Richard Turner Recommended Books

" The Expert at the Card Table is the most famous, the most carefully studied book ever published on the art of manipulating cards at gaming tables." —from the Foreword by Martin Gardner.For almost a century, this book has been considered indispensable to attaining the highest level of card mastery. In it, S. W. Erdnase, a supreme master of card manipulation, teaches card enthusiasts how to perform the dazzling tricks and sleights — many of them his own creations — that made him famous.The first section of the book deals with card table artifice, or, to put it more bluntly, cheating at cards. Step by step, Mr. Erdnase demonstrates his own systems of false shuffling, false riffling and cutting, dealing from the bottom, and such slick moves as palming cards, "skinning the hand" — even three-card monte.The second section covers legerdemain: the art of forcing a card, one- and two-hand transformations, the devious "slide" and more. Card handlers will love Erdnase's selection of dazzling card tricks, including The Acrobatic Jacks, The Exclusive Coterie, The Divining Rod, The Invisible Flights, A Mind Reading Trick, and many others.In an informative Foreword to this edition, Martin Gardner relates the unhappy details of the author's personal life, and recounts the history of this famous book, whose methods, Mr. Gardner asserts, "are as useful today by magicians and card hustlers as they were in 1902. This book is still the bible of card 'mechanics,' and as much a delight to read as it was in the early years of this century."

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • The "poet laureate of medicine" ( The New York Times ) and author of The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat weaves together stories of mind-altering experiences to reveal what they tell us about our brains, our folklore and culture, and why the potential for hallucination exists in us all. “An absorbing plunge into a mystery of the mind.” — Entertainment WeeklyTo many people, hallucinations imply madness, but in fact they are a common part of the human experience. These sensory distortions range from the shimmering zigzags of a visual migraine to powerful visions brought on by fever, injuries, drugs, sensory deprivation, exhaustion, or even grief. Hallucinations doubtless lie behind many mythological traditions, literary inventions, and religious epiphanies.Drawing on his own experiences, a wealth of clinical cases from among his patients, and famous historical examples ranging from Dostoevsky to Lewis Carroll, the legendary neurologist Oliver Sacks investigates the mystery of these sensory what they say about the working of our brains, how they have influenced our folklore and culture, and why the potential for hallucination is present in all humans.

Ripley's Believe It or Not!'s Eye-Popping Oddities 2016 is Ripley’s all-new, incredible collection of the weirdest and wackiest facts and stories in the world. From strange traditions in far-off places to weird collections from the town next door, this compilation of eye-popping photos and incredible info may be unbelievable, but it’s all verified to be 100% true.