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oliverho New user 36 Posts |
Hi everyone--I hope this is the appropriate section of the Café for this. I wanted to share an article and some thoughts it sparked.
"How to tell the future with books" http://lithub.com/how-to-tell-the-future-with-books/ In this short essay, the writer describes the experiences of friends who found just the right book at just the right time, and how that changed the trajectory of their lives. She then gives a brief overview of the practice of bibliomancy and ways "to find clues to our future within books," and ends by talking about confirmation bias. Overall, the essay started a line of thought for me that seemed relevant here. The obvious connection would be to a book test, but I was thinking more generally. One key concept seemed to be that you can sometimes encounter an object (in this essay, a book, but it could really be anything) that for whatever reason resonates with you so strongly it can change your life. It could be a coincidental connection, or a poetic/metaphorical connection, to something that has been on your mind (or in the back of your mind). Another key seemed to be the immediate connection you can create by relating a story about such an experience. For instance, I enjoyed her examples in the essay about a friend finding a travel guide to a city he'd always wanted to visit, and then using that as inspiration to move there. Or someone becoming a professional yoga instructor after finding a book of yoga poses abandoned in her parent's garden. She writes: "Another friend was given a copy of Bulgakov's 'Master and Margarita' by a former girlfriend, a gift that soon led him to Nabokov and Dostoyevsky; now Will's a cryptologic language analyst for the Air Force, specializing in Russian. And when my friend Brad's older sister left for graduate school, he began spending time in her empty room as a way to still feel close--there he found her copy of T.S. Eliot's 'The Wasteland.' Drawn already to poetry, as he thumbed through the pages, he found a deeper resonance in the snippets of French within the poem which 'seemed to be that barely accessible language; French itself was poetry.' This copy of Eliot, discovered because he missed his sister, eventually led to his publishing a book of translations of the French poet Chantal Bizzini last year." Maybe this could be an interesting frame for presenting a book test, a reading or storytelling routine, or as a way to present an interesting/mysterious prop or a mind-reading experience. For instance, someone could write down a particular goal/dream (e.g., one they had when they were younger), and then rather than read their mind and reveal what they wrote (using whatever method you prefer), you could produce (or write/describe, for example with NW/PW) an item that resonates with that goal, in the same way the books did for the people the author writes about in the essay. I recognize it's not a particularly new or insightful idea--still, I hope it might be interesting/useful to someone. |
magicgerry06 Regular user FRANCE 132 Posts |
Yes it's an interesting idea I use. It can be done with people/names instead of books,objects,etc. Meeting a "stranger" can change your life too...Every couple on earth will agree I guess (-;
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IMAGINACIAN Special user In Your Thots 558 Posts |
Hi Oliverho,
Thanks a lot for sharing this. It was a great read and as you said presents not only some unique presentational angles and insights but also a great resource, if you know how to use it.
There is no better freedom than choice and no better choice than freedom.
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mastermindreader 1949 - 2017 Seattle, WA 12586 Posts |
The article does provide interesting examples about how easily our lives can be changed by serendipity, but it really has nothing to do with predicting the future. It's more about unexpected inspiration than prognostication.
It does offer interesting presentational ideas, however. Thanks for the link. |
Last Laugh Inner circle Grass Valley, California 3498 Posts |
I've been intrigued by the idea of presenting a book test as bibliomancy as well. Actually - the first book tests were presented by 'practical' mediums as exactly that, a message revealed in a book (often the bible) that pertained to a sitters question.
Using standard book tests with a Bibliomancy theme can work, but I'd love to see a routine that was more in the spirit of the old way, almost like a Q & A approach.
My Mentalism Podcast:
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DocBenWiz Special user Meridian, Idaho 991 Posts |
Quote:
On Jun 1, 2016, magicgerry06 wrote: Yupp,...."blind date",....49 years ago...so you singles,..."be careful out there"...LOL....!
"Pay no attention to that strange man behind the curtain" (it's only "Doc Benjamin from the Amazing Wizardelia Wagon")
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