The best book for ideas/methods, etc., regarding the art of revealing information is....

Surely though, the way in which you reveal information is purely down to character and displayable skill set/abilities?

have I misunderstood the question?

I don't think have misunderstood. But I would love to hear an elaboration of your premise with specific examples.

Your character and skill set or your ability/abilities define everything you do and say...in my opinion, if you don't have this, then you don't have anything...so everything you perform needs to run through those filters...you might find that those filters drastically change how you perform something...

i know you like Pro.M. stuff, so you could get great reactions with one of those pieces without any kind of character dressing, or any kind of character driven process...however!

you could take that great reaction and amplify it on many different levels by running it through those filters...and you might well find you can get other benefits from it along the way...

the character part should really be the main interest, not the effect itself..."HE is a remarkable man...", and not "some guy did this remarkable thing with a cube..."

DB's writings in Pure Effect (particularly, the chapter entitled, "You're Supposed To Be Reading Minds") provides food for thought, and really resonated with me when I read it years ago. There should always be some kind of apparent "process" by which the mind reading is occurring.

Personally, I also try to make sure that however I'm supposedly doing it, that it requires substantial effort, and isn't trivial or easy.

I try to keep both of these things in mind when I'm coming up with presentations, and they often guide the way I do my revelations.

"Making Mind Reading Look Real" by Luke Jermay

Why do you know it?
how do you know it?
how does it feel to know it?
what do you feel when you 'get it'?
all these things and more should be thought about...doesn't have to a huge OTT thing, but it needs (again, in my opinion) to be thought about...

what does telepathy FEEL like to you?

Good points, all. I will look into the aforementioned works.

I don't think it matters "why you know it". In fact I prefer another focus.... What experience do you want your target to have? What emotions / states do you want them to feel?

I personally have found that more useful. I don't think character matters that much or an explanation of how you do what you do...

But there is no definitive right or wrong its a matter of what works best for you.

I think if you don't give someone something to relate to as a human being, then their experience is decreased...

I believe Mark Elsdon wrote a book on this entitled Mentalism reveals. Atlas speaks very highly of Bairn in this department. I'd love to see Pete Turner write something on this as he is a master at squeezing the maximum out of a reveal. He talked about this in his LADs lecture after demonstrating by getting a huge amount out of no more than a card revelation. However he also gets great reactions with almost throw away revelations like simply saying "get Sarah out of your head, it's distracting me while performing a different effect. Or saying "Tell Natalie hi" when a girls phone rang (and yes it was Natalie calling").

Personally I like to use surprise where possible like hiding the magic square or lottery prediction. I performed Bob's Master Card memory on Friday but I explained that the world record is 50 seconds. I said lets make it interesting, how many seconds do you think it will take me? Got 6 guesses, 14 20 22 29 30 40. I asked the time keeper to call out at 14 seconds then again at 20 and 22 etc. I managed it in 14. After performing the routine I even got an extra round of applause for the guy that guessed 14. Bob's routine of course killed and then I draw their attention back to those 6 numbers.

The envelope that contains the lottery ticket has the name of a charity on it. I have it read out and then say "That's who will benefit if that ticket wins tomorrow night, but first we need to see if it has won tonight". The charity gives it an emotional hook, those numbers now have some value. When the lottery was drawn tonight you can bet some of that audience were thinking of that ticket and that charity.

However not every reveal can be a surprise but I do think you need to find ways to make them give a crap.

Mark

As others have said, the way you do the reveal is dependent on the plot you have established for the routine.

That being said, I tend to prefer a minimalist approach, in which I reveal just enough to convince the audience that I know what I am talking about.

I'm also a fan of revealing through near misses and being slightly off.

I second "Making Mind Reading Look Real" by Luke Jermay.

Atlas Brookings lecture covers this well.

On Ken Dyne's Penguin lecture, he mentioned he was coming out with a book that will cover this topic. When he didn't say, but I'm looking forward to it.

-Byron

I think Philemon has a really strong statement here.

I would look at the following elements:
Plot
Character
Where do your powers come from
What does the audience learn about you or the show based on this piece
What do you want your audience to feel emotionally
method will also come into play
Etc.

A good example is the idea of revealing the side of a flipped coin:
if the plot is about gambling and predicting the flip was an introduction to a bigger piece then a loud slapping the table ...and revealing the answer. Surprise/Fun
if the plot is about life and death, then placing a black envelope on the table and waiting for the flip. Drama/Suspense
if the plot is about which path you will take for the next part of the overall effect then a simple quick "I knew that" reveal. Whimsical/cute
if the plot is about figuring odds..but somehow you always know how luck will play out over and over again: Cerebral/stunning
and on and on.

The method and trick are not the thing...it is the plot and character that drives the performance.

Sense and Meaning by Paralabs gives some fantastic advice on this very subject, a huge reccomendation from me!

Best Wishes Michael

Oh, great. Now I've got to spend yet more money. Thanks, Michael.

Are the Paralabs books still for sale. I thought they were a limited release ?

Are there any cool 'tattoo' like reveals? I think it would be amazing to reveal the spectator's thought of name as something printed on your arm. The closest thing I can think of is Houchin's Stigmata.