Because I much prefer books to tapes or videos, I wish to know whether reading any or all of the following six Kenton Knepper publications would provide me with the same information and material that is on Knepper's "Wonder Words" tapes. The books are:

"Wonder Words Workbook"
"Miracles of Suggestion"
"Readings for Magicians"
"An Enchanted Evening"
"Kentonism"
"Rants into Raves"

Words of wisdom from anyone familiar with both the books and the tapes would be very much appreciated. Thanks.

John Kokot

They all supplement each other, but none are duplicates of material. The closest you'll come is, of course, the workbooks, which are meant to supplement the tapes. They review the material from volume one, and expand on it to provide tools for you to create your own presentations based on the ideas in the tapes.

None will substitute for Wonder Words, but Wonder Words will enhance what you get out of the other books. You will only learn the majority of what's on Wonder Words from the tapes, however, and given that they involve spoken words, the tapes are a much more effective way to learn this thing than books (and I normally am a book person, too).

I highly recommend "An Enchanted Evening" and "Rants into Raves"; "Kentonism" has some good stuff, but right now isn't really for me. It may be later, but for now it doesn't suit my style.

I have yet to read all of "Miracles of Suggestion", but I've been privy to previews of two pieces (the book test and the ring bend) from it and can attest to how brilliant (and how typically "Kenton") they are. If these are any indication, it should be a great book.

Haven't read the readings book, so can't say anything about that.

Anyway, to sum up, all of the books and the tapes are worth getting. If you want a hint of what's on the tapes, you'll find them in the books, but the tapes are the only way to get what's on them in full detail.

Well, here goes. I have been holding back on this question for some time.

I have not read any of Kenton's books nor do I have any tapes. I am toying with buying something, but I'm not sure.

A few weeks ago I went to an all-day workshop, and Kenton was part of it. He was a very nice guy.

But there were a number of times that we were shown something and told that it really plays big to lay audiences, but the effect left me cold. Or I was told that a technique blows right by a lay audience, but my instincts told me that it was an obvious technique and would not pass by an astute observer. Or I was told that the use a certain word or phrase would make all the difference in the world, but I didn't believe it.

Well, Kenton is so well-regarded, I sometimes wonder - does the emperor have clothes?

Gianni

I can´t answer your question, but I can:

1. Soon review "Readings for Magicians", as it will arrive any day now...

2. Tell you that one tiny little idea in wonder words is, I think, actually the best thing I do at all. It can produce reactions that can only be compaired with what top comedians produce, and you can disguise it as Cold Reading if you like, producing several times more accurate lines than anything else I have seen (because it IS personal to them, not something that´s true for anyone).

I used this tiny little idea about a week ago, in a small group of people, and one lady thanked me for confirming what she already knew/making her aware of the fact I told her. Another woman couldn´t show her face to me because she was dying with laughter because I exposed her concerning a trait she has, and her friend said it was correct.

In the end the only way of knowing if Kenton´s stuff is good is to try it yourself.

Mikael

John - I'm thinking that perhaps you've made a mistake. As far as I understand it, WW are books but with complimentary tapes.
Howerver, there is the "Wonder Readings" series which - again as far as I know - are (only?) tapes. Maybe you got these two mixed up? (I did myself in the past).

(Maybe someone should confirm/correct my claims here as I'm a little uncertain.)

/Matias

Matias, you have it backwords. Wonder Words is a collection of tapes, with a supplentary workbook. There are three series of WW tapes.

Steve

Thanks Steve. So, Wonder Readings is a book? Or is that also tapes?

/Matias

Gianni said amongst other things;
"Well, Kenton is so well-regarded, I sometimes wonder - does the emperor have clothes?"

Don't worry Gianni, you're not the only one

Is everything Kenton produces gold? No. I don't like all of his stuff, some of it I don't have any use for.

Is some of it amazing? Yes. The majority of it, in my opinion.

His stuff isn't for everybody, I'll admit that. And yes, there's some of it that I've read and thought "what am I missing?" or "I'll never use this!". Those, however, are greatly weighed out by the tons of his stuff I have that I've said, "Wow, this is incredible". And yes, a lot of Kenton's stuff is quite simple when you get down to it. It's also a lot more deceptive than you'd think, when done properly.

That's just my two cents, of course. Some people may not find any value in any of his stuff, and that's totally cool. Some may think everything he comes out with is pure gold. That's cool, too. If you can use it, great, if you can't, that's great, too. Each of us is different, after all, and nobody's ever going to agree on everything :o)

Matias, it´s both a book and tapes.

WW is mainly tapes, but actually also have tiny "books" (what is the word for a small book with only a few pages?) other than the workbook.

Mikael

You mean 'booklet'?

bb

I think so, I´ll have to get that into my mind!

Mikael

(1)First get a six inch nail - one with as sharp a point as possible.
(2)Obtain a good, heavy hammer.
(3)Place the point of the nail to your skull (it's important that it's the SHARP end)
(4) Give the blunt end a really hard dunt with the hammer.
(5) Don't forget to bow as they cart you off to the ambulance.

(with apologies to Drew McAdam whom I just shamelessly plagiarized)

:evilgrin:

"Readings for Magicians" has arrived. A little review.

It actually contains some good ideas, and it certainly gave me ideas. It has at least one tip that made me laugh out loud.

I think however, that there would be much I would not understand if I hadn´t already studied Cold Reading. But it might also be because english is my second language.

It´s hard to say if people will be satisfied with it. My opinion is that if a magic book has ONE SINGLE useful idea, the book was worth its price. This book had, for me, more than one useful idea.

Knowledge is always useful, and sometimes we don´t even have to use it for what it was meant for. As an example I can take "Wonder Words". Out of all the things I learned from that, I actually use nothing of the "word stuff" in my magic, i.e. using special words. But I have used it in real life, under tougher conditions. I was babysitting a little girl a few years back, and she refused to eat. No matter what I said or did. Her response was "No!" Then I got an idea, and changed what I said, and her immediate reaction was that she started eating! That was real magic for me

Mikael

Wonder Readings is a book - 120 page manual and about 5 hours of audio tape that Kenton and I release a few years back. Hope this helps.

Enjoy!
Rex

Wonder Readings is a book - 120 page manual and five hours of audio tape that Kenton and I released a few years back.

Enjoy!
Rex

If you only get one thing from Kenton Knepper, make sure it's "Rants into Raves"! This book should be required reading for EVERY magician! There's no effects. It's just the most important basics for any kind of magic performance.

It's one of those "short, but sweet" sort of notes.

The "problem" with Kenton's books is that they assume that you are familiar with the Wonder Words tapes. Get them before you get any of his books.

Thanks Mikael for taking the time to contact me privately regarding what you liked and used from Wonder Words. That was a treat!

Enjoy!
Rex