Random I-Tunes Song of The Moment: Careless Whisper By Seether

Right from the beginning, this book is hilarious . . . I mean that literally . . . the cover of the book and the inside flaps . . . brilliant comedy gold. Of course, I'd expect nothing less from David Acer. Basically, you're getting a David Acer's greatest hits book. All the material has been updated with his current thinking on each effect along with a complete rewrite of all the material.

Unlike many magic books, this one is entertaining from the get go. Every effect has several moments of comedy, silliness, fun stuff, etc that is just for the reader's enjoyment. There were several times where I laughed out loud at the wit of David's cleverness. In fact, one night I was hanging out with a bunch of magi, and we were passing the book around and just plain old cracking up at its awesomeness. The book is extremely easy to read, and the effects are easily learned with David's clear instructions.

Production Quality - Excellent. Hard bound with very clear illustrations (Kaufman Style).

Effect/Contents Quality:

I'll list each effect with a star rating (1 to 5 - five is best; 1 is worst) next to it, and maybe some minimal commentary

• Cellular Production (5 stars) - A clean and clever cell phone production from a small folded up envelope. This is extremely practical, easy and a perfect way to open a show or just mess with people when you're hanging out.
• Rink (5 stars) - all borrowed objects and very magical looking. You link a borrowed ring onto a borrowed pair of glasses. I've seen this done and it looks like real magic. For the amount of technical skill (none) required it's amazing that you can get this visual of an effect. This is one of my favorites from General Acer.
• Transfusion (3 stars) - crazy tough but good version of Tenkai Pennies
• Holiday Miracle (4 stars) - Admiral Acer does it again. Using a a simple idea that makes it look like you're causing a Christmas light to glow in your hand. Very portable and very, very deceptive.
• Cheap Labour (4 stars) - Some tricks are all about method; others are about presentation, and some are about stick figures. Dr. Acer gives us a really fun and funny presentation using the latter of the latter.
• Around The World in Eighty Dollars (5 stars) - Commandant Acer changes a bill twice to do different currencies (a total of three) based on what destinations the spectators choose. If you do the bill switch, you MUST add this to your repertoire. If you don't do the bill switch, you must learn the bill switch and then add this to your repertoire.
• Time Flies (4 stars) - This reminds me of Tommy Wonder's Ring, Watch & Wallet except a lot less crazy. Here, Professor Acer provides us with a visual piece of magic where your wrist watch vanishes and reappears back on your wrist. Beautiful Magic with a Time Travel theme.
• Streeter #1: Ghost in the Machine (5 stars) - If you work near a vending machine . . . this is a perfect, perfect trick!
• Overtime (4.5 stars) - Very simple and very powerful card trick with a solid presentational hook. Prime Minister Acer gives us an effect that can just about instantly be added to your repertoire.
• Transposition Ring Flite (4.5 stars) - If you do ring flite . . . this is the new way you'll do it. If you are hesitant about doing ring flite, you won't be after reading this. Thanks to President Acer's handling, you'll never have to mutter these words again: 'Holy Crap! Your ring is gonna end up in someone's tuna sandwich in a few weeks.' Not only are we left with a sans tuna sandwich routine, but you're also given a beautifully logical presentation that makes more sense than the original Ring Flight
• Streeter #2: Madcap (4.5 stars) - Karate Koin with a beer cap . . . simple, visual and a souvenir and when you're done, you're a little bit more tipsy than when you did the trick a minute ago, thus bringing your ever closer to your goal to morph into Cardini.
• Mad Card Disease 2.0 (4 stars) - Captain Acer's take on the T&R card is a lot of work to create the gimmick, but you can use it over and over again and you end up with a very unique approach to torn and restored card. I'm considering adding this one to my repertoire.
• Nomen Omen (5 stars) - LOVED IT. Clean way to predict two free choices using a deck of cards with a fun presentation.
• Hyperventilate (3 stars) - David admits that this is only best when there is some distance between you and the audience. It also involves cigarette smoke. However the effect is very cool and I image very pretty to watch.
• Misguided Angels 2.0 (3 stars) - I'm not so sure about this one. I think it'll impress them during the trick, but when they go home and look at their deck . . . things deflate a little
• Rematch (2.5 stars) - This is a good trick, but it's pretty similar to stuff that you've already learned about vanishing matches reappearing in a match book.
• Swiss Pack (4 stars) - requires a deck that you have to create that can only do this one trick, but it's a darn good trick . . . especially if you like traveling hole plots
• Squancho 2.0 (3.5 stars) - if you ever wanted to accidentally kill a stick man, then you'll have fun with this effect where you let the spectator keep a card that you've altered after they signed it.
• Streeter #3: Dry Spell (5 stars) - I'm sure that King Acer has taunted the peasants many a time with this Downy Soft effect. Another fun side bar where you totally mess with your friends when they come over . . . have your clothes dryer find their card.
• Money Flies (??? stars) - This routine looked way more complicated than anything I will ever learn, so I didn't really read it and thus have no opinion of it.
• Initially Yours (??? stars) - Another one I just skimmed over
• The Body Swap (4 stars) - Colonel Acer gives you a really simple and easy way to do a super quick transpo of you and another magician. I love this idea.
• The President's Message (3.5 stars) - A simple card revelation where the empty thought bubble drawn on a $20 changes to have the card name appear. I like the method for this. It has a lot of potential.
• Coffee Break (3.5 stars) - More of a puzzle, I think, but it will still have them scratching their heads.
• Changes (4 stars) - Mickey Mouse Math from Paul Harris . . . David's take, and a sweet one at that.
• Money For Nothing (4.5 stars) - I love the premise of this. Sargent Acer's presentational hook is solid and the presentation itself is very clever. Essentially, you cause a borrowed bill to change places with a bill in a photograph.
• Lickety Flip (4.5 stars) - I've seen Duke Acer perform this on one of his videos. It is a flashy and stunning and darn visual and beautiful four ace production
• Mitosis (4 stars) - A clever add a no type of effect that ends up causing the audience to call the magician on his cell phone. Very clever presentation by Former Secretary of The Treasury Acer.
• Party of Six (4.5 stars) - Talk about making a card trick play big . . . this is pack flat play big at its finest. This one IS going into my stage repertoire. Hegemon Acer has taking a simple card trick to a heightened place where we finally see that presentation truly is everything.
• Wormhole (??? stars) - Jury's still out on this one. It's a traveling hole effect where the hole added to a cup of coffee or a glass which suddenly starts to leak through the newly added hole.
• iAces (3 stars) - a simple routine using the iPhone (or smart phone pictures/camera) for a revelation
• Gift of the Magi (4 stars) - Saint Acer leaves us with a cute and warm routine where presents appear under a picture of a Christmas tree. Then a real present is extracted from the photograph. Comes with the photographs you need.

$40 bucks is a lot for a book. However, it's worth it. I don't know how much it cost to produce. For all I know, David's making a nickel off of each book and that's it. However, I do know this, if you're even a little bit serious about magic, you absolutely must have this book in your collection.

When you average the rating of all of the effects that I gave a score to, you get a shade over 4 stars. However, when you add in the wit, the humor, the entertainment value, etc. . .

Final Verdict: 4.5 stars with a Stone Status of absolute and total GEM!