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Does anyone own it? Is it worth buying? Are their better books on Mentalism besides Anneman and Corinda? I'm also on a low budget. Please help. Thanks,
Ian The Magic-ian

Never Heard of It

If Craig's never heard of it, I would highly recommend that you give it a pass.

Seriously.

Mike.

I've never heard of it either, but I did do a little looking around.

Are you talking about the one by Ben Rayot?

If so, read the description carefully:

"In his first ever book, Ben Rayot reveals some of his most "deadly weapons," the routines that he has used time after time to get strong reactions from audiences. These are some of the finest mental effects released in some time.

Contains:
E.S.Pecially for You Eye, Can See What You Are Thinking, Magnas Veritas, Off Centre Tear, Singing in the Vain, What Sign are You? Hallucinations - a spectator hallucinates seeing a card in the deck If you're looking for high-impact mentalism, look no further.

Staplebound, 15 oversized pages."

(From: themagicwarehouse.com, murphysmagic.com, thecentertear.com, and elmwoodmagic.com - among others)

Let's look again: Staplebound, 15 oversized pages.

And the price? $24.95

Now, I'm not saying you won't find a mentalism book worth $24.95, I'm not even saying you won't find a 15 page book worth $24.95.

But there is also the bit about "his first ever book", and although I don't always agree with Craig 100% - he is extremely knowledgeable in this area and hasn't heard of it. This is a bad sign.

Further, I happened across a, very-probably illegal, copy floating around on the internet.

I didn't see you post an introduction, but based on a few posts you seem slightly new to mentalism - but most certainly new to the forum.

The "book" refers to a lot of extra material that most new(er) to the art wouldn't have access to (I certainly don't). Rather than actually taking a few pages to explain concepts, the author just points to other materials To me, this makes it feel more of a luxury item for those that have an extensive Mentalism library anyway - rather than something good for a beginner/intermediate user.

Further, the effects are ok, but certainly not ground-breaking - and some are just plain c*** (not the best). Also keep in mind that the entire thing only contains 7 effects.

Seriously, save yourself time and money and check out one of the many essentials of mentalism. You can't go wrong with Mark Wilson's Complete Course in Magic (good intro to magic, with a section on mentalism) or the ever popular (and rightly so) 13 Steps to Mentalism.

Give this one a pass.

Good luck.

You left out the other thing that must be questioned... Who is Ben Rayot?

How long has this clown been performing... for whom and where?


It all goes back to my article about the johnnycomelately types that think they've come up with something "new" and rush out to get their name in print without researching or grilling the material a.k.a. earning the legitimacy people want in such a product.

I know of a man who gets hundreds of dollars for a single sheet of paper explaining how to do a single effect... in fact I know several such souls... but they have earned credibility in the eyes of their peers which lends to what they offer, value. For the same (or less) $24.00 this kid is selling his stapled, home published book for you could get some solid 50+ page books on Mentalism that have far more value and legitimacy built into them, just by visiting the Hades Publishing on-line listings ( http://www.trickster.com/catalog/a-bookpage1.html )

HINT: You may want to pay particular attention to the Robert Nelson materials

Thank you Craig.

To be honest, I left that question unasked purposefully: I am not a professional and I do not consider myself an "authority" on magic or mentalism.

I just couldn't find much on him on the internet. In some cases this means very little and some names are fantastic underground artists that most just aren't familiar with and don't keep an online presence.

I'm glad someone more knowledgeable and with more professional experience could address this point.

Published by Alakazam in 2002, it contains seven effects. Six are traditional mentalism (gaffs, tears, envelopes, etc.), one is <100% and based on the old principle of eye access cues to recognise when a thought is had a second time. All good, servicable stuff, and apparently Gerry McCambridge is a fan of his centre tear.

Ian the Magic-Ian wrote:Does anyone own it?

Yes. As Tomo said, it was professionally published by Alakazam. Ben Rayot is a young performer from Northern Ireland, and could only have been in his mid-twenties when he wrote this (if the age given on his Myspace page is correct).

Is it worth buying?

It's OK, but not amazing. I quite liked some of the effects when I read it, but put the book to one side and never performed any of them. I should dig it out (along with a few others).

Are their better books on Mentalism besides Anneman and Corinda?

Better? That's debatable, especially in terms of value for money. There are, however, many excellent books on mentalism.

There are the Nelson books Craig's mentioned.

Bob Cassidy's 'Art of Mentalism' and 'The Artful Mentalism of Bob Cassidy'.

'Mind, Myth and Magick' by T. A. Waters.

'Prism' by Max Maven.

'Paramiracles' by Ted Lesley.

That's just a sample of some classics (or near classics).

I'm also on a low budget.

Then don't buy 'Deadly Mentalism'; there are better places to spend your cash. It's not a bad book at all, but not a 'must-have', or even close.

i thought it was ok, good enough for banachek to comment on it at least!

if you're short on cash, maybe go with an osterlind dvd instead if you've already got 13 steps and annemann..

if you're really really short on cash, go to lybrary.com and buy a few annemann downloads and put your thinking cap on...

Okay yes I am relatively new to Mentalism. I've heard good things about Maven and Cassidy, I'll look into purchasing them. Thanks for the help yes I am also new to the Forum.

Bear in mind that, as mentioned elsewhere on TM, Bob Cassidy can sometimes be a bit slow in supplying items for various reasons. There are alternative offical sources to buy his works so scout around and see what the options are. His stuff is always good and surprisingly straightforward so well worth the investment.

I'd certainly go further than that, Mandrake:

Never give Bob Cassidy your money directly. He has a long and growing history of taking it, not shipping your goods (even ebooks!), and ignoring all complaints. He's even stiffed at least one member of his private forum recently.

This is a great shame because his work is strong, diverse, affordable, and there's plenty of it. His business practices, however, have become nothing less than fraudulent. Always buy his stuff from a third party such as Lybrary, never from the man himself.

Tomo wrote:Always buy his stuff from a third party such as Lybrary

That was the recommendation I was trying (and failing!) to find - cheers!

Mandrake wrote:Bear in mind that, as mentioned elsewhere on TM, Bob Cassidy can sometimes be a bit slow in supplying items for various reasons. There are alternative offical sources to buy his works so scout around and see what the options are. His stuff is always good and surprisingly straightforward so well worth the investment.

Though I'm amiss as to who it is, there is a source now handling most of Bob's ebooks... I'll try to find it and post a link later today.

The two books I mentioned are books, not e-books, and they do not have to be purchased from Bob Cassidy directly. 'The Art of Mentalism' may be a bit harder to find than the other book, which is more recent, and seemed to get distributed quite widely.

Sadly, the comments about Bob's online service are accurate. I've had some things fired off to me extremely quickly, while others...were not.

And still aren't.

I was really interested in an item he put up for sale a few months back, but I decided that, while practically impossible to get elsewhere, I stood a very good chance of not getting it sent to me at all, while being a large chunk of change down, so let it go.