talkmagic.co.uk

Ted Lesley's Paramiracles

Cost £26.99

Difficulty 2+
(1=easy to do, 2=No sleights, but not so easy, 3=Some sleights used,
4=Advanced sleights used, 5=Suitable for experienced magicians only)

Review

Some of the effects in this book require a lot of effort to put together, create the gimmicks etc. Others require a few minutes of easy work. If you are after the wine glass bending be prepared for some work. The real value in Paramiracles lies in the learning how to construct some of the simple gimmicks that - as the cliche goes - pack a powerful punch. There is a lot in this book, more than I can make myself type out (I've watched 3 episodes of the Twilight Zone on DVD just going through the book and noting down the effects below) so...

... here is a selection of what's in the book...

Chapter One
Tricks of Raised Consciousness

How to gimmick and mark the cards
How to gimmick envelope to hold 3 but appear to hold 1

Medium in Your Pocket
Spec is given unopened deck of cards. You turn away, he opens pack, shuffles and selects a card which he pockets. He is instructed to phone a number. The person on the other end mentally crawls into his pocket and reveals the card he freely chose.

Alpha
Alphabet deck is shuffled by spectators and cut. The top 6 or 7 cards are removed and use to spell a word. All the time you have been looking away, have not seen the shuffling or the letters in play - yet you can reveal the word.

The Out of Sorts Variations
Someone removes 8 cards from a shuffled deck and thinks of one. You meanwhile are standing at a distance with your back turned. Despite this, you manage to name the thought of card.

Seer of the Trival
You show a large padded mailing envelope marked "prediction". A box of Trivial Pursuit questions is brought out. Someone shuffles and cuts the cards, selects one and chooses a question - the answer is inside the envelope.

Chapter Two
Paperworks

Thoughts Untouched

A member of the audience is asked to think of someone close to them. They write the person's name and location on a business card. A 2nd spectator chooses a symbol, sight unseen from a pack of symbol cards. Both specs seal their selections in heavy envelopes. You have one chosen and without touching it draw something on a large piece of paper. The envelope is opened and your drawing is shown to match the symbol inside. The remaining envelope is burned, looking into the flames you reveal the name and location of the person chosen by the first spec.

How to do a business card peek.

Dissertation on the Center Tear


Chapter Three
Arsenal

How to construct a switch pad

A utility idea using a writing pad

Making a mentalist's tablecloth

The Living Dead

Some is asked to write the name of a dead person on a slip of paper. Others write the names of living people on other slips. The papers are crumpled into balls and put on the table. You concentrate on them and suddenly the 'dead' ball unexpectly moves.

Grand Mal Gellar

A silver spoon is placed inside a silk bag and laid on the table. You concentrate on it and suddenly the spoon appears to move. Someon takes it out of the bag to reveal it is twisted like a corkscrew.

Chapter Four
Pro-monition

Pro-monition

Someone thinks of any card in a deck of 52 and names the card out loud. You direct him to a deck of cards resting in a bucket, which the spectator is asked to remove from it's case and count through while he looks for his card. To everyone's surprise he discovers that the deck of cards contains only 51 cards - the one he thought of is missing. You remove the thought of card from your pocket.

Chapter Five
New Pseudo-psychometric Exercises

Cimmerian Psychometry

5 spectators seated in the audience freely take a normal self-sealing envelope from a selection of about 10-15 offered. Each person is asked to put something personal of theirs into their envelope. You are blindfolded, the envelopes are mixed and pass to you. You can reveal which envelope belongs to which person.

Chapter Six
The Teleport Envelope

How to make the remarkable switching envelope with various effects described.

Chapter Seven
Brainbusters

Telephone Directory Test

Book test with telephone directories.

Guiding Star

You show a pillbox which you open to reveal a folded pieces of paper. Closing the box you hand it to someone else. You then deal 12 cards on the table, each bearing a diiferent sign of the zodiac. The person holding the box is asked to set it down on their star sign. Smiling, you open the box and take out the paper - it contains a brief astrological characterization of their sign.

Early Edition

A newspaper prediction in sealed, posted, envelope.

Chapter Eight
Mind Bender

A wine glass visibley bends right in front of your audiences eyes. People all hold up their wine glasses while it happens. You ask them to examine their glasses to see if any bent during the bending effect - quite a few of them have.

Overall

A very useful resourse. You can learn how to make some powerful utility tools and present some powerful effects. Although the effects played straight from the book fall into the category of 'mental magic' a mentalist can easily apply the principles for a more mentalist style approach.

Excellent review, thanks!