Memories Are Made of This by Simon Aronson

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An awful lot has changed over the past twenty or so years.When I wrote my first book
(The Card Ideas of Simon Aronson,1978), I tipped my mitt on a lot of “underground”
stuff that I had developed, using the memorized deck. In my introductory essay to
that chapter, I mentioned that I sometimes felt “guiltily pleased” that so few of
our advanced cardicians had (at that time) ever considered using the memorized deck.



Well, I can’t feel such guilt any longer because the memorized deck has certainly




come
of age. Indeed, the past few years have seen a groundswell of interest in this


venerable tool among some of the world’s most respected magical thinkers and

performers. Lecturers at magic clubs around the country have showcased memorized

deck miracles. But the enthusiasm is not limited just to the professionals. In magic

chat rooms on the Internet,and at magic conventions, I am regularly besieged by eager,

inventive amateurs who want to show me their latest twist or accomplishment with a

memorized deck – and many are really good! The momentum is growing and contagious, and the sheer number

of cardicians now using a memorized stack has produced a synergy that is causing the

number of effects, tips, variations, and new principles to multiply exponentially.




I’m happy to have been part of the inspiration for this renaissance, but there’s no




reason to stop there. I’m constantly working on new memorized deck effects. So, it’s




about time that you joined the ranks also.

About This Introduction
As the title implies, the purpose of this booklet is simply to introduce you to some of




the basic principles and
applications you need to know to get started with a memorized




deck. In Section I, I define a few of the basic
terms, and answer some of the more





frequently asked questions about how to approach the topic. In Section
II, I try to




les that are
commonly used in memorized deck applications. These principles are




illustrated with several simple, though
quite fooling, location effects. In Section III
,




I offer some thoughts on how one can best go about learning a
memorized stack. At




various points I refer to some of my favorite “memorized miracles” and to my books,




so
for convenience in looking up those references, I’ve included in Appendix A a




current bibliography of all of my
published writings on memorized deck magic. Finally,




in Appendix B, I’ve set forth the Aronson stack, in case
you want to learn it.




I hope this brief introduction will make you feel more comfortable with, and will whet




your appetite for further
exploration of, memorized deck magic.

Please understand what this Introduction is not. It’s not a “summary” of everything




there is to know about
memorized decks; to the contrary, it barely scratches the




surface. It’s also not a substitute for reading my books.
I’ve been publishing




material on the memorized deck since 1972. If you’re familiar with my writings,




you know
that I’m usually quite detailed (my friends say “exhaustive”) in




discussing the underlying principles, tradeoffs,
lead-ins and clean-ups, variations, credits and other references concerning each effect. This




Introduction
however, goes in the opposite direction – the discussions are intentionally abbreviated, and are expressly meant
to




point you toward my books for further exploration and discussion of the material.




(If you already have read
all my books, you probably don’t need this Introduction




at all).