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Corinda's 13 Steps to Mentalism, Annemann's Practical Mental Effects - there are far worse places to start...

I really think we need to revive the old idea of an "ignore" button... but it needs to be set with part of an admission quiz that instantly keeps the grumpy old guys from seeing posts made by the infantile.

How I so wish I could master that long distance form of PK Touches at times...

Cardza wrote:Corinda's 13 Steps to Mentalism, Annemann's Practical Mental Effects - there are far worse places to start...

As is said in Craigs essay, 13 steps is proving a great start for me

Come on!! You don't need a button. Simply focus that advanced mentalist ability of yours. *Wavy hand gesture* hhhhmmmm... Iwillignoreyou ....hhhmmm Iwontletitbotherme.... hhhmmmm.

Now when I read tediously wordy posts I will think of a beach on Tahiti and a pina colada. Yum, pina colada... see, it worked.

Thanks Cardza, I'll will be looking for them online today. And thank you even more Cardza for sparing me the, oh so popular "Nothing worth learning comes easily" speech.

I think you've said two very useful things there, Pina Coladas and Nothing worth learning comes easy. A Pina Colada or other equivalent is always worth consuming and so is the other phrase as it's so very true. You may not like the answers you got here but that doesn't mean they don't have a large amount of fact, substance and truth in them. It also means the guys who responded, most with more years experience than they care to contemplate, have taken the time to pass on what they know to be true for free. It also means that, up to a recent point anyway, they welcomed you to TM and were willing to share their thoughts and experience. If they didn't like you or care for the art of Magic they'd have told you to shove off or, even worse, just ignored you.

Bear in mind that we get many newcomers asking very similar questions and not everyone gets responses - the ones who do get on at TM are those who share, who take the rough with the smooth (an in-joke for the card workers there!), who can take as well as give and above all who want to be part of an informal on-line community. So, how about we tone down the tendency to be unnecessarily aggressive to people who are trying to help and just get on with the Magic?

For hypnosis, I recommend Ormond McGill's mighty encyclopedia. I have reviewed it in the books section. Studying this will give you some understanding of how suggestion works.

Django wrote:I speak of "assuption"? Where? I never used the word once. Gee, Craig, if your expect people to labor through your long winded responses you may want to bother to read the couple sentences you're responding to in the first place.

Wow, the word advanced in your avatar really is starting to look like "the need to talk down to people"

But since this all started at me hoping to get the name of a good book to start with rather than try to make sense of that disorganized verbose sticky you wrote, I guess it's only fitting.

So please, use your "advanced" mentalism powers and make yourself forget I even asked.

Django:

As the others have said, there is no one good book, but several in which you will find you will need to combine things in ways that work for you.

Corinda has a nice step on reading that will help
Banachek's PS1 and PS2 will give you good ideas on how to use psychological forces and suggestions
Tomo's new Naked Mentalism will show you the statistical probabilities that lie behind psychological forces (forthcoming)
Sleight of Mind will explain how to read verbal and non-verbal cues in people
Millard Longman's Psychic Skills Workshop will teach you how to build rapport and use hypnnosis techniques to induce trance states.

But Craig said most of this is his sticky anyway. I would add Derren's Pure Effect and Absolute Magic and Ickes Everyday Mindreading to the list, among many others.

In cotrast to your characteristisation, I do not find Craig's sticky verbose or disorganised. Rather, it moves from billet reading through to advanced reading techniques in a logical and didactic way that if followed will produce results in the medium to long term.

I keep a printout in my files and consult it on a regular basis. Moreover, the more time I spend on magic and mentalism forums the more its structure and content are vindicated by top performers in the field who are making a living out of performing. I have yet to find one course or book that covers all these topics, so it is up to each of us to explore the resources.

Between Craig's sticky and Abraxus's list, you should have all that you need to get started.

Yum, pina colada...

Django wrote:Yum, pina colada...

Even members of the Clash had to show respect at some point, shame you cannot show the same...goodbye from me.

what??? someone mention Pina Coladas??? mmm one of my faves

There have already been some very good suggestions on books. But if you're after some nice and simple, mental type effects, you might want to have a flick through Karl Fulves Self Working Mental Magic. It's not as high brow as some of the books that have been mentioned but does contain alot of basic principles.

i think it's such a shame that people who are asking for information and references then get really aggressive and just plain rude when given the honest truth about what they are searching for

i for one have printed out Craigs sticky and use it as very valuable piece of my every growing library, i currently have bordering on 30 books and about 30 dvds on magic. this may come as a surprise to some how seem to think that one book and 5 minutes will allow them to become a master card magician or svengali of mentalism,

one of the hardest bits about magic is the time you have to invest in research in coming up against dead ends and red herrings then when you find the right books studying them and gleaming out all the info so that you can develop who you are as a magician it is a lifetime search not something that will happen overnight .

right! rant over, now where are those damn pina coladas everyone is on about

More Pina Colada's?! No waiter really I couldn't, oh okay I'll have another. Yum...

Hey, Lady of Mystery, I picked up Karl Fulves Self Working Mental Magic years ago and also found it pretty low brow as you put it but I'll dig it up and give it a closer look to get an idea of basic principles now that you mention it. Thanks.

Young Jedi the path to...

Anyway here comes the Markdini and his two cents. If people think you can use suggestion on them then suggestion will be a lot easier rule number 1.

Rule Number 2 first learn rule number 1

Rule number 3. It is ok in mentalism to say you using suggestion to make people think you are when you are not, when you get to using it you can make it a lot more powerfull.

Alot of people say 13 steps is a great place to start but I have an idifference to this book thats not to say you wont like it. But start with it, it will give you the basics.

I think Dr Todd said Sleight of mind is a good book and the good dr would be right. Also once you under stand that follow it up with "Building blocks" by Luke Jermay. There is a very good chapter on creating Anchors.

S.A.D by Looch is good book (no suggestion in it though) that i use a few effects from too. I think these 4 books will set you on the right path.