A unique and popular subject like the Book Test is analyzed here in 20 routines by such great contributors as: Ian Adair, Howard Adams, Len Belcher, Tan Hock Chuan, Rachel Colombini, Tom Craven, Maurice Fogel, Karrell Fox, Karl Fulves, Richard Himber, Arthur Setterington, Walter Sleight and Nick Trost.
In the standard effect (sometimes done as a prediction) a spectator opens a book to a page and concentrates on a word (or three words or a full line). The mentalist, standing some distance away, is able to reveal the word the spectator is thinking of. Of course, as per many classics, variations abound and Rachel has tried to keep this variety of methods. In this ebook you will also find a couple of very strong 'magazine' tests that give a touch of modern applications to the standard way of performing a book test.
1st edition 2010; 30 pages.
word count: 10409 which is equivalent to 41 standard pages of text
Reviewed by Christian Fisanick (confirmed purchase)
★★★★★ Date Added: Thursday 14 January, 2016I'm always torn about book tests. While I often admire a clever principle behind a test, book tests to me come off as kind of impersonal mentalism. Here's this book. We get this page. I give you the word. That said, there are hundreds of different tests, mostly falling into three categories: those that use a gimmicked book or books, a mathematical force, or just outright bold and brazen deception. (David Hoy's book test and Marc Paul's Triple A book test immediately come to mind and make me chuckle. It's amazing what you can get away with using a good performance. For some performers and performances, either one of those is good enough. They take skill but cost nothing in terms of gimmicks, cribs, and mental challenge.) Anyway, this is a great collection of 20 different book tests using different techniques. You won't use all or most of them. Personally, I'm not a fan of longwinded calculations that get you to a page and word because they always come off as what they really are, that is, using a forcing formula, but you'll definitely find something to like here. (I think that the test using the loaded die is quite clever and something that I'd never thought about before.) And for $10--50 cents per test--the book is a bargain.