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Sorry guys if this has been asked a thousand time before but I am looking for my first real book test.

I have dabbled with a few simple ones but fancy trying a nice meaty one.

Nothing that will stretch my mind to much as I only perform to F&F...

Any suggestions ?

Thanks

hoy

Or Marc Paul's AAA Book Test.

Barry

The Clip Book in Corinda is a good one that I use quite a bit.

Pinky breaks aren't just for cards.

Marc Paul's AAA Book Test is good and completely impromptu, and is clean enough to be repeatable to the same audience as long as it's not too many times or too often.

Hoy seems to be the most popular among mentalists, and is very close to being impromptu, but the working is SO obvious. I think so, anyway -- it never fooled me. I don't think I'd have the nerve to do it myself, and certainly not to repeat it.

Osterlind's "Easy-to-Master Mental Miracles" has a simple improvement on the basic Hoy Book Test that disguises the working and makes it look a lot cleaner.

Thanks guys, great help as always

there is 1 i use by david eldridge on his old dvd fundamentalist i think its called but it does use 2 books i think i have heard him mention the name HOY as well so i have to mention HOY

I asked a similar question a wee whiile ago and got a great response so I can thankfully add my bit... HOY and Colin Mcleod has a rather sweet one I'm using more and more.

I use Val Andrew's Unfaked Booktest after buying it from someone on this very forum. It works a treat and because it's memory based you are completely clean when you perform it. My only issue is that the method is pretty obvious to anyone who isn't of Wayne Rooney levels of inteligence. I get around this by performing it as a memory feat rather than a mind reading experiment and for some reason people don't question it as much.

Max Maven's "Nothing" DVD has a great one using magazines. It's also memory-based and therefore perfectly clean, although you could use a crib sheet if you don't trust your memory.

When I do book tests, which is rare, I tend to use one of three:

Chan Canasta's
Variations on David Hoy's
Variations on Marc Paul's

The main flaw with all of the above is that you need to get your hands on the book, to a greater or lesser extent - the Hoy handling is very light, and the others can be made "psychologically invisible" to some extent, but you still have to touch the book.

Non-touch handlings include:

The Mother of All Booktests is a wonderful hands-off method, which is perfect for stage use. It can be used close up, but it's a little weird. There is one major weakness with this, but it can be easily be routined out with a little thought.

Richard Busch's "The Little Mother Booktest" is also pretty wonderful, and hands-off. It's not as direct as the above, but it has its advantages.

It's worth mentioning Tomo's Naked Book Test here - it's a rather wonderful concept, albeit not my first choice for actual performance, personally.

What is it you want to accomplish with a Book Test?

I'm not familiar with MoAB or most of the newer one's out there commercially, I tend to work with what is available to me when I apply my creativity around systems I know; many of which come from easy to get published materials from people like Bob Cassidy (His MENTALISM CD with the Principalia and 4 Elements material is worth every single penny; it's one of my bibles and has at least a half-dozen awesome BTs in it).

The one primary gaffed book that I use is the INSIGHT by Kieth Fields, if you couple this with one of Ed Fowler's Force Bags (zip lock baggie) you will have an amazing piece of dynamite in your hands. I've used it for over a decade when I do my book drive shows and it has never failed to leave folks completely baffled (and we're talking about some very large shopping mall type audiences...several hundred if not over 1,000 patrons -- if you go this route PM me and I'll share my whole set-up and presentation).

Another thing to think on, is how you might find alternative methods in working with a gaffed book or method. I have a couple that I use for forcing words or other details. You can't do it with all BT systems, but several do lend themselves to this and other "utility" options.

each to their own, but I'm confused as to why you'd use a force bag for the INSIGHT test..but what do i know...

if you're going to use a force bag though, just do it with any ungimmicked book or dictionary you have...

you can certainly think about changing the presentation and type of book to match/tie-in with the older methods...

take some that you find in PME, they use cards - so the simplest route is to change the book to fit...so buy a gambling book...therefore dice, cards and so forth makes sense to be included...and especially as its for friends and family only...

though - if you look around, you can get Black's Magic's "The Man Who Knew Too Much"...which is fairly examinable and a nice clean word test...and around £20

At the non-inconsiderable risk of appearing sycophantic, Iain's own presentation for a book test is very interesting, visually - the concept is for a book which you hate so much that you have to tear it up,and it's called "The Hateful Page".

I'm personally not 100% behind the method, but for a logical reason to include a book the presentation is rather delicious, highly visual and potentially amusing.