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Book Tests in Mentalism & Spiritism

A book test is one of the classic mentalism effects. A spectator chooses a book or magazine, selects a page and a word or sentence and the performer reads the spectator's mind. The first known magician who performed this effect in this form was the Austrian Johann Nepomuk Hofzinser around 1850. Many methods and variations have been created since.

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Mystic Alexandre
The Bookbearer by Mystic Alexandre

A presentation for any book test that uses the flashback method.

Have you heard of the Bookbearer? This is a storytelling, bizarre presentation to be used with any book with the "flashback" principle. If you own such a book, you could use this.

I see many performers using such books, some presentations are good, but most are not as they merely riffle the pages, tell the subject to stop them and remember the first word on the page, and then reveal it. Bah. Here you will tell the brief story of the Bookbearer, and in the end, either subtly suggest you're the actual Bookbearer. Or that you're...

$5
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Greg Arce & Federico Ludueña
Freestyle Book Test by Greg Arce & Federico Ludueña

The Freestyle Book Test is a powerful book test that you can make at home, with practically any book.

"This book test is unlike any other I have seen." - David Regal (review in Genii magazine)

"Wow, very, very impressive. I like the way so much information can be divulged, this info on the mnemonics certainly applies to many, many effects. I am guessing that even if someone does not use the book test, they will walk away with something from this. Good stuff." - Banachek

You display a book that you say you've had for a long time and have even written and doodled inside of it. Throughout the...

$25
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Unknown Mentalist
Epitome by Unknown Mentalist

Like a book test on a postcard.

Epitome is like a book test on a postcard. The theme here is "Greatest Books of All Time". The card supplied to you contains a list of some of the world's greatest books and other related content. The card supplied is about postcard size and can be comfortably carried in your pocket.

You can perform about 15 different effects using the card. And the effects use various combinations of different principles. You do not need any physical books to perform these effects. In fact, you do not need any other props except the card supplied. But this is not for rank...

$36
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gimmick & PDF

Ian Baxter
Knockout Book Test by Ian Baxter

No prizes for guessing who it was that did more to popularize mentalism than anyone else. Certainly, a steady stream of impressive performers and writers have kept the kettle boiling over the years, but it was Theo Annemann who, beginning in the first half of the twentieth century, set the pace with ingenious methods and presentations that still influence material today.

He wrote: "It is my theory that any effect to be successful must first be founded upon a simple method, and then be performed with a direct, to-the-point presentation." Hard to disagree with a compelling narrative such as this.

Australia's...

★★★★★ $8
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Graham Hey
The Big Story! by Graham Hey

A book test, a 3-card trick, and a 5-envelope impossible selection routine - all self-working.

A prediction envelope is placed on the table, along with the performer's favorite novel. The spectator is handed a magazine that has had the staples removed and is asked to select any one of the double pages she likes. It's a free choice. She is then asked to add all the page numbers together. Let's say the number totals 170. She turns to page 170 in the novel ... and the prediction reveals which city is mentioned, the make of car which is talked about, and the unusual word on line 4! In fact,...

$10
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PDF

Robert D. LaRue, Jr.
Unlocked Books by Robert D. LaRue, Jr.

Discover and process natural force books.

In his "Autome" book test video, Max Maven demos a book test and a forcing method. What he does not do is explain how to find and process books other than the one he demos. That's what this manuscript does. My process, including all the required worksheets, teaches how to use almost any 300+ page popular novel, in any language, as natural force books.

The Effect: The mentalist introduces three popular paperback books and hands them out to the audience. As the books are examined, the mentalist has members of the audience record several random numbers....

$25
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David Devlin
The Bookworm Deck by David Devlin

If you liked Bookworm: The Ultimate Impromptu Book Test Act, then you will love The Bookworm Deck. An entire "Word Test Act" combined into a single deck that you will always carry with you.

Not only can you now perform the "Bookworm Act" without having to borrow three books, you can perform the act in absolutely any venue, including walk-around, table hopping, and even stage situations. The entire act is kept in your pocket. The Bookworm Deck also makes the act much easier to perform.

Here is the act:

The performer borrows three business cards and a pen (obviously, he can use his own if the items cannot be borrowed). The performer...

★★★★★ $25
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Devin Knight
Newspaper Divination by Devin Knight

This is one of the most amazing things you will ever see. Looks like real mind-reading. A spectator is given a copy of a newspaper. It can be your local paper. The paper is not gimmicked in any way. The spectator chooses a paragraph from the front page. No force. He reads the first few words and spells each word to himself. The magician instantly reveals the words the person read. This is a little-known principle that Al Mann developed in 1979 that will fool magicians.

It's a show-stopper. Use any newspaper. No pre-show, done on the spot with any person. Can be done long-distance over zoom calls....

★★★★★ $12
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Ken Muller
Sanitized Telempathy by Ken Muller

This is a 'stand-alone' application as a variation of Thrifty Telempathy for use in a "no-touch" or social distancing environment, to include senior centers and venues with physical disabilities. It features several mechanical forces in place of Beta Framing including the "Manna Concept" that will be new to many performers.

(All author proceeds support the woodHenge Wildlife Sanctuary.)

1st edition 2021, PDF 18 pages.

$15
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PDF

Ken Muller
Steroid Telempathy by Ken Muller

This is a 'stand-alone' application using a standard book test in a two-phase presentation that can greatly enhance its impact and astonishment. The book test must be of a novel "can be passed out" variety book. This can easily segue into Thrifty or Basic Telempathy. ABAT experience is recommended but not essential.

(All author proceeds support the woodHenge Wildlife Sanctuary.)

1st edition 2021, PDF 19 pages.

$15
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Ken Muller
ABAT Telempathy by Ken Muller

Any book - any time

This is a 'stand-alone' application for a completely impromptu demonstration using any novel found at the site or provided by a spectator. This has less potential astonishment impact than Thrifty or Basic but gains in the completely "free choice" area. It features the "Teach Posture" and Beta Framing. This approach is an ideal back-up for the other applications and essential for the completely prepared mystic performer.

(All author proceeds support the woodHenge Wildlife Sanctuary.)

1st edition 2021, PDF 18 pages.

$15
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PDF

Ken Muller
Thrifty Telempathy by Ken Muller

This is a 'stand-alone' application for situations in which no printed novel is common or available. This unique approach gets around the "your book" taint of a standard book test and features the "Mental Test Posture" and Beta Framing. Maximum flexibility for a variety of venues and audiences. The recommended "best place to start" in the Series.

(All author proceeds support the woodHenge Wildlife Sanctuary.)

1st edition 2021, PDF 22 pages.

$15
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PDF

Ken Muller
Engage Telempathy by Ken Muller

This is a 'stand-alone' application featuring the basic application suitable for a home or business impromptu demonstration. It requires performing competence and experience with either Thrift or ABAT Telempathy and those ebooks for reference. This approach allows for the highest degree of audience engagement and impactful experience.

A Novel Thought ebook is also recommended.

(All author proceeds support the woodHenge Wildlife Sanctuary.)

1st edition 2021, PDF 64 pages.

$30
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PDF

Ken Muller
A Novel Thought by Ken Muller

Not for those who already have Telepathy Once Removed.

This is the "Concept, Theory and Method" companion for the stand-alone ebooks Thrifty, ABAT and Steroid Telempathy, designed for those competent in one or more of these applications who wants a "Graduate Course" in presentation methods.

(All author proceeds support the woodHenge Wildlife Sanctuary.)

1st edition 2021, PDF 91 pages.

$20
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PDF

Ken Muller
Telepathy Once Removed by Ken Muller

Telepathy above and beyond a book test. Innovative methods, sleights, and stratagems.

Once Removed offers a novel approach to demonstrating telepathy between two people. It allows a performer to receive multiple mental images from an audience volunteer, based on a freely selected book never read by either person before. Move beyond any book test to an astonishing telempathic experience.

This is the master guide for the Once Removed Series from which A Novel Thought, Engage, Thrifty, ABAT and Steroid Telempathy evolved.

This ebook includes all of these applications, plus the concepts and theory behind Beta Framing, Imbed, Tritech, Book...

$55
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PDF

George Ernest Arrowsmith
The Psychic Pencil by George Ernest Arrowsmith

A seemingly "impossible" book test.

George Arrowsmith wrote:

A worthwhile exercise for a Mentalist is to set himself a problem that seems unsolvable and to wrestle with it, and to go on wrestling until a possible (and practical) solution is found. "All things are possible to him who keeps on trying" …

Here, then, is such a problem that occurred to the author. A word had to be chosen from a book, one of several, and all of them had to be genuine and unfaked in any way. The word was to be freely selected from any line on any page of the book. This word had to be encircled by the pencil...

$9.50
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PDF

Stephen Ablett
Blockbuster Book Test by Stephen Ablett

Blockbuster Book Test is a movie theme book test that can be performed close-up, table hopping, in a children's show or on stage. There are several live performances followed by a full explanation of the variation principles used. There are three stages to my routine including a quick flashback revelation, a first letter type reveal, and a prediction ending.

The book can be purchased from most book shops including Amazon and can be fully examined. Furthermore, the movie title is in an extremely large font making it easy to read without glasses and from a distance. The movie revelation allows...

★★★★★ $10
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MP4 (video)

Edwin A. French
Premiere Book Test by Edwin A. French

Perhaps the simplest and most sure-fire of all book tests, using three unprepared books. Can be performed as a one-person or two-person test.

The original manuscript sold for the equivalent of $19 when first introduced and has been out of print for years. Now available once again at a very reasonable price as ebook. The author claimed that the bold method and presentation created more favorable talk than anything else he presented. You, too, can create a "buzz" of publicity when you perform it. If working as a two-person effect, there are no codes used. Can use any girl as the medium. A great...

★★★★★ $4
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PDF

Tommy Burnett
Advancing Mother by Tommy Burnett

Advancing Mother is a 'progressive' advancement in the revelation of the famous effect, Mother Of All Book Tests (MOABT) by Ted Karmilovich. If you already own a copy of MOABT then Advancing Mother is for you. If you don't, then hopefully this will inspire you to get one for yourself.

Tommy Burnett's thinking will take you down a short but winding road towards the goal of revealing a thought of word. By using Tommy's well thought out system you no longer need to secretly discover the first letter of the word. You can get an immediate hit without asking anything and in most cases get hit after...

$40
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PDF

Bob Hummer
Another Dozen Hummers by Bob Hummer

Here are 12 more unique, mind-blowing Bob Hummer stunts for magicians and mentalists. Includes four separate effects and manuscripts, edited into a single compilation.

From the brilliant mind of Bob Hummer comes this tasty second helping of mental and magic effects using cards, coins, a magazine and even an ungimmicked Bible. These offerings were originally sold in manuscript form and are now out of print. Now you can get them all in this updated and corrected compilation. Each of these miracles seems utterly impossible, yet they work every time.

CONTENTS

  • Foreword (B. W. McCarron) ...
★★★ $10
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Mihwonkuoy Refizul
The Book Without Words by Mihwonkuoy Refizul

The real secrets on how to become the greatest magician in the world. Dedicated to the discerning conjurors, the cheaters, the liars, and all other lost souls - whatever age, who want to impress, manipulate, and magish other people for profit, fun, or just entertainment.

Included is a very clever and creative book test, for all of you who require a strong effect to justify the purchase.

The truth is delivered as a satire, which makes it a fun read, but at the same time delivers a profoundly deep and true message.

  • About the Author
  • Part One
    • Introduction
    • The Basic Principles
    • The...
★★★★ $6.66
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PDF

Stanley Collins
Nonpareil Book Mystery: A Holiday in Morocco by Stanley Collins

This is a digital reproduction of a progressive anagram based book test. It includes a handwritten letter by Stanley Collins to a Will, the instructions, and the force book titled A Holiday in Morocco by S. Martin.

Effect: Spectator chooses three cards from a deck of cards. The first card determines the page, the second the line number, and the third the word. Spectator looks up the word in A Holiday in Morroco book. You are able to determine the chosen word letter by letter. Stanley Collins uses an alphabet deck to reveal each letter.

1st edition ~1920; PDF 21 pages.

$10
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PDF_facsimile

Devin Knight
Extraordinary by Devin Knight

A super baffling book test that can be done with books in any language.

The effect is that the mentalist shows a copy of a recent ungimmicked New York Times bestseller and hands this to any spectator (no stooge). Another person, (again, no stooge) decides on the page to be used. The first spectator secretly underlines with a pencil a word on the page, closes the book and retains it.

Without touching the book or asking a single question, the mentalist circles the identical word in an ungimmicked dictionary and hands it to a member of the audience for verification. The dictionary is handed...

$10
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PDF

Stanley Collins
Transcendental Book Test by Stanley Collins

Effect: The book of love poems may be given for examination, opened at any page by a spectator, and whatever the number of the page is selected, spectator counts the words of this number and remembers same. Performer then picks up a paper and pencil, and predicts the word selected. This can be repeated with a different word.

Note: You will receive the force book (Anthology of Love Poems by S. Wynne Burne) as PDF. The easiest way to use it is to load it onto a phone, tablet or eReader and present it that way in electronic form to the spectators. Alternatively you can print and bind it at a...

★★★★★ $10
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Burling Hull
The World's Best Psychic Book Tests by Burling Hull

Book tests comprise some of the most stunning effects in the mentalist's arsenal. Here, completely explained, are many of the cleverest, most transparent mental demonstrations ever assembled.

Selling for the equivalent of over $50 in today's buying power when it was first released, this manuscript contains some of the most jealously guarded secrets ever developed for apparently reading the minds of your spectators in a clear, convincing manner.

Not just bare bones descriptions, Hull provides complete patter and the thought behind the workings for several outstanding tests using books...

★★★★ $12
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Mark Elsdon
A Head Full of Books by Mark Elsdon

A Head Full of Books has actually replaced the Hoy book test as my go-to casual mind-reading effect.

Whilst visiting someone's home (or in a bar or coffee shop that has books on the shelves) you ask someone to select any book from their library or off the shelf. He opens the book to any page and reads the first few lines to himself while you look away.

Without touching the book you immediately reveal what he just read! It's that clean.

  • Zero memory work.
  • Use almost any book, in any language.
  • Nothing is written down by the participant or the performer.
  • No sleights, finger breaks or other...
★★★★ $17
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Larry Brodahl
Scripted #13: The Dictionary Trick by Larry Brodahl

An easy-to-make and easy to perform version of a book reading test. You can not only tell them the word they're thinking of, but you can even tell them how many characters are in the word - and it's all easy. No forcing.

One of the more difficult tasks facing magicians is coming up with scripts - of any sort. And explaining why someone is picking a word from a dictionary so that you can read their mind is - at best - difficult.

Well, the author of How To Write A Script used his methodology to write a script that successfully explains - and conceals the secret - to perform the dictionary test. He even explains...

$10
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Ulysses Frederick Grant
Snip-Snip Want Ad Test by Ulysses Frederick Grant

The Snip-Snip Want Ad Test is the a sensational, simplified, baffling and easy to present effect. No switching, palming, sleight of hand or advance preparation is needed. Guard the secret well. I have seen professional mentalists pay $100 and more for secrets far inferior to this. Your audience will not believe it. Neither would you if you were not in on the secret.

Effect: A single column of want ads cut from any newspaper is freely shown. It is not gimmicked or prepared in any way. Holding the strip vertically, you start to snip ads from the bottom of the strip, one at a time, until a spectator...

★★★★ $3
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Gerard Zitta
Newspaper Test by Gerard Zitta

An improvised book-test with a borrowed newspaper.

There are dozens of newspaper tests or predictions, but this one is different, improvised, and will be remembered as hands-off.

  • There are no newspaper tears or cuts, no center tear, no peek, no counting, no secret writing, no sleights, no weird procedure, no complex maths or logic or convoluted stuff, etc.
  • All you need is a normal borrowed newspaper. No gimmicks, no other props, cards, swami, pens, etc. Nothing else, except ...you... and the secret.
You can really focus on your patter and presentation skills. It is NOT a prediction,...
$15
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PDF

Devin Knight
The Ultimate Page Force by Devin Knight

How a page is forced during a book test is the most important part of the test. Unfortunately, most page forces are sadly lacking. Most appear contrived. Dice are rolled to determine page numbers, playing cards are used or math is used to determine a random number. This not what a real mind reader would do.

Other methods involve mis-calling numbers. If the audience realizes that the mentalist knows the page number, then the effect has dropped a few levels. Many people have read in books about secret cue lists and realize if the mentalist knows the page number, then he may have memorized the...

★★★★★ $5
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Devin Knight & Al Mann
Improved Lexicon Phenomena by Devin Knight & Al Mann

Important: These are not directions for making this yourself. These are the directions that came with this trick that sold for $150. 00. This PDF is designed for collectors who may have the props, but no directions, magic historians, and those simply curious as to how this trick was done. Well worth the small price just to see how this incredible trick was accomplished. Considered by reviewers to be the best trick Devin Knight ever released.

Two participants secretly choose words from a "real vocabulary book" containing hundreds of words. There are no duplicate words in the book's word list....

$6
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Val Andrews
Amazing Unfaked Book Test by Val Andrews

"A brilliant and versatile principle that has stood the test of time." Ian Rowland

This is an unbelievable book test. Just imagine taking a modern book; perhaps a best seller in the bookshops right now. The book is genuine and is completely unfaked in any way. You can even ask a member of the audience or perhaps someone on a radio show that you will be talking to, to bring along a copy of the Da Vinci Code or whatever you choose to use. Or you could do this impromptu with any book as long as you have a couple of minutes private time with the book.

You have the book examined and you...

$15
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softcover

Terri Rogers
The Master Key: book test by Terri Rogers

This is probably the finest book test using special books that has ever been released.

This is a remarkable set of three books which allow you to do four different book tests:

And if that is not enough The Master Key is so cleverly constructed that you can immediately repeat it for the same audience. It took Terri Rogers several years to create this book test.

The Master Key book test runs like this: A spectator has a completely free choice of any of the three different books. Then they can also...

$150
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Eddie Joseph
Hitting the Headlines by Eddie Joseph

You will involve five spectators with various tasks. Two persons are first called up. We shall refer to them as 'A' and 'B'. A pack of cards is dropped between them. 'A' is asked to cut the pack and 'B' is told to take half for himself by actual count. 'A' retains the other half.

From this point the mentalist turns his back on the spectators and does NOT face them again until AFTER everything is over.

The two persons are told to deal together from their respective portions of the pack. A THIRD person is asked to act as umpire and to stop the dealing at any point. As an added precaution...

$4
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Ulrich von Etzenbach
Canastos by Ulrich von Etzenbach

Canastos is one of these few book test predictions, which you can perform anytime, anywhere and with anyone. Once you have learned Canastos, you can perform an impromptu miracle wherever you go.

The performer invites a spectator to take part in his experiment. The performer hands a spectator an envelope and asks them to make sure it is never touched by the performer again. The spectator is also given a book to inspect and to make sure that every page is different with nothing else written down except the text itself.

The performer takes the book back and riffles through the pages until...

★★★★★ $15
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