If you are a REAL Mindreader? Why using a book?
Classic beginner question, right?
Let me ask you something back...
Why not?
Books are AWESOME!
Books are a source of knowledge, inspiration, clear images, random words and ideas, beautiful stories, they can bring back memories...
Props are NOTHING if you dont understand that you are the one that offer your tools as powerful and beautiful needed elements in performance.
Notice this word...beautiful.
Everything that is done on stage must be natural, motivated and most important, beautiful.
If you cant make a book beautiful, make it invisible.
If you use for example a dictionary to let a participant think in a random word, "without any type of psychological influence" (natural and explicit motivation to use the dictionary) just use it for a few moments, dont bring focus into the physical object, and as soon as you finish your needed procedure, just pocket it or place it back into your case. Sometimes I even throw the book.
And then, the fun happens, the process of realistic Mindreading start to emerge.
The method in here? It doesnt matter, but at the same time, it is important in your Inner Reality, for that reason, you need good book test in your toolkit (and we offer some excellent ones at Arkanosophy) http://arkanosophybooktest.blogspot.com/
We just release a new one called "365 Quotes", which allows you to ask anyone to name any date and then predict it!
This book test is all about the narrative of "wellness", "improvement", "inspiration" , and any other associated concept that you want to add.
This is the case in which your prop doesnt need to be invisible. You can show the inherent beauty of it!
And at the same time, treat it as incidental and non-important.
If you think about it, the "book test" concept is not a good one in our context. Maybe in the past this conceptual approach was fine, because the test was about the book, but in Modern Mentalism, we need to understand that the most important aspect of our performance is people, and our tools are just ways in which we can create a true Mentalism experience for our audiences.
The use of the book is not the end goal, but a path.
Towards what?
Mystery and everything else that you feel coherent.
So, learn about book test, learn impromptu methods and get good printed book test. In this manner, you will have new options to let others enjoy the powerful mysteries.
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