Hi Alan,

I received the George Sands books about a week ago... I finished reading them a few days ago... I want to thank you for your help in selling me these books - I had being wanting to read them for a few years now. Thanks too, for publishing them...

I have read about 1000 magic books in my time in magic and I would place this set of books among the very best that I have read. The creativity is just astonishing. I have made a list of about 25 effects that really caught my eye and I look forward to re-reading them. I am quite fussy in my choice of magic and have rarely found so many things that have caught my eye in a set of books...

If you decide to re-publish the books, I would definitely recommend that you send a copy to be reviewed by Peter Duffie at MAGIC magazine. He is a very intelligent magician who is also a big fan of your father's work...

One of my favourite effects in the books is 'Double Cross' on Page 1 of the second volume. I don't have the quote to hand, but I remember that Karl Fulves described this as "one of the three most powerful effects possible with a deck of cards". I may have jumbled the quote slightly - He gave the quote when he republished the effect in 'The Pallbearer's Review' (I recently sold my copies of this magazine - hence why I cannot be more precise about the quote). This is high praise indeed - Since, Karl Fulves is a living legend - and one of the greatest writers and thinkers in the history of magic...

Another effect that is great is 'The Twenty Seven Card Trick Formula' on Page 21 of the first volume. In the classic book - 'Maths, Magic and Mystery' by Martin Gardner there is an idea of Dai Vernon's mentioned which helps to disguise the order in which the cards are picked up (in the effect the piles are picked up in a different order after each deal). There is also a nice addition to this effect called 'X-1 Matrix' in Issue 18* (page 531) of 'The Crimp' magazine. The effect and the magazine is by Jerry Sadowitz. He too is a big fan of your father and describes him as a genius in the magazine (possibly in that issue). The magazine is hand-drawn and very very eccentric. The issue is numbered 18* even though it is (I'm guessing) the 56th issue published. Other issues have numbers such as 59b...

Overall I loved the books and was pleased to see a number of effects that dealt with card tricks done over the telephone and things along those lines. This is something I am very interested in and it is rare to see effects published in this area. Along similar lines I have already started using 'Lucky Sevens' (Vol. 2 Pg. 30) to fool a few people...

I should say also that I didn't spot any mistakes in the text and I found the written descriptions a breeze to understand.

There were some interesting ideas using cardboard dials in the use of card effects - Such as 'Twenty Seven Card Dial' on Pg. 15 of Vol. 6 - If you were looking to really improve the books for re-print it may be worth looking into making some of these available for sale or to add with the book? This is just an idea off the top of my head and may not be worth the considerable time and effort that would take...

All in all I want to thank you again and I would love to see George Sands be given more acclaim throughout magic for his wonderful ideas. He is very well respected in magic but does not seem to have the level of fame achieved by some far less creative magicians. Perhaps it would be worth getting some magicians to contribute a foreword to the books? I remember Max Maven (aka Phil Goldstein) saying that 'Super Optical Illusion' was one of the most important packet tricks ever invented. I believe he made this point in his book 'FOCUS'...

All the best and thanks for the brilliant books,

Joe Mckay