Reviews of products by Chris Wardle
Investigating the Mene-Tekel Deck: magic's forgotten trick deck
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Simon Beck (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Friday 11 March, 2022)
This is an extremely useful booklet. Every time I go back to it I marvel once again at the magic you can bring about with the deck that usually sits idle in the card drawer. It is clear, well-written, insightful and engaging. A very good buy.
Beyond Svengali: applying the svengali principle to mentalism
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Christian Fisanick (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Friday 10 June, 2016)
One of the best things about studying mentalism is how creative people make use of old-hat ideas. When I was a teenager, worshipping at the Marlo/Vernon/Erdanse altar, my magician friends and I used to scoff at stuff like the Svengali Deck. Kids' stuff, we said. Look at that goof on TV selling the stupidest magic deck around. That crap fools no one. Everyone knows the secret. It's only for Grandpa to try to entertain the kids at Thanksgiving. No talent needed here. Waste of money. Real magicians have skills--see, look at my blisters and carpal tunnel syndrome because I have spent five hours a day for the past two years working on the classic pass--and don't use gimmicked decks. Then a few years ago, when I started studying mentalism exclusively--leaving behind childish things like trying to perfect an invisible second deal--I went, hey, what's up with these mentalists? Did I just see Luke Jermay fool the living crap out of a roomful of experts using a Franklin Taylor peek deck from the 1940's? How could that be? I also hear that the Psychomatic Deck is used by some of the top mentalists in the business. What's up with that?
What I'm saying is that what was once passe (or perhaps is still passe) can be used to devastating effect. Witness the much-maligned Svengali principle. Read this book, and you'll be a convert to the religion of the old gods. This material is superb, simply superb. It's not TV-hucksterism-garbage-trick-deck stuff. Nor is it old fashioned. It's great mentalism, old techniques in modern, sophisticated routines. I think that it is scary good because of the unexpected uses of the principle. No one expects a world-class mentalist or someone with the crazy skills of Peter Nardi to be using the principle behind millions of decks sold to laypeople. Yet they do--and they kill with it. This ebook was such an enlightening read that I have developed my own variations on these themes. Another well-published, smart mentalist friend of mine agrees with me too. We both love, love, love the Svengali principle and are always trying to figure out new routines. This is a top purchase for your mentalism library (or lybrary).
Ten Mysteries
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Gerard Zitta (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Saturday 29 December, 2012)
This is exactly the kind of Mentalism I like. Fun to perform, simple, practical and direct. It is also the kind of booklets that "open doors" as the effects use simple and old principles you can apply to your own presentation and style. Even though some effects are described for stage or parlour, they can be modified for close up. Highly recommended!
Gerard