I spent a lot of time with this book. It isn't a huge book by any definition. I have, from a young age, liked magic books that present a broad gumbo of effects and ideas. This delivers in that department. I like how Jeff "thinks aloud" in his books -- that appeals to me. He is the kind of guy who will write: "In January, I was going to perform this trick in blah-blah manner, but in March I did it a different way." A very few people do a great job in being non-terse in how they write and Jeff is one of them.

This book references his personal magic diary, a thing more of us could stand to keep. Thusly, most of these items bubbled up from that process.
While not a beginner's book, nothing here is too tough. If you've been heavily involved in magic for at least a year, the methods/thoughts/props referenced here won't scare you. This book sort of falls into the scope of 'Bizarre' magic, but not entirely...some of the material is creepy and some of it is fun. Don't let the cover fool you too much. He gets moderately heavy into his scripting and that is good. However, one bit, "Flying High Again", just reads a little odd. It is an OK trick, kinda playful, really, but the wording/patter drags a bit. He also uses this convention where he uses names (e.g. "John does this. Bill grabs that. Tommy leans into his audience.)...maybe I'm old, but that kind of stuff tires me somewhat. I just like, "performer does..." and "spectator deals..."

For the investment, this is a good book. The print version is laid out well and is professionally printed (he also has it as an eBook via his site). This item has a 'Bank Night' bit that I can 99% promise I will work into my act IMMEDIATELY! My opinion? Get it, read it, use the material!

Jeff Stone IS a madman

Let there be no mistake about that. Only a madman would dream such dreams as his. Only one lost to reality would take random thoughts, undreamed dreams, and manipulate them into words and sentences on paper, then to present them as feats of the supernatural which he presents as harmless. So harmless.

You think this mad? First he gives a deck of cards to Alice. (Is he dreaming of the madness of Wonderland or the Land Behind the Looking Glass?) "Alice" looks through the deck, choosing a card, then cuts, shuffles, cuts and shuffles again, and you suddenly reveal which card she only thought of!! Why would you think him mad?

Then - or perhaps much later - he flatters a child, drawing a simple drawing to represent the child. He suggests that she is in disguise - indeed, that the youngster is a superhero and that he will prove this by revealing her secret identity. He drapes a cloth over the drawing and holds it tight to the table. The drawing begins to fly into the air, struggling to escape from the cloth!! As the cloth is pulled away, we see that he HAS revealed her secret identity, in costume, flying about the drawing of her civilian identity.

Madness! That there are at least six further demonstrations of shattering what we know to be real! And yet further ideas that, if worked out in one's own mind, can lead a person to an experiment in possibility, of the most successful man trapped in that possible reality where Life itself offered no further challenges. You may find a page from his diary, in which he lost his reason in an attempt to find some law of change, some rule of physics, which would cause him to win, and win, and win again.

These are the scrambled thoughts, disguised as several "magic tricks," which make up that page and more - from a Diary of a Madman.

I really didn’t know what to expect with this but I was pleasantly surprised and very impressed. This mini 28 page book is a collection of 8 very unique ideas, routines and ‘unusual’ tricks. It is chock full of great ideas, twists and turns, great patter, one liners and ‘madness’ that you can start incorporating into your show right now. You can use them as they are but Jeff explains these tricks in such a way that you can easily modify them to your own style or personality. The best thing I found is that each one of the effects in the book are based on routines implemented, tested and proved by Jeff over the years to work.

Yes, Jeff appears to be out there once you start reading and studying it but it is tricks and routines like this that will make you stand out. As Magicians and performers that is exactly what you want to do. The effects in this book include mentalism, card control, spooky voodoo magic, astrology and more. Some of you will readily recognize and understand the workings and methods as I did but he really gets you thinking outside the box of how to uniquely apply and dress them up creating something so totally different that you may have thought about on your own. The very fascinating thing about this book unlike any others you may have read is that it will challenge you to get creative with any or all of these tricks. They can be performed individually or strung together which will certainly result in a very unique and memorable act. This is a worthwhile purchase, thanks Jeff you wild and crazy guy!

Jeff Stone the author of Diary of a Madman, was inspired to keep a journal of his thoughts by the movie The Prestige. I also saw The Prestige and although I wasn't inspired to keep a journal, what impressed me was the length some will go to achieve the ultimate in whatever their passion was, in the movie's case the magic effect. Diary of a Madman is a small collection of eight of those routines scrawled in moments of inspiration.

The eight routines in this booklet vary from card work to mentalism. In the booklet there is a version of Bank Night, and a strange but interesting combination of the Out To Lunch principle and a Glorpy. There is also a mix of psychic and bizarre magic performances which round out the offering.

There is no new groundbreaking handlings in the booklet itself. The moves and handlings should be known to anyone involved in magic. What the author is offering up is the concept of thinking out of the box and like in the movie The Prestige trying to take a routine to the next level and not to be satisfied with just the ordinary. The routines offered in this small journal are not the typical "find a card type" tricks but require a bit of storytelling to tie the effect together.

I found this an interesting read and thought provoking as well which was the stated goal of the author. I think this is worthy of anyone's consideration who is looking to add another dimension to their magic regardless of the type of magic one does.