Found it....and yes I can see the irony in losing a book on muscle reading!!

Wish a UK dealer had this, would snap it right up.

I have alway stayed away from this type of effect since I thought it was to risky and almost impossible, but now my interest is rising.

Https://www.stevensmagic.com/shop/hellst......milovich

Sometimes I come back and read old threads here. I have to say that seeing the postings from Bob Cassidy and Scott Soloff -- both of whom are gone now -- made me feel quite sad.

Something that made me smile was thinking about the way this clever little book changed nearly everything I do in my show. Certainly the performance of CMR is one of the highlights of my show. It truly IS one of the great effects of mentalism...and it feels just as powerful to me now as it did the very first time I experienced it -- something I vividly remember and wrote about in the introduction to this book.

Since then I have been up and down with this effect. When I started performing it in my stage shows it worked perfectly...but I was mildly surprised that audiences weren't utterly blown away what I was doing. After all...it is one of the few things I do in my performance that doesn't use use props or devices of any kind. To my mind there is no greater TUH-DAH cue. But I love the routine and I started looking into it. I was floored at what I found.

People assumed...ASSUMED that the effect used a) electronics or b) that my volunteers were either stooges or instant stooges. Let's say...admit even...that they are probably justified in thinking that because there ARE versions out that do that very thing.

The only way I could think of to diffuse these suspicions was to meet them head on. So I rethought CMR from the ground up.

I revised the way I performed the effect. I let the audience member choose the object...made clear that I never touched it...it wasn't mine AND I had the audience member hiding the object CHOOSE someone else from the audience -- someone I could have no prior knowledge of -- to watch them hide it. I went to great lengths to make it clear that I had not worked anything out with my helper. And the effect got that much stronger.

Then I took the plunge and turned my back while my helpers chose the object and hid it. I didn't even know at that point WHAT the object was. For some reason this flipped the switch and propelled the effect into the stratosphere.

Not knowing what the object is doesn't make the effect any harder...because the guide still takes me directly where I need to go...and it actually has a two part reveal: finding the object AND discovering what the object is for the first time.

Now it draws the gasps I was looking for...and is a powerful routine.

But that, in itself, isn't the greatest thing I learned from the book...or why the book revolutionized my whole approach to mentalism.

Let me explain: CMR only works when you pay complete attention...TOTAL focus on your volunteer. You need to be completely in tune with them. Nothing is "half way." It has to be a pure partnership. Broken down to its purest essence? I AM working as hard as I possibly can to read their mind. If I fail to connect with my volunteer, the effect won't work. It's that simple. There is no plan B. there's no out. No "off by one." You either get it right or you fail completely.

The difference today? I work THAT HARD in EVERY effect to read their mind. In my mind I am as vulnerable to failure when I am doing a CT as when I am doing CMR. I work that hard to get in complete synch with my volunteer every single time. It makes every effect I do much stronger...much more believable.

That's the great lesson this wee book on CMR taught me.

It is an outstanding resource for every performer who is truly open to having their performing world rocked by a splendid new idea.

David