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.