder performing, and he would never fail to blow me away. I would think ‘this magician is so good…I’ll never be able to perform magic like this!’
Well, the Books of Wonder changed that. When I got my hands on them, I discovered that I COULD in fact perform the exact same routines as Tommy Wonder himself. And that was a real magical feeling. But here are some of the specifics on what I really enjoyed about the books…
1. They’re a great read.
Even without all the magic contained in them, The Books of Wonder are a fun read. The author does a great job of really bringing out Tommy’s voice in the books, and as a result it really feels like the advice and teaching is being offered to us personally.
2. The effects are, quite simply, magical
It should come as no surprise that the effects and routines taught within The Books of Wonder are of the highest standard.
3. The depth of Tommy’s teaching
Some magic books ONLY teach you purely routines and technicalities. Luckily, these books do an excellent job of combining practical magic tutorials with proven showmanship and theoretical advice gleaned from Wonder’s years of performing. Tommy really goes into depth in exactly the right places—often in places you’re not expecting.
What I didn’t Like
1. These books can be an intimidating read
There’s so much information packed into these books that it can be overwhelming at first—where are you meant to start?
This is made even more evident when you take into account the fact that there are TWO books in this series—so double the content to choose from!
I think the solution is to take these books slowly—really make sure you’re digesting each section before you move on to the next. There’s no rush!
2. Hard to find a copy of
I talked about this one before, but it’s definitely worth reiterating. These books aren’t always easy to find, and even if you do—they aren’t often cheap. For me, they’re definitely worth it, but the price point might be a tad too high for others.
Overall
To conclude, I would highly recommend picking up a copy of The Books of Wonder while you can. These books are full of not only incredible magic effects, but the invaluable thinking behind them—straight from the mind of Tommy Wonder.
If you’re considering picking up these books, I would definitely advise you to do so sooner rather than later. It seems quite a few online magic shops have recently had a restock of them; so for the time being you can get one without all the difficulty I talked about earlier. But there’s no way that these books are going to stick around on shelves for long, so if you are interested, it’s best to buy now while they’re available.
Do you still have any questions about The Books of Wonder by Tommy Wonder? Feel free to leave them in the comment section below and I’ll get back to you within 24 hours! Don’t forget to share this article if you enjoyed it.
The Top 100 Magic Books: Of all time?
Ouch.
Don’t ask how long this took to write, it gives me headaches just thinking about it.
We’ve recently written an incredibly article on the top 100 magic books for magicians. It’s really informative and each book is amazing in it’s own right.
If you haven’t seen it yet I’m going to throttle it down your throat with a call to action link below…
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