Crazy-heziʼs “no Book” Book Test

Crazy-Heziʼs “No Book” Book Test - WonderWizards.com

Crazy-Heziʼs “No Book” Book Test “One of the earliest ways to test the capabilities of a mind reader was what investigators called ʻBook Testsʼ. In fact, such tests are still used by scientists today.” “ln the old days the investigators would randomly choose a book, any book. (Turning to the owner of the home you are in or of the book brought to the show) This book is one of yours isnʼt it? Fine. Then this is a very random book as I had no way, outside of mind reading, to know what books you had or which you would choose.” As per the old standard riffle peek book test, you (almost) have the participant choose a certain page by calling out stop as you riffle through the pages, but in this case you do the stopping yourself. “They would riffle through the pages (start riffling)...and randomly stop (stop on a page) ...asking another experimenter to look at the first word there and remember it.” Point with your finger to the upper right corner and at the same time secretly peek the page number of the opposite page as you say this. Remember the page number Immediately allow the other pages to riffle off and close the book once you know the spectator has seen the word. “Once an entirely random word was chosen the mind reader being tested would try to use such abilities to get inside the participantʼs mind and find out exactly what the word was in the mind of the Tester.” “A very reliable and popular way to read a mind is by holding the Testerʼs wrist in one hand (with or without holding the wrist for real) and the book in the other hand. Then the mind reader would riffle through the book and try to sense reactions by the pulse or thoughts, hoping to locate the chosen page and word.” As you riffle and speak, secretly riffle to the peeked page and note the word at the top of the opposite page. This of course is the word the spectator has in mind. Once you know the word, keep riffling the book pages for a while as you continue to speak. Obviously this riffling to the peeked at page and glancing at the opposing word should remain unknown to the audience. Keep it natural. Itʼs very easy to do as a few tries will prove. “But lʼm going to do it a bit differently. lʼm actually not going to use the book at all (toss the book aside). Jake, you have a word in your mind donʼt you? Great. Letʼs use just the word you have in your mind.” It is an easy matter for you to reveal the word you looked at now, but please donʼt make it look easy. Once your secret work is finished, the real work begins. This is the time to truly entertain, play it to the hilt, and build it up as a real mind reading test. The focus of the performance should be at this point, once your secret work is over.

Crazy-Heziʼs “No Book” Book Test - WonderWizards.com

  Whatʼs so important about the way I manage this impromptu book test? Letʼs examine the psychology at work behind the simple book peek as I perform it.

!e Psychology If we have the audience attention on the book most of the time, the audience will consider the book as the possible method. If the book is minimized then the focus is all on the mind reading, not on the book. Kenton has had many ways of doing this, and my version shares some aspects of this work naturally. There is attention to the book at the start, yet even this attention is minimized. By talking about supposed historical events, the book riffling and stopping seems to be nothing more than a visual example; a pictorial commentary, if you will. As the spectator does not stop on a page, the performer does, even less attention is given to the page and this choice. This procedure gets around the issue Kenton brings up in Mind Reading and the MR Lessons on Knowing. You donʼt need to have someone call out and tell you when to stop in this case, as you do the stopping as an example of the old test. You could ask someone to call out stop “Like a scientist would” if you feel you need to have someone stop you on a page. If you do this however keep in mind that you bring the book and the page selection back into the forefront of attention. We want to diminish the importance of the book and the page choice so the book isnʼt the main focus. The book being tossed aside is something Kenton always does too. It is a visual way of suggesting the book doesnʼt matter. As Kenton says, you must do this casually and yet with care when using someone elseʼs book. For all you know that old book you are going to toss around is a rare paperback or first edition collectorʼs item. Make the tossing of the book appear to be very casual and careless, but never be careless with anyone elseʼs books! It may be not only rude, but costly. After the book is literally tossed away and out of mind, the attention of the audience is directed to the person who has a word “in mind”. First we say, “You have a word in mind, donʼt you?” and once the person admits they still do we say, “Letʼs use the word you have in your mind.” This is one of those sneaky Wonder Words tricks by Kenton. It is very subtle. First we ask if the person has a word in mind. Then we change this slightly to say the person has a word in their mind. This is another way of making the book leave the attention of the audience and shift the focus to a word being only thought about in the mind of a person. Youʼll need to think about this closely to grasp it. Please note the emphasized italicized words are for sake of clarity, not something to be emphasized when spoken aloud.

Crazy-Heziʼs “No Book” Book Test - WonderWizards.com

Finally, there is the sneaky suggestion from beginning to end that, “They used to do mind reading this way...but look how I do mind reading differently.” This seems true although you go about doing a standard book page peek. You see then how psychology and the wording make all the difference between what is common and what is remembered as outstandingly uncommon and memorable mind reading. For an entirely impromptu book test, this has true impact and yet it is easy to do too. I use this as my book test in performances, and not strictly as an impromptu only effect. As for actual word revelation, itʼs your artistic choice. l often use a hypnosis patter as part of the revelation. l have a lovely script as well for this segment, which will eventually be found in the Mind Reading Lessons by Kenton Knepper and The S.E.C.R.E.T. School - for those of you who do hypnosis. If you can hold a pinky break ala the Dai Vernon style magazine book test, or any other break that you know, you could force a specific page using my presentation. However this boldness will work only if you spend a great deal of time during the revelation, distance the revelation even more from the stopping on the page, and not make the revelation so incredible that the only solution could logically be that you caused a person to pick the page you wanted in the first place. You do not need to memorize all the wording or the psychology, but you should apply the basic concepts in your own way. The S.E.C.R.E.T. Schoolʼs approach to Mind Reading is not really about book tests, psychic readings, or anything else common in mentalism, yet their work can be applied to any basic, typical effect or method to achieve more realistic results. They teach even simpler examples as well as more profound principles in the Mind Reading Lessons but we all hope that you will enjoy my thoughts in this area as they relate to Kenton and the Schoolʼs work. Crazy-Hezi

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