Mind Blasters - England Goes Mental
Where: http://www.metaphysical-magician.co.uk/ ... ucts_.html
It is also available through the websites of everyone else who contributed to the booklet.
Editor: Peter Duffie.
Price: £12.50, $24.94 US (inc P&P)
The Review
This is a booklet of over 50 Mentalism effects by some of the biggest names in English Mentalism. Nearly 200 pages and full of photographs, diagrams and illustrations.
Before I review it properly I just have to tell you that this booklet is one of the best value for items I have ever seen. I hesitate to say the best, because Eliot Bresler’s Switchcraft takes some beating, but it is certainly right up there.
In a moment I am going to rattle off a list of the contributors. When you see the quality of the names I mention you will start to get an idea of the worth of the effects included. It is my belief that if any one of the contributors had but out a booklet of just one or two ideas, it could have sold for the same price of this entire booklet, that a) has the diversity of all the different authors, and b) contains over 50 different effects.
I am seriously overwhelmed by the nature of this booklet and as such am going to take a couple of deep breaths, before I start gushing too much.
Ok. Let’s look at some of the names then you can make up your own minds.
Marc Paul, John Archer, Wayne Dobson, Stephen Tucker, Paul Hallas and Christopher Williams.
Not a bad start eh? Well how about…
Roni Schachnaey, Roger Curzon, Lewis Jones, Walt Lees and Todd Landman, James Brown, Chris Wardle, Barry Cooper, Les Johnson and Al Smith, David Penn, Doug Segal, Mark Elsdon, Paul Gordon, James Brown, Chris Hare, David Britland, Anthony Brahms, Scott Creasey, Andi Gladwin, Dominic Twos and the list goes on. There is even a video of David Penn teaching a very workable and impromptu drawing duplication.
I apolgise to those I didn’t mention, it has nothing to do with the quality of effects though, just space. If you want to see the complete list of contents – they are listed on the websites where it is sold.
So we have established there is a satisfactory quantity of content, but how about quality I hear you ask? (and for the record, I can really hear you ask – after all I am telepathic don’t you know!)
I haven’t read through every single effect yet. This is a big book, and I am taking time to digest each and every effect, but I haven’t come up with anything that seems like filler yet. I guess because each contributor was keen to add something strong so as not to be out shadowed, and so far I have to point out that every effect (so far) is very (very) good.
I’m not going to review every individual effect either (I have a life you know), in fact I’m not even going to review any individual effect – I wouldn’t know how to choose amongst them – they are all “that” strong, however if there is an individual effect you want to know about I don’t mind discussing it as part of this thread. Just ask
The Bottom Line
I simply can not say enough good things about this PDF.
For me it is right up there with Mind, Myth and Magic, Syzygy and all the other classics. In fact if it was a proper book and not a pdf I am sure it would be selling for over £50.
My only criticism is that I thought the cover design didn’t do it justice. This is a quality book and needed a quality cover. I apologise to the artist and would like to point out that that is just my opinion. I am sure everyone else loved it, but the book itself is pure gold dust. (actually at the size it is when I printed it out, it is more like a gold brick!)
10/10