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NJJ Inner circle 6437 Posts |
What sort of presentation do people use with their favourite book test?
It seems a rather pointless exercise if you don't have a good presentation and reasoning... |
ElliottB Inner circle 3250 Posts |
I’m only a hobbyist, but I present book tests as exercises in mind reading.
I’m not sure what I’ll say if anyone ever asks why I need a book to read their mind. So far the question hasn’t come up and I imagine that it’s because my audience (friends, family, co-workers, clients) knows that I can’t actually read minds. On an interesting note, several people accused me of memorizing the books. When that happens, I just give them a look that says “you got me”. What a great secondary effect!! |
MentaThought Special user 615 Posts |
Quote:
On 2004-11-18 20:38, ElliottB wrote: By coincidence, today I just read virtually the same statement written by Chuck Hickok. IMO, a possible reply would be something to the effect, "The author of the book obviously had the book's words in *his*/*her* mind when he/she wrote them . . . now, with those same words in your mind as well, the mental energy they possess is greater. "Frankly, I haven't perfected my mindreading skills to the point of infallibility yet and, for that reason and also because I don't want to disappoint you and the audience, I try to ensure the greatest likelihood of success in my thought perception experiments by gathering as much mental energy as possible. I hope you understand."
"A good mentalist ... will teach you a miracle because he understands the subtleties ..." -- Banachek
"If this works it'll be BEAUTIFUL!" - The Amazing Kreskin on a stunning effect he performed on his 1970s television series (PS: it worked) |
ElliottB Inner circle 3250 Posts |
Very interesting. I kind of just do the test. I act as if I’m mind reading but don’t really straight out claim to be able to read minds. All of that talk of mental energy sounds a little to serious for my performing style. I’m not sure if I could pull it off without someone bursting into laughter or thinking that I’m being dishonest. I guess that’s why I just do this stuff as a hobby.
Thanks, Elliott |
mindgames Veteran user 389 Posts |
Do it as clairvoyance effect.
in that case, you got the reason of needing the book
I READ MINDS.... YOURS TOO.
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procyonrising Special user New York 698 Posts |
Greg Arce came out with this thing called the Freestyle book test. I use it as a multi-faceted memory demonstration and combine it with his map effect from Simple Minded as a closer (I wrote about it on a seperate thread). Plays really well.
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Christopher Caldwell New user Scottsdale, Arizona 87 Posts |
You can say something like: "Most people when asked to think of a word will take the path of least resistance and think of something simple, like 'cat' or 'house'. That's too easy for me. According to the Oxford Dictionary, there are over 610,000 words in the English language. To make it challenging, I want you to look through this book and see the thousands of possibilities, and then focus on just one word...."
Hope this helps. Christopher |
alexhui Inner circle Hong Kong 1956 Posts |
One small problem I always encounter with booktest is that there is no surprise...
If the performer has establish his legetimancy during previous effects, it is very natural for audiences to assume the performer will finally reveal the word. Though effect may be strong at the end, but some audiences may 'know' that the performer can reveal the word anyway, so they sit there and wait for the effect. How would you handle this 'emotional' issue and make surprise to audience with booktest? Alex Hui
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Ken Dyne Inner circle UK 2268 Posts |
I support the idea that Christopher Caldwell posted, I talk about how I have already shown how I am able to influence the things you think about, so in order to prevent me placing a thought or word into your mind, we will use this book to give us a totally free and random chocie of any word at all.
Kennedy
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ravi Elite user Germany 413 Posts |
Very interesting approaches.
My take on the booktest is entirely different. Let me quote from the routine: I always wanted to have a multi phase routine like Derren has done with his "Remiscence", that could be performed anywhere, anytime with few props. I love his routine and the routining of it. It gets stronger, effect after effect. A book test seemed great, but you only get one effect usually. Also I never could get a book test to work effectively. Why am I using a book? Is there a reason for the book itself? (A GOOD REASON?) I was always running around book tests but never performed one. Until THE RAVENS BOOK OF LIES: Routine: You show a book to a spectator. (IT can be nearly any book! ) It is “The Book of Lies” by Aleister Crowley. You tell about Crowley and that it is not clear if he was good or evil, angel or devil. Was he using witchcraft or did he have deep insight into mysticism? Has he been the dark magician with characteristic features or has he been a man who gained insight into the principles of life that we all would want to have?!? And despite all this remains unclear, his Tarot cards are widely used nowadays. Even if we do not believe the things that were written in this book, we cannot help feeling the magic and influence the book has on every reader. Sometimes the impact is low, sometimes high, but sometimes it happens that one will experience some weird phenomena. You give the book to the spectator and ask her to hold on to it. After handing it to the spectator, you realize that you forgot a photograph that is between the pages in the book. You take it out and pocket it. The spectator can see, it’s a photograph, but she should not see the details. “Oh, I am sorry, let me take this out.” You ask the spectator: “Do you really want to go on? We can stop any time you want!” You take the book, riffle through the pages from front to end and ask the spectator, if he has really never read this book or know the author. She says “No” You place the book on the table. The spectator sits next to the book. She is asked to place one hand on the book and close her eyes. “Close your eyes. How do you feel? Everything’s okay? Now, let the book speak to you. Clear your mind. Relax. Take a deep breath. You may realise that certain images may come up now. You may see or think of numbers, symbols, and pictures now. Do not be scared. Open your mind and let the book speak to you.” Then it starts! The spectator who has REALLY NEVER seen or read the book starts describing its contents. pictures, sentences, numbers. The spectator names them all in detail( and she does not know how she does it ) Then she even starts describing the author of the book in detail. Hair nose , look, eyes all of it. This is a book test with about five or six effects in it: A spectator touches a book and suddenly knows everything (?) that is written in there and even can describe the author! I think this is another nice way to justify the use of a book. If I could really do it, I would say" think of something". Why do I need a book? Just my thoughts, Ravi
I N D R I D C O L E
DEAD AnD GONE |
NJJ Inner circle 6437 Posts |
All wonderful ideas....
My original question was no so much about why use a book as it was about why have someone think of a random word and then tell them what it is? |
Ken Dyne Inner circle UK 2268 Posts |
I think the booktest can be used as a reply to the situation when you tell someone you are a mentalist (or whatever title you give yourself) and they say, "So what am I thinking then?"
Just my thoughts, K
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True-Gossiper New user Gaia 27 Posts |
I do booktests to perform mindcontrol AND clairvocance effect. The spec before hand is to choose a specific kind of page type, for example full of pictures, big headlines, ad page, etc. After they got one, I riffle the book blindly to both of us until the spec wants to stop. The break page is given to him to see that it's the exact page he wanted earlier, and the proceed with the original word revelation.
Two surprises in one presentation..
"I was the future.." TG, 2006
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Titanas V.I.P. 1995 Posts |
Quote:
On 2004-11-19 16:08, Nicholas J. Johnson wrote: My performance style on book tests and a good excuse on why we use books, in an impromtu enviroment, would be a memory demostration .... borrowed book ....I would say "give me a minute - I ll try to read it fast"..then I would perform the AAA book test, then I would ask for the page number ,which sentnense .....and I would reveal it... so , this is a different approach and a much more logical for the specs
Product Developer @ Murphys Magic Supplies
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rickmagic1 Inner circle MIddle Tennessee area 1544 Posts |
Quote:
On 2004-11-19 17:12, Kennedy wrote: I've actually used that idea for my presentation. I mention that sometimes people ask me to just tell them what they're thinking. The problem with that is that most of us don't just think on one thing at a time, but think very scattered thoughts. This allows me to get you to focus on one particular item. Rick
Richard Green
The Modern Conjurer Coming soon: Victorian Secrets: An Evening With The Spirits! |
cupsandballsmagic Inner circle 2705 Posts |
Wow, some great ideas and impressive stuff here....
One thing I am always mindful of is to introduce the concept of a word rather than a booktest. I get the book in and out of play as quickly and painlessly as possible and then focus on (and alter the later perception of) someone thinking of a word. Just as many mentalists justify the use of a deck of cards as a way of choosing a random one of 52 objects I justify the book by saying that by standard psychological and word association techniques I could, more than likely, second guess a word someone would choose, a book produces a word that is truly random.... and makes life easier for me to narrowing it down to only around 20, 000. Obviously the above is a complete lie but it serves a purpose and that is what we do, isn't it! |
CardReaper New user 20 Posts |
I use J.B magic's Word in a Million Book Test. I do it when I perform other mentalism magic. It spices things up a lot. People get really amazed.
Cardreaper |
cupsandballsmagic Inner circle 2705 Posts |
Hi Cardreaper,
I am not familiar with that, unless of course it is the Koran booktest, the title sounds familiar. I tend to use a combination of The Master Key and Double Vision these day's. I just like em. Thing is, it doesn't really matter HOW I get the information per se, I just like to play with the toys! |
CardReaper New user 20 Posts |
Hello gambituk1
I use this booktest everytime I perform. The Reactions are great out of people. IF you want any more information send me mail and reaperx18@gmail.com Thanks Cardreaper |
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