Harris, Paul: Art of Astonishment Volume 3
©1996, 1st Edition; Paul Harris; Pub. by A-1 Multi Media, CA
Hardbound, large format, 324 pages

Comments (Bill Duncan): AoA includes some incredible off the wall magic from Paul Harris and others.

Contents: (page number, effect title, title of book effect originally appeared in, description)

2 Astonishing Editor: Andre Hagen. Paul tells us a bit about the editor
5 Other Side of Astonishment. David Abrams essay from The Utne Reader about a visit to the rural Asia where he studied magic and medicine.
13 Shape of Astonishment (New Stuff). The image of the head side of a coin is embossed on a scrap of foil. When the coin is turned over the image changes to the tail side.
17 Window of Opportunity (New Stuff). While performing magic at party your signed business card vanishes and reappears inside an unopened envelope that someone else mailed to your host. The host opens the envelope.
21 Hot Chocolate (New Stuff) The principle from The Dehydrated Deck is used to produce a full bar of chocolate from the folded wrapper you carry in your wallet.
23 Anything Deck (New Stuff). A gaffed deck effect. You display and set aside a small packet of cards. Then you have a card selected and ask for a 'special' word. The special word is used to locate the selection. Finally, the packet of cards is displayed and each has a large letter on it's back. The letters spell out the special word.
27 Peanut Butter and Jellyfish (New Stuff). The Jerry Andrus' floating card theory applied to the top half of a sandwich. This is weird even by Paul standards.
29 Rumpled Splitskin (New Stuff). A pair of business cards (one of which is signed) magically weld together. Paul suggests secretly getting a hold of someone's business card and preparing the gaff with that. Then ask for their card and floor them with this!
31 Free Ride (New Stuff). A simple method of adding a card or cards to the deck during a performance. Uses the card case but the cards are NOT place inside the case.
33 Arrow Split Arrow (New Stuff). An impromptu version of Stephen Minch's "Robin hood Caper". A card is tossed into the air and boomerang's back into the deck splitting a card.
37 Bat Fishing (New Stuff). A dollar bill is borrowed and a eight cards are selected. The numerical values of the eight cards make up the serial number of the borrowed bill. Uses the often misunderstood PH throw pillow switch...
41 Membrane (New Stuff). A card is selected and turns out to be the one with the 'secret mark'. The mark is then transferred onto the card case, vanishes from there and appears on another card.
45 Membrane with a Pack of Smokes (New Stuff). Same principle, different props.
49 Swing Thing (New Stuff). A packet of Equal sweetener (or sugar) is opened, dumped into a folded bill, and then restored to it's original state.
51 Tic-Tac (New Stuff). Coin in the bottle done with a dime and a box of Tic Tacs.
53 Leaf (New Stuff). A leaf is removed from a plant, marked and reattached.
57 Bizarre Vanish (Close Up Fantasies Finale). The Bizarre Twist mutates to a method of vanishing a card.
63 Close Quarters (Close Up Fantasies Finale). Daryl's method of welding two quarters into a half dollar. Easy and impromptu, this would be a great way to introduce a half dollar before doing a one coin routine.
65 Heartburn (Close Up Fantasies Finale). A playing card is struck on a matchbook and ignites. The burning card can be used to light a cigarette.
67 Mickey Mouse Math (Close Up Fantasies Finale). A nine spot is split into two and a seven. The two is subtracted from the
seven leaving a five. Further magical math is done until the selection is created.
71 Torn and Restored Deck (Close Up Fantasies Finale). Bro. John Hamman's Micro-Macro principle is used to create the illusion of a torn pack of cards.
75 Shuffle Time (Close Up Fantasies Finale). Cards are produced to show that the deck can tell time. However, the time is incorrect until the magician waves his hands and changed the time zone to local time. The cards then display the correct time.
79 Strange Exchange (Close Up Fantasies Finale). An unbelievable transposition between a card and a coin!
83 Just Call Me Mr. Wonderful (Close Up Fantasies Finale). A flourish for removing the pack from it's case using only one hand.
87 Bill Collector (Close Up Fantasies Finale). A card penetrates a bill and rises from the deck.
91 Guts (Close Up Fantasies Finale). Signed card to wallet using a new principle.
99 Improvised Screwed Deck (revised) (Close-Up Kinda Guy). A deck is twisted so that one end is face up and one is face down and then restored. Sort of a full deck Card Warp...
105 Hi There BabyCakes (Close-Up Kinda Guy). One of Paul's best 'movable ink' effects. A name and phone number, written
on two cards fuse together on one card.
109 Perfectionist (Close-Up Kinda Guy). A three phase routine in which the cards separate into red and black piles, the piles transpose and the deck instantly mixes using 'reverse psychology'.
115 Instant Replay (Close-Up Kinda Guy). One of the best flourishes ever. A card hops off the deck and into your other hand. It then hops back onto the deck. A bonus application allows a card to change to another in mid air.
119 Simple Switch (Close-Up Kinda Guy). A 'both directions at once version' of Instant Replay. A great gag explanation of how cards transpose.
121 Headache (Close-Up Kinda Guy). A King of Hearts stabs himself in the head with a sword.
125 Bad Estimate (Close-Up Kinda Guy). A demo of cut estimation goes wrong with entertaining results.
129 Return of the Bizarre Shrink (revised) (Close-Up Kinda Guy). The Bizarre principle is used to shrink a playing card.
133 Chocolate Coin (Close-Up Kinda Guy). The surface of a quarter is pulled back revealing that it is a clever Swiss (chocolate) counterfeit.
139 Cardcuffs (Brainstorm in the Bahamas). While his thumbs are locked in a pair of thumbcuffs made from a playing card a selected card is found.
141 Bent Copper-Silver Transposition (Brainstorm in the Bahamas). During a simple penny and dime transposition a spectator bends the penny.
143 Hefty Penetration (Brainstorm in the Bahamas). A card, locked inside a Ziplock bag rises and penetrates the bag.
147 Hedonist Makes Up All The Rules (Brainstorm in the Bahamas). A complex équivoque routine. A card trick without cards.
153 Card Well Hung (Brainstorm in the Bahamas). Card on coat hanger.
157 Free Lunch (Brainstorm in the Bahamas). Visual oddity wherein a cocktail weenie is produces at the spectator's fingertips.
161 Diary of a P H. Video (Close-Up Seductions). Humor.
163 Limo Service (Close-Up Seductions). A great Aces and Jacks routine that fits well with Las Vegas Split or Reset. The jacks are magically transported into the card case while the audience is "distracted" by the aces.
167 Seductive Switch (Close-Up Seductions). The principle used in Buck Naked and Lysdexia is put to use in a Blackjack themed transposition. An ace is folded up into a small packet so that it can be concealed in the hand. A blackjack hand of sixteen is shown. The folded card becomes the six and the magician has a winning and crease-free blackjack.
173 Blue Tattoo (Revised) (Close-Up Seductions). One by one a number of red cards absorb a bit of blue ink from a blue card and change color. This fades leaving you with red cards once again.
177 Unhinged (Close-Up Seductions). A folding deck effect.
181 10 (Close-Up Seductions). From guest contributor Jay Sankey. An Ace, Two, Three and Four are merged into one Jumbo Ten.
185 Bushwhacker (Close-Up Seductions). A version of Larry Jenning's "Close Up Illusion" without the slit card.
191 Sweet Stuff (Close-Up Seductions). A coin and the contents of a sugar packet change places.
195 Michael's Proposition (Close-Up Seductions) Michael Ammar's addition to to Free Flight which causes the final coin AND
the card to appear under the spectator's hand.
197 Bleached Blackjack (Close-Up Seductions). Showing a bad hand of sixteen the magician erases the six, leaving a blank card. The blank card is transformed into an Ace giving the performer a winning Blackjack hand.
205 Mead on P.H (Magical Arts Journal). Essay by Eric Mead. The next few items makeup a reprint of the M.A.G. issue devoted to Paul's standard set. Referred to as "The Act", it is one of the most important publications on Paul's work (until AoA). In this hard to find issue Michael Ammar brought the world a detailed look what Paul chooses to do when he works.
207 Whack Your Pack aka Reflex (Magical Arts Journal). A spectator thinks of a card, it vanishes and reappears in your pocket under test conditions and with amazing humor.
211 Juke (Magical Arts Journal). David Harkey's take on Reflex.
215 Free Flight (Magical Arts Journal). Coins vanish from your hand and appear under a single playing card.
219 Tap Dancing Aces (revised) (Magical Arts Journal). Aces vanish from your hands and appear in and one the deck.
227 P.H. Invisible Palm aka Open Travelers (Magical Arts Journal). Humorous pseudo-explanation of how the Tap Dancing Aces works.
235 Mondo Nifty Invisible Palm (Magical Arts Journal). More invisible palm stuff.
241 Big-Time Las Vegas Leaper (Magical Arts Journal). The best Cards Across routine ever published. Simple and deadly.
249 Biological Shuffle (Revised) (Magical Arts Journal). The performer accidentally shuffles his fingers into the deck. Extracting them a number of cards stick to his fingers... they turn out to be four of a kind (your choice). End of THE ACT
253 Galaxy (Magical Arts Journal). Paul takes on Out Of This World. From Paul's "Secrets Of The Astonishing Executive" come some old standard easy to do tricks themed for the business person.
259 Break-Out Group Boredom Buster (Secrets of the Astonishing Executive). Names are written on the backs of five business cards which are ripped in half and mixed then dealt into pairs of halves. EVERY pair turns out to be matched with it's other half...Based on a Paul Curry idea.
263 Client-Confidence Sugar Shocker (Secrets of the Astonishing Executive). The old double-headed coin con using sugar packets.
265 Instant Incompetency l.Q Test (Secrets of the Astonishing Executive). I can't even begin to describe this. It's self working...
269 Burbling of a Pea (Secrets of the Astonishing Executive). A pea floats on a cushion of air, coming out of your mouth.
271 Perfect Ten Paper Clip Paradox. he old mathematical puzzle done with office supplies.
275 The Late For Lunch Miracle Maneuver. A waiter is asked to set your watch to a random time and conceal it's face from you. You borrow a friends watch and set it to a random time. They match!
277 Mom's Come and Go but a Rolex is Forever (Secrets of the Astonishing Executive). Fako Deck trick without the Fako deck.
281 Cube (Misc Pieces of Paul). A cube is made out of playing cards. The four fours are shown. One vanishes and becomes part of the cube.
285 Bizarre Stretch (Misc Pieces of Paul). The same principle used in the Bizarre Twist, Vanish and Shrink is applied
to the stretching card illusion.
291 Torn Mentalist (Misc Pieces of Paul). [Bill Simon's Business Card Prophesy] The card case flap is torn from the card case and handed to a spectator who jabs it into the middle of the deck. He manages to place it right between the two cards written on the unseen other side of the case flap. As an afterthought the magician restores the torn card case.
295 P.H. Breakthrough (revised) (Misc Pieces of Paul). A deck is set atop it's case then pushed through the top and back inside.
299 Shuffling Lesson (Astonishing Friends). Chad Long's wonderful handling for the spectator finds the aces. Under the guise of a shuffling lesson a spectator manages not only to find four of a kind but to beat the magician's four of a kind.
303 Voodoo Card (Astonishing Friends). Damage done to a spectator's card also occurs to a close mate card (3 clubs /3 spades).
307 Dollar Box (Astonishing Friends) Origami fold for turning a dollar into a box.
311 Hot-Shot Cut (Astonishing Friends) Paul's handling of Daryl's flourish.
313 Sankey on P.H.: Paul Sankey's essay on Paul.
317 Kitchen Magician (Conversations from the Edge)
319 NoWhere Man (Conversations from the Edge) Two almost possible trick concepts give an entertaining look into Paul's creative process.