This excellent guide to mastering dozens of mystifying acts of deception and manipulation will soon have you dazzling friends and family with professional-quality magic tricks. Martin Gardner, author of a host of popular magic and puzzle books, has compiled a clearly written manual that not only reveals secrets of the trade but also helps you perform tricks at a moment’s notice with such common objects as cards, coins, napkins, matches, and silverware.Step-by-step instructions and nearly 200 easy-to-follow diagrams and illustrations provide all the information and advice you’ll need to make cards vanish and reappear, get coins to pass through solid objects, make articles mysteriously travel from one location to another, and much more.About the AuthorMartin Gardner was a renowned author who published over 70 books on subjects from science and math to poetry and religion. He also had a lifelong passion for magic tricks and puzzles. Well known for his mathematical games column in Scientific American and his "Trick of the Month" in Physics Teacher magazine, Gardner attracted a loyal following with his intelligence, wit, and imagination.