The Perfect Impromptu Book Test

The Perfect Impromptu Book Test Effect: The mentalist asks for a paperback book at his guest’s home. After bringing one, he states that two skills a mentalist must work towards achieving are the ability to predict the future and the ability to read minds. He will try to do both using the book. To begin with, the mentalist riffles the pages of the book towards the first spectator and asks them to answer stop. When they do so, the mentalist asks them to remember the first word on the page. He then riffles the book towards spectator two and asks them to call stop. When they do, he asks them to memorize the page number of that page. The mentalist explains that he will begin by trying to guess the word the first spectator chose. Upon heavy concentration, the mentalist reveals the word and the spectator affirms that it is the correct word. Next, he will attempt to predict the future. He mentions that each page has many lines from the top, and asks the second spectator to name a number from 1-5 which will be the number of lines down he will go. Let’s say they say 3. The mentalist then asks them to name a word number on that line from 1-5. Let’s say they say 2. The mentalist now takes a sheet of paper and jots down a word that he predicts will be on their thought of page number, 3 lines down, 2 words in. Upon turning to this page, the spectator finds that it matches the prediction. 


Method: After having spectator one memorize their word on the top of their page, the mentalist keeps a pinky break at the side of the book. He then goes to the second spectator, riffles to the page and gestures towards the page number in the center of that page and states, “Now if you notice the page numbers are at the center of the page.” This is where he gets the peek of the first word thought of. He now has the second spectator stop and memorize a page number. He maintains this in a pinky break while guessing the first word he had peeked. He then goes back to riffling through the book and asks the second spectator to name a number line from 1-5. After they name it, the mentalist simply nonchalantly turns to the broken-in page and memorizes that line number. After the spectator names a word number, the mentalist can write down whichever it is.