Your Five-foot Shelf of Books

As done by Theo Annemann, if forced to limit yourself to a single bookshelf, what would you have? And to invoke some real thought, let us remove the often-named classics such as Tarbell's Course, 13 Steps to Mentalism, etc.. Be creative, get obscure, really narrow it down.

Better yet, why those books?

This is a good question.
I think the answer would be different at different times in an individuals development.
Starting out, I would want Tarbell and Corinda. Now there would be few magic 'trick' books and more books to inspire thinking and ideas. I would certainly want a book on Alchemical symbolism - just so I can pour over the images. I would want some books on psychology - bit of Jung, a good tomb on NLP just so I can have a really good look through and sort out how much is of use, how much is junk. I would want my fav Robert Anton Wilson. I good book of quantum mechanics, so that I could actually know something about it - rather than pretending to! If I had one magic book, it would probably be something on traditional conjuring - like Tarbel (I would sneak it in under my coat) - just so I could be learning something new. A book of Yeats poetry and Wuthering Heights should finish it off.

or...................

you could just take War and Peace and the Encyclopaedia Britannica, mash them down into papier mache and fashion a boat out of it.
Sail off shouting; 'Farewell suckers' to all the mentalists left on the island trying to download the latest pdf!

Hello, I'm Sam, I'm new here so nice to meet you all. Anyhow..
Is this restricted to mentalism and magic or is this in general?
I'll give mine for magic/ mentalism anyhow:
Pure effect, Absolute magic, Magic and Showmanship, Expert card Technique, Expert at the card table, RRTCM, Bobo, Anneman, Corinda, Tommy Wonder- the books of wonder, Patterns of the Hypnotic techniques of Milton H Erickson, Trance formations, An actor prepares (stanislavski), building a character (stanislavski), the empty space (Peter Brook), Brecht on theatre, the essential Jung, Plato's republic, Harry Lorayne's memory book (I've forgotton the title), Psychophisiological thought reading, Full facts of cold reading, What the face reveals (Paul Ekman), Telling lies (Paul Ekman), peoplewatching (Desmond Morris), Snoop (Sam Gosling), paramiracles, stunners plus, Berglas book (I wish!!), Docc Hilford's E voque, Chan Canasta remarkable man....
I think I would cry if I could only have one book shelf. I'd still want to try and squeese in everything ever by Tamariz, Eugene Burger, Dai Vernon e.t.c.
If this is general then it is much more complex. I'd have to find place for Chomsky, Sherlock Holmes... I think I have bibliophilitus.

Oh.. I forgot my reasons. My views on magic are that we are actors. We are entertainers too- in fact a more general term for it would be performing. It is therefore our duty to study acting, theatre and entertainment as well as remaining artistic with what we are doing- which if anyone knows anything about theatre, it IS art anyway. You'll have to read brecht on this one. So, I believe that mentalists and magicians do not always fullfill that duty, very few have studied acting and theatre but they still are proffesional 'actors and theatrists' supposedly. Also, if we are playing a character, that character must be real- even though he/she is a pretense, it has to be experienced by you. Once again, read Stanislavski on that one- but do not misinterpret that- you equally have to remain at ALL times audience aurientated and concious of how it is being percieved, which cannot be done by restricing oneself to centralising performance around ones own internal, and thus neglecting the external. Peter Brook puts it like a pianist must feel his music, whilst listening to it as an audience member: as a musician, much easier said than done, I can verify. Now, if we backtrack- it must be real. Look at the best actors- they know their roles. Actors who plat historic characters do phenomenal research into their characters: you need look no further than the Lead actor from 'the last king of scotland' where on youtube there is an interview and he explains his process for studying Idi Amin, it is spectacular and a lesson to us all. We need to know our characters inside out- this means doing our homework. If we are supposedly psychic, then it's our duty to learn about astrology or whatever is appropriate to our claims (I do not claim psychic powers so I don't know about that). If we are claiming psychological prowess, it is our duty to research psychology and the areas that we claim to be utilising. Once again, this obligation, is something I don't think many performers fullfill. At the same time, I also think that the character should not be entirley fictious. The character could be a satire, an allegory, a magnifying glass to the world or a group of people, or a mirror to yourself. It is often said it should be all the best bits of you, extenuated, and I cannot disagree. For example, I am a slighly eccentric genius. My character, that is xD I am not that egocentric. Anyway, I hope that my reading list reflects this to some extent and that is why I have chosen those books. The other mentalism books are there because they have superb ideas within. With just several books and some thought, it is not difficult to become a spectacular performer.
Btw, Anneman limited himself to only one bookshelf? Fascinating. I have never been a fan of conservatism, but this is interesting nonetheless.

Good to see you here Sam.


I think your island will sink!

Names not mentioned yet...

Punx
Borodin
Braco
Jeff Busby
Bandler
William Larson

And also have a look up at the list Cassidy came up with, his "39 Steps to mentalism"

Bandler? -Patterns of the hypnotic techniques of milton h erickson. I would have gone for more, but I was limited. I think that earlier stuff is really the only nlp stuff worth reading. Dilts and Delosier (Not sure of that spelling) are also perhaps worthwhile. The rest has dissolved into this fluff, out of what could have been very interesting and acedemic. Such a shame.

Oh, these books are for an Island? Well, I certainly wouldnt risk sinking it. I'd just bring the SAS survival guide, obviously xD

Non of you know here that I met Sam in the Celler of 'The Shop', where he suffered me performing Cuss Cards with a GIANT slice of ham - when I got back and saw the video, I was rolling on the floor in pain at my 'Hammer Horror' overacting.
So I am doubly embarrassed to here these wise words from Sam.

It is so true that performers in our field never consider the art of acting. Just looking at the average performance or some of the dreadful stuff that appears on instructional dvd's..... well....... gives me hope!

the only magi that I have seen that I actually enjoy looking at (in terms of performance) are Burger and Maven.

I think that this is a very important topic Sam - do you mind if I cut and paste this into it's own area - this is certainly a topic we should discuss and evolve.

I know that you study Drama, and Alexandre (on here) is a professional actor - so you guys can lead the way.......

(on a side note - it would be great to get a bit of feedback from the woman (cannot remember her name) who I performed to that Friday - are you in touch?)

Yeah sure, I'll tell you her name on facebook. Btw, sorry about that- I do tend to digress into talking about the philosophy of magic from even the most obscure threads so please ignore me if I won't shut up. After a few more essays, the gist of my philosophies wil be written down already and I can shut up a bit more xD

I am doing the opposite of complaining here - I think you have bought up a very important topic that deserves to be fully explored.

Christopher J Gould wrote:

I am doing the opposite of complaining here - I think you have bought up a very important topic that deserves to be fully explored.

Well thank you Although I wasn't saying you were complaining, I just know I am... what's the word... Loquacious

Tommy Wonder's Books of Wonder.

My list would be pretty short due to my library being relatively small. However, with that in mind, I'd go for specialized books and a few general ones:

A Boon for All Seasons by Barrie Richardson - For all my nailwriter needs.
202 Methods of Forcing by Theo Annemann
Psychological Subtleties by Banachek - Together with 202 Methods, these two should cover all forces needed.
Switchcraft by Elliott Bresler - For billetwork. The amount of material covered is immense.
Peek Performances by Richard Busch - More billetwork. The thoughts behind each is worth the price of admission.
Full Facts of Cold Reading by Ian Rowlands - For Cold reading.
Umasking the Face and Telling Lies by Paul Ekman - For more cold reading techniques.
Prism by Max Maven - For routinizing.
Paramiracles by Ted Lesley - For an arsenal of effects.

Tentatively - STOP SMOKING MENTALISM and BULLETPROOF. I'm stilling wating on these but I love the thought process behind Andy Nyman's work and can't wait for BULLETPROOF to come out. As for STOP SMOKING MENTALISM, I haven't gotten it yet but if half the things about it are true, then it'd be a great resource for scripting and designing a show.

How could I have missed Psychological subtleties, 202 methods and prism. What about Theatre of the mind, Proffesional presentations... see, there is no way I would be able to choose one bookshelf!
If I am totally honest, I didn't enjoy Peek Performances a huge amount. I suppose it was because its very expensive and I didn't think it was fully worth that, although there are a lot of useful things within it.

I read a lot and enjoy reading the classics and the new books on Mentalism, Magic and the Circus but I think if I am honest I would
choose a shelf full of jotters and some pens as I think that the old cliché nessicity is the mother of all invention is correct and whilst books can spring board Ideas I feel a need to create and my own effect into the world.

Sorry for going off topic.

Dean

My Books would have to be

Mind myth and magic
Seance
Spirit Theatre
Switchcraft
Marc Paul - Telling Lies and Fleetwood notes ( I think he has some god ideas for just using Blank cards)
Some Bob Cassidy books

Good call on switchcraft sir but it would use up a ream of paper to print it out.

I think I may pop along to Marks site and pick up the fleetwood notes soon.

Dean

Hello,

Had I posted in a thread such as this 12mths ago, my selection would have been very different.

Monsters and Magical Sticks - a wonderful work that teaches about that fictional phenomena that is hypnosis and reads differently every time I pick it up. Full of verbal wizardry that I can never remember, but live in hope.

Michael Diamond's Book of Shadows - I bought this yesterday and haven't had my head out of it since. It's a real gem, containing a number of bizarre and dark effects, complete with script, method, thoughts and best of all, actual plans to make the props yourself. Most of these are extremely cheap and easy and I'm going to get a lot from it.

Freddie's Tarot book - Another new purchase, but already proving its worth in the short time I've spent with it. 78 Degrees of Wisdom and the other common books which teach the art of Tarot reading are ok, but need a lot of time and effort to get much out of them. None have managed to draw me in as yet because they are often so full of pointless filler text. Not so with this one.

Ericksonian Approaches - A huge, expensive tome all about clinical hypnosis. There is a link here, honest. This book is full of info, some of it very dry, relating to Milton Erickson's method of using hypnosis. His language skills were astonishing and hard to replicate. Even in an entertainment setting, there is much worth in studying Ericksonian hypnosis. There are probably better books out there, but this is the best one I own at the moment.

Super Power Memory by Harry Lorayne - A very simple system to improve recall. One I've procrastinated over for a long time.

Banachek's Psychophysiological Thought Reading - Full of great material for use in various settings, but of most interest to me at the moment are pendulums.

Mr Bresler's Switchcraft - I'm sure this speaks for itself. A seminal work on billets and an essential purchase.

Six books chock full of ideas for stories and background material for bizarre and dark routines -
1. A History of Torture by George Riley Scott.
2. The complete Book of Vampires by Leonard R. N. Ashley.
3. The Vampire by Montague Summers.
4. Bedlam by Catharine Arnold.
5. The Night Side of Nature by Catherine Crowe.
6. The Inquisition by Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh.

There are more I could have added, but there's plenty for me to go at with those above.

Wishmaster.

Monsters and Magical Sticks is a magical work, it is surprising just how many folk here know of it!
Erickson had the best act I have seen (what little footage there is, is essential viewing).
Freddie's book is a peach (review coming up!)
-must check out Michael 'Diamond's Book of Shadows'

Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass.

I am ashamed to say that I have Monsters and Magical Sticks but have never read it.

I will go straight to my bookcase and rectify this this.

Dean

Thanks for the kind words regarding my Tarot book, Christopher and Wishmaster. I really intended it to be something that was practical and usable and I am pleased that people find that to be the case.

A book which I recommend to all UK based members here is one called Lore of The Land, which you can find on Amazon.
It's full of bizarre myths, legends and stories releating to places in England and covers them county by county.
I found some interesting local facts regarding a haunted building I was already familiar with. What I discovered in this book was fresh information I was not previously aware of!

As source material for ghost/seance nights, this book is very useful and an intriguing read!

Well, since the recent sad passing of Tony C - I decided to dust down my 13 steps.
The first page I opened had the Derran Brown Chess routine. The next page I randomly opened had a fantastic idea (via Claas's friend Punx) on a magnetic blindfold. The next page had..... Well, need I continue? I just realised what we already know - this book is an absolute gem - still - after all these years. It occured to me that (like many of us) I spend far too much money each month on crap that will never see the light of performance (even to my gran!). At the same time, the average performer could be easily sustained for a whole life time on this classic. I am so glad I re-acquainted myself.

Desert island? One book?
(in the words of the Pixies)
Tony! Tony! Tony! Tony! Tony! Tony! Tony! Tony! Tony! Tony! Tony! Tony! Tony! Tony! Tony! Tony! Tony! Tony! Tony! Tony! Tony! Tony! Tony! Tony! Tony! Tony! Tony! Tony! Tony! Tony! Tony! Tony! Tony! Tony! Tony! Tony! Tony! Tony! Tony! Tony! Tony! Tony! Tony! Tony! Tony! Tony! Tony! Tony! Tony! Tony! Tony! Tony! Tony! Tony! Tony! Tony! Tony! Tony! Tony! Tony! Tony! Tony! Tony! Tony!




(can you hear me?)

Ah, yes! It is a mine of information just waiting for you to add your own spin on it. Rightfully a classic of the genre.

Another book I am pretty fond of is Ted Lesley's "Paramiracles".