Reviews of products by Luke Jermay
2 ★★★★★ reviews
2 ★★★★★ reviews
Telling Tales
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Peter Nordstrand (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Sunday 09 February, 2020)
The second effect will not work, for one simple reason: Google search results are individualized, not universal. So even if you and I search for the same exact words, the search results are likely to be different.
I do find the document inspiring, but be advised that you’ll only be able to perform the first of the two effects.
Ahead
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Christian Fisanick (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Sunday 10 December, 2017)
Three masters of mentalism each give you a routine using a classic mentalism technique. For me J. Prager's routine of divining the first number of a spectator's credit card and the first number of its PIN is the best, most useful one in the book. I was familiar with the thinking behind this (It's in one of Thompson's Naked Mentalism books), but had never thought to routine it this way. Once you read how it's down, you'll be able to do it immediately with two pieces of paper, a pen, and a spectator with a credit card. It's excellent.
Peter Turner uses the same technique in a prediction effect, where you give someone an envelope a week ahead of time and tell them to bring it along with them later for the demonstration. This one shows Turner's clever thinking, but even he admits, it's really for promotional value or auditioning for a job since it is a one-on-one routine.
Lastly, Luke Jermay gives you his oldest close-up routine, again using the same ancient technique. Little wonder, he's been using it so long: It's just a variation on Cassidy's Name and Place routine, spiffed up a bit. You might find Jermay's subtleties to your liking--or you may not. In any event, there's nothing new here.
In summary, this will probably be worth your while if you use Prager's routine and at least one other. I'm going to add Prager's routine immediately to my wallet repertoire. I already do Name and Place and would like to do Turner's prediction routine if I ever find a situation for it. So for me, it was a good, but not earthshaking, purchase.
Three Cheers for the Underrated
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Christian Fisanick (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Friday 10 March, 2017)
Three routines for $95! I understand Jermay's thinking about price: If it's high, then it will keep curious amateurs away. I like all three routines. Are they worth $95 together? Probably not. But I didn't feel burned or buyer's remorse from my purchase.
Taking a look at the routines, the first one, Three Questions, is my favorite because it puts three insanely clever propless mentalism gambits together so that you can name somebody's Zodiac sign in three questions, without using a progressive anagram. Actually, it's better than that. The three questions are basically just phony cover. As an added bonus to this effect, Jermay gives you a cool principle to apply to a progressive anagram for phobias. (OK, so it's an unadvertised four routines for $95.)
Next up is the Ultimate Add-a-Number. I love the classic Add-a-Number effects because they play big to crowds, and you can do them either with gimmicks or with basically nothing. (In other words, you can use a leather-bound Basil Horowitz locking pad, a gimmicked calculator, Dan Harlan's small pad of PostIt Notes, or Banachek's two 3x5 cards glued together. It's up to you.) Jermay leaves it to you to choose your favorite way of doing the add-a-number method itself, but he adds a DR element and an obscure Ed Hess principle (which reminds me of, which I'd never seen before. This one is very cool. Batting average so far: two for two.
Finally, there is Strength, a light-heavy effect, using playing cards and a card box. It, too, is good and a worker, but of the three, probably the one routine that would ordinarily be a $9.95 download at Penguin magic.
If you are a pro, you will definitely add one or more of these routines to your show if you spend the money. If you are an amateur, ask Santa to put the ebook in your stocking for Christmas.
The Amazing Memory Test
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Christian Fisanick (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Monday 19 September, 2016)
This is Luke Jermay's take on Corinda's Step 3 Amazing Memory Test. While anything Luke Jermay says is worth reading, I'm not sure this is worth $25. First, Jermay has some ideas on adapting Corinda's objects to make them more personal and vivid. This is the kind of memory stuff that you can find elsewhere and was not of much use to me since long ago I'd committed Corinda's system to memory without change. Jermay's discussion of how to do a memory routine was useful, however, as was his idea to link it with a backward alphabet recitation. (Though I disagree with him on how to do that parlor trick. Get Devin Knight's fantastic, inexpensive book with great mnemonics from Lybrary, and you'll be able to recite the alphabet backward in under an hour of study. No kidding.)
I liked the material here, especially for someone who hasn't studied the Corinda step. (But why haven't you?) But it's just not worth the price.
The Extended Tossed Out Deck
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Chris Stolz (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Friday 16 April, 2010)
I printed out the PDF last night and read this on the Toronto subway while trying not to have a giant grin on my face for the entire ride. What a well structured routine! A lot of thought and research has clearly gone into this and it has certainly paid off. As each phase progresses it cleverly cancels out method possibilities from the previous phase. This means that by the time you finish the routine with the tossed out deck, you've eleminated any conceivable methods from the minds of your audience. THAT is what I call intellegent magic thinking.
Thank you to Luke and Chris at Lybrary for putting this out. I'll definitely be using this....OFTEN!
Three Cheers for the Underrated
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Grandpa Chet
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Saturday 23 August, 2008)
It doesn't quite come together as a BOOK, per se. As a volume which collects, explains, and tutors three effects, it's quite effective. The three effects might even blend together well enough to make a full show, but you'll surely want to personalize them.
The first effect, "Three Questions," is simple to personalize. Luke's detailed presentation example proves that presentation is everything - it's extremely personal, entirely Luke, and really sneaky in gathering the information. Work hard to adapt this to yourself and you'll have an eerie show-stopping effect that creeps up on your guests and will have them thinking about it throughout the rest of the night. It doesn't just "reveal zodiac signs," it reveals something of the personality of the person - and it can become intimately spooky. Again, work on your personal presentation. It's worth the effort.
"Phobias Anagram" is another spooky effect, where you'll tell entire groups their specific phobias. It's extremely powerful in practice. More importantly, it's an example, and is used to teach you, of something Luke calls "the Invisible Selection Range." Let's just say that it's Luke's way of turning the anagram branching on its head. A key sentence in his article is "An invisible restriction would be a selection from a field that seems completely open but in fact is not." For those who have ears...
By the way, all the above is included as one of the "three cheers." In short, you are getting two effects and a theory/principle for the price of one effect. Not bad!
The next effect is "the Ultimate Add a Number." I normally dislike titling anything as "Ultimate," since that indicates there will never, ever, ever be anything to add to or improve the item. This piece may have something to its title though. The numbers involved actually MEAN something. Any good mentalist will tell you that when you bring in things which have personal meanings, the audience's emotional involvement goes way, way up. The methods (yes, methodS) are deviously clever, and the whole thing doesn't even seem to whisper a hint of "magic trick."
And then there's "Strength." For those who think that this book is overpriced, I challenge them to use "Strength" as close-up or walkaround and NOT be able to use it to get repeated bookings. Imagine Jean Robert-Houdin's "Light and Heavy Chest" - but with a deck of cards. Some clients can lift the deck; others cannot. Some can take the cards out of the box; others cannot. You should have no trouble convincing them that this has nothing to do with the box, and everything to do with your ability to influence them. In short, you can become a veritable Svengali or Rasputin.
This is not a book for the casual reader. If someone studies this and uses these effects for actual work, the book is well priced and a good value.