Long time Magician hobbyist with Close Up, but I am really interested in trying my hand out with Mentalism. But here’s my problem. My memory is so bad that I have given up trying to do anything with a Memdeck. Believe me, I tried, and tried, my memory sucks.

So here is my question, and I hope it’s an easy one to answer. Is there a certain DVD, or series of DVD’s that someone has put out that does not require a great deal of memorizing, like a Memdeck? I know Osterlind has many DVD’s out there, would there be a recommendation for one of his DVD’s that is not heavy into the Memdeck, or such.

Can a Mentalist have a bad Memory???

Thank you…

IMHO if one is even slightly creative, many effects which may involve memory work or a mnemonic system, can be performed by the use of a crib that is creatively available (e.g. see a John Archer effect and think huge "marking pen").
If learning to do "mentalism" is truly a passion of yours, you can find ways to perform without having a major problem with memory I believe However, not really knowing the extent of your memory limitations, I am only guessing you could do adequately and you will have to do some persomal research to see what might work for you).
Good luck!

There's a book from Looch. The material is pretty direct to the point. Same goes to Opening Minds by Colin Mcleod. Very direct stuff.

I don't know what you think mentalism is, but it's not all about memorizing stuff, such as a deck. You'll know that as soon as you really start looking into it.
Search for discussions here where good books for begin with are listed and start from there.

I recommend that you buy Super Memory by Harry Lorayne. I had a stroke and one of the things affected was my memory. I got this book and studied it and now I perform many memory intensive routines. I think if you give this book a go you will be surprised at just how good your memory can be in a short time.

There are many many routines that don't require a memedeck, just start some reading. DocBenWiz is right, if you must use a memdeck for what your tryingto acheive then use a crib.

Best of luck
Russell

You don't need memdeck etc for mentalism. You don't need a memory. I use cribs etc. Don't need to read memory books to be good at mentalism. Go for it.

Mine was also medically related. Just to give a quick background, Long story short; I had Oxygen Deprivation while having routine surgery. I also have random complete black outs with my memory though which lasts from just a minute or two.

I have had to modify my hobby of magic to eliminate story telling or complicated routines, so I am not sure if that alone would be a show stopper in this field of Mentalism. But that's not too bad because I can still do my short little quicky routines that I already know. But I am really intrigued, and very interested in this field that I know so little about.

Thanks for all the great suggestions.

Skyfire:

While I love and perform several memory-dependant effects, I can recommend a range of effect that do not require much if any memory.

1. Haunted key and other Telekinesis type effects, such as pendulum effects, spoon bending, etc..
2. Diction book test (uses a crib)
3. Classical Film Verite (essentially requires remembering one or two things)
4. Sheer Luck
5. Out of This World type effects, such as Genetics (essentially requires remembering one or two things)
6. Correct Key and some other lock and key effects.
7. I Hate Kids and other Bank Night type effects.

A number of effects require remembering something but not a lot; if you rehearse what you need to recall, right before the performance, or learn to employ cribs like John C and others, you should be able to cope and perform just fine.

Hope this helps,

George Hunter

I too still use a crib whenever I can, it takes the heat off a little. My previous post was just to say that most times your memory isn't as bad as you think it is and with Harry's book you train the memory. So I can now perform effects that I never thought I would be able to do.