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The_March_Hare Regular user 125 Posts |
I might have wrote a review previously about this book but this is a review after having the book for several more months and my new findings.
In my previous reviews I wrote about how it tells the intricate story about how Marc Salem went from growing up in a religiously Jewish home, how he began in magic/mentalism and how he became a performer in the midst of earning several degrees in psychology. I will not go much into that in this review, instead I'm going to focus on the specific routines contained in this book but before I do so, I must state that if you are just starting out in this business and are wondering how to build your rapport this is the best book that you could ever read. So many books that focus on how to you become a full-time performer are written by people who haven't actually done it on a massive level. Marc Salem is one of the few THAT ACTUALLY HAS DONE everything that he speaks on doing. I have read so many manuals on how to become a full time performer, only to find out that the person who wrote it can't even barely make ends meet and isn't living up to their responsibilities to their families. Marc is the opposite, he's a grandfather who does take care of business and is successful. Now having said that, lets get into the specific routines taught in this book. This book is not the usual "chapter 5, these methods will be taught". There are routines and methods but each chapter is layed out in such a way that the tricks and methods relate to Marc's own evolution in magic/mentalism. What sort of tricks and methods are they? Well first off they are very practical in method but also the tricks that Marc does are ones that might be possible under perfect conditions. So you won't find spoon bending, manipulating the stars, and things of that sort which couldn't be possible even by chance. What you will find is things like having three containers of tic tacs and having a participant choose one of them mentally, then have them take one (all while your back is turned) and you being able to divine which one that they took with props that are completely examinable in every way. Allow me to say that Marc Salem and Richard Mark represent a return to mentalism that uses simple and surefire methods that anyone can do. In this book you will not find methods that only work 70% of the time and that routines that only elite mentalists can do. These methods are so simple, that a child could do them without much difficulty but as Marc Salem's reputation demonstrates, they will fool even the most skeptical of adults. My favorite line in the book is where he mentions performing for Merly Streep (because I have a crush on her) but my favorite routine in the book might have to be his "penny and nickel" routine. This one I found as simple as Tequila Hustler by Mark Elsdon, as surefire as it, as fooling as it, and a great routine to do if you just finished performing Tequila Hustler and someone asks you to do another. Imagine being able to pull another coin out of your pocket and have one coin in each of their hands and being able to divine which is in which hand? There is no apparatus, electronics, or anything of that sort necessary. It's as propless as Tequila Hustler. I'm a close-up performer so this is the angle for which I'm coming from. However do not think that this book is strictly for close-up performers because it's not. There are so many stage routines, including book tests and the likes that will play beautifully for a large audience. I don't always hold onto the books that I purchase, sometimes I need to pay for my children's school tuition and things of that sort, and am forced to sell books in my collection but this book will stay in my collection forever. My children will inherit it and enjoy the methods for decades to come, hopefully centuries. |
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