For anyone wanting to learn some SOLID basics in sleight-of-hand, this book is one of the best! Walter Gibson, a man with 100s of magic book titles to his name, really did a fantastic job of describing what it takes to become proficient in many forms of close-up magic. The billiard ball routines are excellent, and I used one for many years.
NOTE: I bought my copy in approximately 1978 at B.Dalton Bookseller for $15.95. At $44.95, this is STILL a great bargain for the amount of information contained within its pages.