Here is the act exactly as the audience sees it:
The performer asks for the loan of three paperback novels, a piece of paper, and a pen or pencil. The performer says, "I have a feeling about one of you, and I think I have a pretty good idea about something that is going to be significant to you a little later on." The performer then writes something on the paper, folds it up, and hands it to one of the audience members.
Three audience members are now selected to participate in the tests. Participant #1 selects a book, opens it up to a random page and remembers a word. The other participants, in turn, do likewise. However, the third participant does not even touch his book. He simply thinks of a word read from the book. No force.
Turning to the 3rd participant the performer begins to slowly extract the word he is merely thinking of (oh, I should mention that the performer truly does not know what the word the 3rd participant is thinking of.). However, before all of that information is gotten, the performer turns to the 2nd participant and instantly tells him the exact word he is thinking about. This is a real freak out moment and will cause screams. The performer then turns back to the 3rd participant and after a bit more information is gotten from his mind the performer tells him the word he is thinking of.
Now, for the final participant. The performer says, "Now, you are thinking of a word as well. However, remember before you even picked a book, I said that I had a funny feeling about you and that I wrote something down and said that it would be of interest to you later on. Guess what? It's later on. I don't know what word you are thinking of, but let's see if my gut feeling was right." The audience member, who has been holding the paper since the beginning, opens it up and shows what is written on it to the rest of the group. Written on the paper is the exact word the 1st participant is thinking of.
This is the book test act that David has held back for ten years. It is a very powerful act. And best of all, the entire act is totally, 120% impromptu. All of the objects are borrowed right down to the pen that you write your prediction with. This can be done anywhere and at anytime, even naked on a beach. There are no stooges, switches, secret devises, peeks, center tears, or preparation (well, there is a teensy weensy bit of preparation, but it takes less than 5 seconds, and is done right under their noses). The audience can examine everything before, during, and after the act as absolutely everything is borrowed. No gaffs of any kind are used. They can even frisk the performer if they wish. They will find nothing as there is nothing to find. This act truly is the ultimate act to use in any impromptu situation. In fact, this used to be a feature in David's full evening show. It is that powerful. Now, however, it is reserved strictly for impromptu situations. Oh, and the methods are easy to learn and you will be performing this in no time.
Don't expect any completely new methods here, but the way they are put together makes this a very strong and powerful routine.
1st edition 2012; 2nd edition 2015, 13 pages.
word count: 3525 which is equivalent to 14 standard pages of text
