Kaufman, Richard & Rene Lavand: The Mysteries of My Life
©1998 Kaufman and Company, Washington DC
Hardcover, w/dj,170 pages

Comments: With translation of Shuffling Memories by Tina Lenert. Illustrated by Earle Oakes Edited by Matthew Field, Darwin Ortiz, and Richard Kaufman

Contents:
8 Prologue
9 Introduction (Darwin Ortiz)
11 Preface (Richard Kaufman)

14 My Mysteries: The Act

14 Preparation for The Act
15 The Short Card
15 The Breather Crimp
15 The Pocket Divider (A Half-Deck Switcher)
16 The Double Pocket (A Full-Deck Switcher)

17 Part One: My Visiting Card (Presenting My Credentials: A Transposition)
18 One-Hand False Shuffle
25 One-Hand Double Lift Nol
26 One-Hand Double Undercut
26 One-Hand Downs Change
28 One-Hand Scoop Addition (Single Card)

31 Part Two: Another Credential Trick (A Triumph)
32 One-Hand False Cut No l
34 One-Hand Second Deal
40 One-Hand Tabled Double Undercut

42 Part Three: A Little Diversion
44 One-Hand Tabled Bottom Slip Cut
46 One-Hand Triple Lift from the Bottom
47 One-Hand Double Lift No 2
49 One-Hand False Cut No 2

53 Part Four: Why do the Colors Alternate Themselves?
58 One-Hand Third Deal

62 Part Five: A Few Red Cards, A Few Black Cards (A Follow the Leader)

68 Part Six: It Can’t Be Done Any Slower
75 One-Hand Displacement

80 Part Seven: Ace, Two, Three, Four
83 One-Hand Scoop Addition (Multiple Cards)

87 Part Eight: Divining
91 One-Hand Glimpse No l
93 One-Hand Glimpse No 2

95 Part Nine: In Search of Excellence

101 Part Ten: I Know Them and I Don’t Know How (A Standing Ovation)

104 Part Eleven: The Deck is Feminine II (A Second Standing Ovation)

109 Part Twelve: Remembering My Credentials (Resolution)

114 My Life: Shuffling Memories
114 Preface
114 Buenos Aires, Zeppelin, Chang
115 The Accident
116 Early Life
118 My Father
118 The Sports in My Life
119 Breaking the Norm
119 And I Left Gambling Forever
121 Thank You, My Blind Child
121 What a Paradox!
123 Conventions and Contracts
124 The Greats
125 The Birth of My Style
126 Mine a Style of Life
128 Motivations
128 The Gentler Path
129 This Art Which I Practice
130 Spectators
131 Freedom to Choose
131 The Truth in the Lie
132 The Need to Believe
133 We Artists Do Not Work
133 Magiaderias
134 Learning to Learn
135 Tricks and Tricksters
138 Through the Streets of Mexico, Beautiful and Dear
142 Taking the Adventure Toward Old Europe
143 My Four Nights in Cali
150 The Indian Boy
151 The Magic Castle of Hollywood
152 White Footprints and Japanese Lacquer Bowls
154 The Language of the Art of Illusion
160 The Spanish Deck
161 The Story of "Duel in the West”
162 Gamblers
164 Antonio the Gypsy
165 My Stories, My Constant Companions
168 Epilogue

------------------------------------------------------

The real secrets of René Lavand's art are the secrets of his life. In this unique book you get both: Part One, "My Mysteries," features a new act which René has been perfecting for years, described in thorough detail with full patter. Part Two, "My Life," is René's autobiography, or "Shuffling Memories."

In "My Mysteries," award-winning author Richard Kaufman explains twelve of René's greatest routines, most never published before, in an interconnected "act" that truly exploits his genius for routining and presentation. Imagine this, but one of the twelve miracles: a spectator freely selects a card from the deck, notes it, and returns it. He drops the deck into your jacket pocket. He removes the deck a moment later, also noting that the pocket is otherwise empty. You ask him to reach into the pocket once more-he finds a folded card. When he opens it, it is his chosen card. Not only that, but the deck has been automatically switched for you in the process and with little sleight of hand!

That's just one of the dozen audience-tested routines in the first half of this book. Another is the first truly complete description of his miraculous "I Can't Do It Any Slower," as performed on television's World's Greatest Magic. Red and Black cards melt through one another and separate as if by witchcraft.

In the second part of the book, "My Life," René takes you on a journey of personal revelation and fulfillment as he grows from a child involved in a terrible accident which cost him one of his hands into one of the world's greatest close-up magicians. His exploits of the past 60 years are related in a highly enjoyable style that's just like having René in your home, weaving his stories just for you.

Pages 169 - Hardbound and Fully Illustrated