Rating: 
Summary: Great book for begining bartenders
Review: This is a great book for begining bartenders,but seasoned bartenders like myself have alredy seen 99% of these tricks.
Rating: 
Summary: A mixed bag of tricks
Review: Though written with enthusiasm by an author obviously passionate about her craft, I found the collection of tricks oddly balanced between the entirely mundane to the astoundingly expensive, to the possibly unsafe. The book is divided into six sections. Each deals with a broad category of tricks that essentially represent garden variety magic. You'll learn how to do some manipulation of money, matches, glassware, paper, and various odds and ends commonly available at bars. The instructions are clear, as is the focus. The author is trying to effortlessly convey tricks that, in the main, can be done while a bartender is about her normal business. The instructions and illustrations make it easy to learn these simple tricks. As such, it is doubtless a valuable resource. However, serious magic students, and even more experienced bartenders, will dismiss this work as little more than fluff. Some of the amusements even run counter to standard bar flare theory, suggesting a "trick" when the pretended act can actually be done. A handful of the "amusements" call for the creative use of fire and/or extremely flammable chemicals, which would seem potentially dangerous in a bar filled with alcohol. Many are so obvious one wonders just how impressive they'd actually be. Little attention is given to the creation of an aura of magic--showmanship, if you will--which is made even more necessary in the absence of extraordinary illusion. Fortunately, the audience for the tricks in this book will likely be those who are at least a little inebriated.
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