Amazing Irv's Handbook of Everyday Magic: Tricks to Confuse, Amuse, and Entertain in Every Situation

As every true magician knows, a master conjurer can make magic happen anytime, anyplace—once he or she has mastered the essentials. Amazing Irv’s Handbook of Everyday Magic is the perfect place to begin to learn the basic techniques and principles that apply magic to the situations of daily life, at home, at work, and every place in between. With just a few mundane, everyday objects at hand, you’ll be amazing your coworkers, friends, family, and fellow commuters in no time flat.

The Basics

This book will not teach you how to cure the terminally ill or to retire at age 30. But it will let you in on all sorts of small-scale tricks of magic that are often very easy to achieve—once you know how.

Seemingly random acts of magic require at least some measure of the three basic components of every trick: preparation, secrecy, and misdirection. These elements are guided by the Five Golden Rules of Magic:

Rule #1. Explore Alternatives

Rule #2. Make Preparations

Rule #3. Practice

Rule #4. Practice

Rule #5. Practice

Everyday Magic

If you’ve ever wished you could make yourself levitate, if you’ve ever wondered, "What’s he/she really thinking?" or if you’ve ever just really wanted to be the life of the party or to entertain your seat companion on an airplane, this is the essential handbook you’ve been looking for. The chapters that follow will guide you to all the best deceptions and sleights-of-hand that can be accomplished with little preparation and minimal props.

Magic Begins at Home highlights tricks you can master with basic household items such as laundry line, ordinary dental floss, and a television remote. Magic Goes to Work features tricks based on simple office supplies, including pencils, paper clips, rubber bands, and the company directory. Magic on the Go transforms airsickness bags, newspapers, and cell phones into magic props for planes, trains, and automobiles. Magic on the Town teaches you tricks for restaurants, bars, and street corners using such unassuming items as napkins, matchboxes, sugar packets, and money.

Magic is where you make it. All you need is the will to make it happen … along with some inspiration, improvisation, and a few good paper clips!

Note: In the following pages, the What You’ll Need sections list the objects necessary for doing the tricks, but if you don’t have those exact items on hand, try some magical improvisation! (For example, try using different denomination coins or bills—or even different currency entirely—for those tricks that require money.)

The family that plays together, stays together. That’s why we’ve compiled a series of fun-filled everyday magic tricks that just about anyone can do easily, in the comfort of their own home. In fact, you could even do these tricks in someone else’s home (provided you’re not breaking and entering).

There are so many uses for magic around the house—just think about what it can do for you: You can entertain an angry father who’s about to administer your punishment (see How to Make Yourself Levitate). You can win the heart of a tired mother who wants nothing more than an extra hour in the day (see How to Make Time Stand Still). You can distract the kids who want nothing more than macaroni and cheese for dinner—again (see How to Make Canned Spinach Surprise).

By using everyday magic at home, you can transform even the most mundane chores into exciting magical events (see How to Magically Mend a Clothesline and How to Turn Two Pieces of Dental Floss into One).

There’s no end to the magic you can spread around your house. And by obeying the cardinal rule of magic—never perform a trick twice in a row—you’ll soon have your entire family begging you to let them in on the secrets behind your magical powers.

How to Be a

Crayon Psychic

Picture this: You’re about to serve dessert to your hungry horde, and your kids meantime have already covered the entire tablecloth with crayon drawings. The only place left to draw another stick figure or squiggle-dragon is on the napkins—which are linen and expensive to replace. Now you need to take the crayons away and keep the little monsters entertained! This trick will instantly widen their eyes in wonder. (Warning: After they see it, your greatest challenge will be finding another way to entertain them so they’ll stop asking you to do the crayon trick again.)

What They See

You hand your small friend a box of crayons and turn your back. You ask him to think of one of the colors and remove the appropriate crayon from the box. You place both of your hands behind your back, then ask the child to place the chosen crayon in your hand. By merely holding the crayon, and without peeking, you are able to tell him the color he selected.

What You’ll Need

A box of crayons

What You’ll Do

This trick does not take much time to master and can be performed nearly anywhere.

1. Ask a child to choose a crayon from the box.

2. Place both of your hands behind your back.

3. Ask the child to put the chosen crayon in one of your hands. ( Fig. A )

4. With your hands still behind your back, use your thumbnail to scrape the crayon. Scrape enough to leave a small amount of wax under your nail, then switch the crayon into your other hand. ( Fig. B )

5. Now bring your empty hand forward and place it on your forehead as though you are concentrating on his choice. ( Fig. C )

6. Now take a peek at your thumbnail and reveal the color. ( Fig. D )

A simple trick—but one that’ll have them convinced of your psychic powers!

An Optional Add-on

If you want to extend this basic trick a step further, you can now tell the child that you have the power to make the crayon you’re holding write any color they choose. If you are holding a red crayon and the child says he wants the crayon to write blue, simply write the word blue on the paper. You’re sure to get a chuckle out of this little add-on!

How to Perform

Paperback Magic

Didn’t you always hate those people who could quote Chaucer, Shakespeare, and Milton—all at the drop of a hat? How did they remember that stuff? Didn’t they have anything better to do with their time? And really, deep down, didn’t you want to be just like them? With the secrets of paperback magic you can be just like them, only without the pretentiousness. Impress your neighbors, belittle your spouse, or trick your kids during reading hour with your extraordinary literary prowess, as you recite from the canon of Grisham, Christie, and Steel!

What They See

You have selected a couple of random paperback books from your bookshelf and placed them on the table. You tell your neighbor that you’ve committed every word of each book to memory. To prove it, you ask your neighbor to pick up any one of