The Eighty Greatest Card Tricks: One ordinary pack. Eighty miracles. Every secret explained.

By James Phelan

Borrow a pack of cards tonight. By tomorrow, they'll be asking, "How did you do that?"

Somebody takes a card, any card, and loses it in the pack. They shuffle it themselves. Seconds later it turns up somewhere impossible. Nobody speaks. Then someone says the words every magician lives for: "Do it again."

Here's the secret no magician likes to admit: the method is never the impressive part. The magic lives in the pause, the look on their face, the line you say as their card appears. You don't need talent. You need the right trick, and the right words.

So I went back through my archive and library, chose the eighty timeless card tricks that still consistently get a gasp.

Inside, you'll discover:

Be ready to perform by tonight. Eight tricks work entirely by themselves, so there are no moves to practise and nothing to fumble.Make them feel the magic happened in their own hands. They cut the pack into four piles and find an ace on top of every one. You never touch a card.Look like you can read minds. Name the last of five cards they picked, without ever seeing it.Leave them convinced you know everything. They secretly cut off a pile, and you tell them exactly how many cards they took.Get the reaction people talk about for weeks. Throw the pack at the ceiling, the cards rain down, and their card stays stuck up there.Give them a souvenir they'll keep for years. Their torn card comes back whole, and the corner they've held all along fits exactly.Look like a pro from the moment you pick up the pack. A whole chapter of cardistry demonstrations shows you're the real deal before the trick even starts.Walk in confident, not nervous. You'll know exactly what to say, where people should sit, and how to calm your nerves before you begin.Be ready when someone says "show us more". Build your own card act, with five sample sets ready to go.

Ten chapters take you from your very first trick to showpieces I'd happily put in front of a theatre audience. Every trick starts with what your audience sees, then clear numbered steps, with diagrams for the fiddly bits, and a credit to the old master it comes from: Professor Hoffmann, S. W. Erdnase, August Roterberg and more.

For the quiet one, too. A card trick is the easiest way I know to walk into a room. "Can I show you something?" gives you a reason to start talking and gives your hands something to do. And for the next few minutes, everyone is looking at the cards, not at you.

If you've read How to do Magic, you'll find none of its card tricks repeated here. If you haven't, you don't need it. This book starts from how to hold the pack.

All you need is an ordinary pack of cards. No trick decks or gimmicks. No talent required. Just the nerve to say "pick a card".

About the author
James Phelan is the BBC magician behind five international smash-hit tours, star of The Man Who Was Magic, and a Member of the Inner Magic Circle with Gold Star. His first Edinburgh Fringe, in 2019, was in a 120-seat room that was often half full. He learned more that month than he had in years, mostly from the nights that didn't go to plan, and every lesson is in these pages.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1808671740
• ISBN13: 9781808671746
• Release Date: October 2026
• Publisher: Published by Vektor Publishing on Behalf of J
• Length: 214 Pages
• Weight: 0.64 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.0" x 9.0"