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The Full facts Of Cold Reading 3rd Ed: By Ian Rowland

I bought this book about a year ago after looking at Ian's website, and what a fascinating site it is, lots of small interesting bits to keep you looking.

Cold reading is a psychological, linguistic and observational techniuque for gaining information from people without them realising they are giving it away. Much used by Tarot Readers and Psychic's to con people out of money!


Cost 32GBP + Postage

The Book is split ito 6 sections breaking down introduing the reader to the many aspects of cold reading and how it is used in different situations.

Section 1:Welcome to the Psychic Circus.
Introduces you to wats in the book and cold reading.

Section 2: How Cold Reading Works.
Basically what it says on the tin, this section tells you the different aspects of cold reading and how these techniques can be used in different situations. There are pointers on observing visually and auditory clients to try and gain information which they are giving away. How to turn a loosing situation into a winning one and many more.

Section 3: Putting The Teory To The Test.
This is a very interesting section where ian has transcribed a reading he done with two clients. After reading section 2 and then reading the transcribed examples you are able to see between the lines which brings the whole thing into context.

Section 4:Blocking Techniques.
How to stop "Psychics" cold reading yourself. Information to stop cold reading being used on yourself.

Section 5:Additional Notes.
Instant Readings..How to give a quick cold reading with little chance of faliure.
Mnemonigs. Eh Uhm. mm, oh yeah tats it, remembering stuff.
Aswell as the above there are other misc info on hot reading.

Section 6: Non-Psychic Context.
This is a very interesting section showing how cold reading can be used in a business context such as a salesman trying to sell his products and using cold reading techniques to eithr flatter the customer or fish for what the customer really wants.

Dificulty: well it very hard to judge, probably 5 (Bloody dificult) due to the time it will take to hone all of the techniques defined in this book. Although saying that some of the statements used in this book could be taken straight from the pages and used right away.

Conclusion:
This is a very interesting read, if you know about cold reading allready this is a great book to fill in about any parts you wernt sure about. If you are a beginer then this is also an excelent introduction and guide to the subject.

You can buy this book at.

www.ianrowland.com

I haven't got this but it is high on my wish list, if anyone is in doubt it is recomended by Derren Brown in Pure Effect.

andy nice review reminds me of the old days of spirit reading and wakeing the dead, oh i miss though poor little headbobbers, with just a hand full of techniques you can be realy dangerouse and walk yourself into some very hairy situations so treet with extreme caution.
still if done for entertainment value only then well worth the study for a comercial venture

Im not 100% sure on this one, the waters are becoming misty, but i am sensing thasomewhere tucked away in a corner of your house. You have a box of photographs which you have been meening to sort out for quite a while now, but never quite get roud to this. The spirtis are saying that thes will brin back memorys which will involve travell to your local picture framing shop, where money will be passes to have ta embarasing photo of your mate framed for his birthay. Am i not correct!

Yeah, I was interested in this one and the 'Haunted Magick' (Not Rownland's, but highly interesting) book on the site. Maybe when I get some pennies together, I'll do the two...

Thanks for the review, though.

Yeah, the haunted magick book seeps to be recomended by manny people, everytime i do a search for books this one keeps popping up, Spooky

And i would fully recomend the full facts.

I think that FF Cold Reading is a very well written, scientific account of a potentially vague and ill-defined subject. I particularly like the systematic taxonomic approach. It would be impossible to recommend it highly enough. If you are at all interested in cold reading, or even if you are interested in quirky subjects, you have to have this book by the UK's (probably the world's) leading expert on the subject.

Quite simply the most useful purchase you can make on the subject of Cold Reading. I paid £180 for Kenton Knepper's "Wonder Readings" audio tapes and book, but it doesn't come close to the real world useable info contained within the pages of this book.

Can't recommend it enough.

Ians Rowlands Book is almost The Bible of cold reading.. The amount of knowledge and research that must have gone into the book is worth the price alone, but it is filled with great ideas and tried and tested methods. I use the forking premise quite often when I need to take a gamble on a two way prediction...

If cold reading is your thing Richard Webster has some great audio tapes out, I believe you can get them on CD now. He mentions that doing your first reading can be quite daunting and has a great idea for getting a feel for people. He says " the next time you are on a bus, train or waiting in a que at the bank, take a look at someone and imagine giving them a reading, what sort of life do you imagine them to have, do they work hard, are their clothes expensive, do you think their parents are still with us, children etc etc.. It is a great way to practice and also kills time and takes your mind off of the screaming baby that is driving you mad.

I use very small readings as I am apparently making a mental connection with a participant and I have found the easiest way to give a fairly decent mini reading as an effect is taking place is to just talk about yourself..


M.S.

do you believe that they are real psychics.? or that all the "good" 1s are in fact tricksters.??
paul (disappears in a puff of smoke..cough)

I think cold reading can be very entertaining. The only thing I would say about this is that you are careful not to say something that gives a person information that can hurt them in the future. For example if you tell someone what line of work they should be in or if they are with the right person. No one has the right to tell a total stranger what is good or not good for their lives. (you could create some bad karma or that is what some people think psychics end up doing.)

It is good to convey wise thoughts though. Just like giving advice to a friend. Before I ever got into magic I studied palmistry during a college project. I was interested in the books about it because of the descriptions of individual traits and the reasons why some people think a certain trait is better than another. The palmistry books are all over the place.

People do love to have their palms read and it can be a lot of fun if you have it in mind not to tell the person what is going to happen in the future but some of the traits that you see in them. Even with doing that you have to be careful.

All the best,
Dan Turcotte
http://www.YouDoMagic.com
September 13, 2004 - 9:19 AM EST

Marc Spelmann wrote:Ians Rowlands Book is almost The Bible of cold reading...

I would go so far as to say that this is THE Bible of Cold Reading. The layout of the book (for cold reading specifically) goes:

• The Set Up
• The Principle Themes
• The Elements of the Reading
• The Win-Win Game
• Presentational Points
• Putting it all Together
• Coping with Sceptics

Each of these important parts of the cold reading is then discussed at length. Further, the elements are broken down into 4 groups (Character, Facts, Extracting Information and Predicting the Future) where these 38 seperate elements are then explained and examples are given as to how to use each of these elements.

In the section on putting it together, further explanations and examples are given on how to use the elements in conjunction with each other and with the themes, the win-win game and such. This is THE most comprehensive book on cold reading that you'll find.

Furthermore, the book gives two indepth examples of cold readings that Rowland actually did, which can be used to point up exactly how to use the book and why it works. The end of the book comprises using cold reading for business situations (like selling) and how to use it in your love life (without suggesting that your date is a puppet that can be mind controlled via simple, little games).

Dan Turcotte wrote:The only thing I would say about this is that you are careful not to say something that gives a person information that can hurt them in the future.

A quote from the book:

...Some clients are wary that the psychic will see too much or see bad news. it is a good idea for the psychic to try and eliminate such apprehension, like this, "We're here to look at the positive trends in your life and it's really all about helping you to make the most of what lies ahead. There may be a lot more good news that you realise..."

As you can see, Rowland addresses the need for positive rather than negative feedback in the book.

Andy Coates wrote:Dificulty: well it very hard to judge, probably 5 (Bloody dificult) due to the time it will take to hone all of the techniques defined in this book. Although saying that some of the statements used in this book could be taken straight from the pages and used right away.

As well it should be difficult. This isn't a trick with cards or coins, it is a full system on garnering information on a client without the client realizing that such information is being gleaned by the performer. What you have in this book is a lifetime's study on cold reading, broken down into each part of the structure of a reading and how and why it works. Studying this book seriously will put you on a level playing field with any practicing "psychic." Rowland further explains how to block any attempts at cold reading, should you be of a mind to do so. This is a complete system.

Anyone can use the system alone (in the case of "aura" reading or palmistry), but in conjunction with another system (like Tarot or astrology) this cold reading system becomes dangerous in that the student of this mentalist study could easily convince 99.99% of the believers that he/she is the real thing and could further push the unenlightened sceptics over the edge to belief.

Highly recommended.

Mike.

I wholeheartedly recommend Ian's book. Of the books I've read on this subject it gives the broadest insight into this wonderful area. What is so good about it is that it is written in such a way as not to teach you how to do it. It is written so you understand the subject and can recognise it when it is being done by others.

The effect of this is that you seem to learn more. It is a good approach to teaching that seems to take the pressure off.

Its a shame he doesn't expand on the final pages in the book where he discusses how he had advised police forces on the use of such techniques in interrogation of suspects! What are the ethics here? There is another book on this sort of stuff on its own.

There is always more you could write on this subject and I could find fault in that he has not expanded in some areas, but on reflection it would have ended up being 2,000 pages. His expertise seems to be knowing when to stop, making it a concise yet broad piece of work.

Excellent.

Roland

Ok - just bought it. As usual it'll take a little more than a month to arrive - but from what I've read here, it should be worth the wait.

This book is a text book, when you come right down to it. It will be up to you to take the facts that are put forward and use them in conjunction with each other in such a way as to make the whole system work together. To this end, I have outlined the entire book...

What I did was read through the book once. It is easy to read and entertaining - Ian Rowland has an excellent writing style (this is, of course, my opinion since some may find his writing style not to their liking, but I honestly feel that his writing style will be easily taken to by the general populace of those reading the book) - so reading it through entirely once is a fairly quick proposition. On this first reading, don't try to specifically study the book, or put it to use - just read it to learn how and why it all works.

After you've finished the first reading, you'll have an in-depth understanding of how and why cold reading works, but it is too much pushed into your brain at once to really learn the system. Go back to the beginning with a pen in hand and a notebook sitting with you at a table. Take notes on each chapter, in conjunction with the section (a section is a specific grouping of items that are together, with the chapters being the specific items that are put into a specific grouping) and then use this as a study guide to the book (if, of course, you are very serious about learning to do this proficiently). For an example:

I The Set Up

A Meeting and Greeting (notes)
B Encouraging Co-operative Interpretation (notes)
C Establishing an Intimate Atmosphere (notes)
D Establishing Psychic Credentials (notes)
etc.

And so forth (that is actually how my own notebook on this is set up and each of the points in "The Set Up" has notes on those points e.g. under the subheading "C Establishing and Intimate Atmosphere" I have specific notes on "Ritualistic Conditioning" which is part of setting up an intimate atmosphere and how and why ritualistic conditioning works).

What I'm saying is that just reading this book isn't going to get you much more than an understanding of how cold reading works, however if you put effort into studying this book, you can use it as a tool for doing cold readings that are equal, if not better, than readers who do this stuff intuitively. You can also use Rowland's system to absolutely convince people that you are a psychic. Given the effort on the part of the reader/student, this book cannot be beat.

Mike.