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Mentalism, Incorporated: Volume Two by Chuck Hickok - Review

Bought mine from : Alakazam
Also see here : http://www.chuckhickok.com./tools.html

Thought I would add my review comments to those already made …

Price : About £29 in the UK.

Difficulty : The difficulty of the routines is medium. Time and effort will get you there. The difficulty of the text is as open as your mind.

They Say :
The purpose of this book is to help the reader become a better, more entertaining mentalist. Volume Two combines proven suggestions for performing mentalism along with easy to learn routines. Consider what Ken Weber – author of Maximum Entertainment – says:

“If you are into mentalism, this is a book you MUST own. It's full of ready-to-use routines and thoughtful, practical commentary.”

Volume Two begins with the first serious examinations of forces for mentalists in fifty year along with six strategies for effectively using forces in a mentalism act. In addition, three practical ideas on common forcing methods are presented…including an “any time, any book” telepathy routine with a borrowed paperback book.

Volume Two continues with fourteen essays on mentalism that were previously available to only the world’s top mentalists. Each essay contains practical ideas and thought-provoking questions for the serious mentalist. These essays are worth the price of the book if you are serious about becoming a better, more entertaining mentalist.

Volume Two concludes with detailed instructions for performing three strong audience-tested mentalism routines … revealing the secrets that make each routine so powerful and entertaining. “Testing Your Intuition” — This is a clever demonstration of clairvoyance or intuition. Audience members understand intuition. Until I developed this routine, I didn’t have an easy and entertaining demonstration that focused on this very believable mental ability. “ Fore-Closer” — This is a demonstration that can stand alone or be combined with other prediction routines. I use it whenever I can. It is self-working. The difficult part is developing an entertaining presentation. The patter I supply will get you started in the right direction. “ Postcard Memory Demonstration” — This is now my featured memory demonstration. Again, it’s almost self-working. I can’t think of a stronger memory demonstration that requires so little real memory work. Audiences are amazed. Like Mentalism Incorporated, this is a book you will want to read more than once.


I Say :

What you get is a nice A5, hard back book of about 180 pages. The text is large, but it does make reading easier, and where required, there are pictures, diagrams or photographs.

Basically the aim of the book, published this year, is to help one improve Mentalism performances. Does it succeed ?

The book is divided into three main section.

Section One, acts as more of an introduction, and details a number of Forces and uses thereof. This section of about 40 pages, is the lighter of the three, but still makes for very interesting reading, and the descriptions of the Force application made for thought provoking reading.

The Second section is really the meat of the book. Here you find 14 short Essays. Short they may be, but each is a succinct and practical view of why and how we can all improve our performance. It must be said that these are not woolly and vague generalisations, but each essay gives sound guidance on how to make things better, more convincing and more real. Presented as text, bullet points, questions, all this material can be taken and applied in a very real and practical way. I know I am going to be re-reading this book, and analysing step by step, my own routines, to improve and hone. And I know, that these improvements will be real and tangible.

Finally the Third section gives three usable and real world routines, beautifully explained. What more can one say ?

So, does the book succeed ? A resounding yes !

This book works. It is not cheap, but for less that the price of a tank of petrol, you can use real world experience to improve your routine. Whether a newcomer to the art, or a seasoned professional, you *will* find ideas of great value, that *you* can apply, to *your* routines.

Overall :

A superb book for the mentalist. At all levels, those who are serious about making things better, more real, more entertaining, will love this book. It’s a satisfying and practical read.

Rating : 10/10. A superb Mentalism book.

Oh thanks! I can feel an attack of CUPS coming on now!

I meant to post something on this earlier...

Chuck sent me a review copy and all I can say is AWESOME!

Whether you're new to mentalism or been around a while, Chuck delivers some very important thinking... in fact, he encourages such actions; the kind of contemplation many of us fail to consider as we attempt to create our programs.

If you have professional ambitions, THIS BOOK IS A MUST! (along with vol. One of course)

Thanks for an excellent review.
Is it necessary to read Vol 1 before Vol 2?
Can anyone give a review of Vol 1?

Thank you.
I've not read Vol. 1 yet.
Vol.2 does make references to it, but Vol. 2 in isolation is still an excellent book for any mentalist.
Piers.