Got this add from Hank Lee in an e-mail today:

"The Da Vinci Zone - A mind-blowing book test with The Da Vinci Code! Featuring Max Maven's latest booklet, Exploring the Zone, Max's technical guide to The Da Vinci Zone. No gimmicked books. Multiple word revelation. Easy, convincing handling. Built-in safeguard
The Da Vinci Zone is powerful, hip mind-reading, just in time for the movie The Da Vinci Code!
Give your spectator a choice of three popular books. He ends up with Dan Brown's best-selling The Da Vinci Code (thanks to our simple but surefire force). Have anyone call out a page number from 1 to 454. He can choose any page. The spectator turns to that page and looks at the first line. With just a blank piece of paper and a pen, you concentrate and silently jot down a few notes. You now dramatically announce to the spectator the first word in the line. You concentrate again and correctly tell him a second major word in that line.
Believe it or not, you can now proceed to a second phase and have the spectator concentrate on the opposite page. In a breathtaking climax, you now reveal two words on that page as well!
The paper is really blank and totally normal. In fact, we provide you with a method in which you don't have to write down anything!
No phony-looking force books: You're using a real Da Vinci Code and not suspicious fake books no one's heard of.
No page force: Any page number can be chosen.
No word force: The spectator doesn't have to be steered to "the longest word" as in other ploys.
No memorization: The diabolical device does all the work for you!
No awkward moments: The system tells you if a page is the start of a chapter, so you can tell the person to ignore the headings and concentrate on the first line of text. If a line begins with a hyphenated word, you'll know that, too!
No bulky gimmicks or sleight-of-hand: You can borrow the piece of paper.no need for clipboards or slates, and no fake dust jackets. No palming required. Nothing to get rid of, because the secret is hidden in plain sight!_
No anagrams or fishing: You just directly divine the text from the book. Why monkey around guessing letters or asking the spectator for information?
No meaningless predictions: You're working with interesting literature, not some amateur writer's words.
No set routine: The words are different every time you perform. You can also customize your routine by using fewer words or working with additional pages.
The Da Vinci Zone comes to you complete with an actual hardbound edition of The Da Vinci Code, a copy of Max Maven's Exploring the Zone technical manual, the devious custom-made device, and the Black Rabbit Girls Collectors' Card number 4. A professional routine worth every penny to the working performer! $199.95"
http://www.hanklee.org/xcart/product.php......p;page=1

Will be out the last week in june.
Pre-orders are accepted now.

I will wait with the pre-order, and will await a decent review
200 bucks is a lot of dough IMP

Peo

$200???
A plain Index will suffice.

I saw this too, and was wondering how good this is.
I just got the Da Vinci Code impromptu book test from Trickshop and I like the handling.
For $200, I am not sure how much better the effect can be.
But it does sound interesting!

Who's got this? I'd like to read a review too.
Thanks
Dave

Am I missing something here?
Is it so hard to get the first word, once the page number is known?

Isn't this just like his otehr book-test - there is a thread on inner thoughts with Da Vinci key words already explained

Slim,
It's not out yet, you have to wait till the end (hopefully) of the month.

Peo

For $200 maybe it is different. Lot's of speculation. Let's see what it in fact is.

JC

Oh come on read the add most of you guys probably allready have the gaff.

If not I bet it can be had for under 20 US

Jack

H.O.
A-X

For clarification, it is my understanding that the booktest is NOT Maven's, but that he wrote the booklet "Exploring the Zone."

But $200 we might pay is because of Max's name!

I was wondering about this. Is the booklet available on its own?

I have not seen this yet, but it's pretty clear that Max's booklet includes the manual for the Da Vinci Zone. I doubt it will sell separately.

-- Jheff

You can find my pages for Autome (aslo Maven's!) in the Inner Thoughts area which uses the Da Vinci Code...still, this one does sound rather clean.

Col.

B-I-N-G-O....and Bingo was his name-o!

Whoa, let's get a little real here regarding current labor costs.

The bare minimum is $80/hr just to get someone to, say, open up your VCR, computer, or DVD player to see what's wrong. Auto repair at a dealership runs $125/hr in my city (Chicago).

To prepare your own DaVinci Code index would take at least 4-5 hours.

So considering the entire package -- the book, whatever "diabolical device" that "does all the work for you," the index, and Max's pamphlet -- even though I'm not about to order one myself, the $200 price seems perfectly fair.

Here's Dr. A's economic sermon for this Sunday morning: Not everything you don't buy is an "unfairly" priced ripoff. It is just not for you.

This is not a new idea (idea of having indices for book tests. Unless,, this uses some other idea for getting the first word, once the page number is known, I find this to be a rip off. But again, if I can use an index to do the same, what is the point in getting a $200 worth gimmick? Coming back to the indices, will you buy an index from me for say " Memoirs of Geisha" book for a mere $ 100? From my experience, to create an index is about an hour's work maximum for a book like Davinci code. And again, this is not just one unit sold. This should be atleast 200 (general number for Magic items on one production). So why should not the charge be split among everybody? Its not like an Auto mechanic's hourly rate, where the services are rendered on one car alone! Just some thoughts to get the right perspective on teh subject.
Please note that I do not say the gimmick used here is an index for sure. I only state that an index will suffice.

"The bare minimum is $80/hr just to get someone to, say, open up your VCR, computer, or DVD player to see what's wrong. Auto repair at a dealership runs $125/hr in my city (Chicago). "

This is flawed thinking.
An item that is manufactured can be sold many times
after the initial work is done. You aren't comparing apples with apples.

Tom

I often times don't use things from Max because I feel that they are too easily seen through. Possibly I am wrong but in general I avoid his way of thinking. Too many anagrams and gimmicks for me in his way of thinking. I will stick to the methods of booktest I already use and save the $200 I don't have haha.

Yes flawed thinking.

Kyle freemason, as for Max Maven's stuff I don't think HIS methods are as transparent as you make them seem to be.