I'm Joe Dirt
Master Don Juan
Well the book came on saturday morning and I didnt have much time, but I managed to read it all over a period of 2 days.
The book is very well laid out, it goes over 38 different verbal tricks that cold readers can use to pull off a psychic act. It also shows you incorrect ways to use some of the tricks.
The cold reading tips in the book, if mastered, would let someone do almost any kind of reading from the very general reading to a reading that includes telling the subject specific events from his/her past as well as specific names and other information that would be far more convincing than a reading that is all or mostly general (which is covered in the cold reading book I was sending to people earlier).
The 38 tricks are divded up in several sections, namley Character, Facts and Events, Extracting Information, and the Future. This is by far the meatiest section of the book.
After this there are several other sections covering useful information. There is one on how to soften up skeptics who are getting readings or just how to kind of get them to lower their guard a bit.
There is also a section on getting the setting right, a few tips about adding some body language that will make even a boring reading seem more exciting, and other interesting things. The section on how to turn misses into hits and how to deal with total misses in a way that won't ruin the whole reading are also obviously must reads for anyone who wants to get into the trade of cold reading.
One of the cooler parts is that it includes actual transcripts of full readings - from start to finish - that Ian Rowland has done on TV. As you are reading them you will get to see first hand how the theoratical 38 tricks work in reality and if you've been reading carefully you'll be screaming the names of all the tricks in your head as you're reading these transcripts when they come up.
This part of the book is important I think, and a similar part is missing in the other book I read and sent out to people. The reason I think this is important is because it helps you put all the knowledge together and see how it works. What good is a trick on how to pin point a specific childhood event when you aren't sure how to conduct a reading so that you can get to the point when you'd want to!
So after reading the sections on putting it all together you can pretty much get a good idea of how you wanna develop your cold reading style.
Now just because the book includes 38 different tricks (plus countless other pieces of advice and knowledge) doesn't mean you have to get them all down to do a successful reading. From looking at the way these things are structured it looks like maybe a handful could be enough to convince someone of your powers, especially if you master them so that you can do a good delivery.
This book stands up to all the great reviews it has gotten because if one studies these tricks and gets them down to the point where they can formulate them on their feet (you gotta be quick on your feet to improvise anything, especially a cold reading since psychics are supposed to already see the answers not be thinking about them!) then you can pull off a convincing psychic act.
This book has basically all the information you need to perform at the very least decent readings that will entertain at parties or at work. With practice and re-reading this book a few times to get all the stuff down cold one could over time become a pretty convincing reader, maybe good enough to even charge for readings.
The book is available ONLY at www.ianrowland.com . It is not available in stores, libraries, etc. Ian publishes and distributes his own book, and doesn't make it available so easily so that only those who really wanna know these secrets can learn. The book also isn't cheap, at 32 GBP + Shipping from London, England, which is roughly $67 total (at the time I bought it).
Yes, that is a steep price, but I think that the book is worth it because this information is really not available anywhere else (and boy have I looked). And if you think about the money some people waste on multiple dating systems or whatever, you'd think they could spare a few bucks on something as cool as learning how to do convincing and detailed readings.
I plan to re-read this book and start practicing these techniques first in my head to rehearse my own style of prestation, then on coworkers, and then on strangers. I think the skills here are very useful and interesting.
Oh yeah, and the book also has a chapter on applying some of these skills to other areas including dating, sales, and criminal interrogations. Of course these are just brief overviews and not very detailed, but still interesting reads.
I highly recommend it for everyone. If you are interested in psychic readings, psychic abilities, or even the broad category of magic this is a MUST READ.
If you have no interest in the above this is at least a fascinating read about something unique you've probably never studied but may find fascinating and useful.
Either way, its a good read.
The book is very well laid out, it goes over 38 different verbal tricks that cold readers can use to pull off a psychic act. It also shows you incorrect ways to use some of the tricks.
The cold reading tips in the book, if mastered, would let someone do almost any kind of reading from the very general reading to a reading that includes telling the subject specific events from his/her past as well as specific names and other information that would be far more convincing than a reading that is all or mostly general (which is covered in the cold reading book I was sending to people earlier).
The 38 tricks are divded up in several sections, namley Character, Facts and Events, Extracting Information, and the Future. This is by far the meatiest section of the book.
After this there are several other sections covering useful information. There is one on how to soften up skeptics who are getting readings or just how to kind of get them to lower their guard a bit.
There is also a section on getting the setting right, a few tips about adding some body language that will make even a boring reading seem more exciting, and other interesting things. The section on how to turn misses into hits and how to deal with total misses in a way that won't ruin the whole reading are also obviously must reads for anyone who wants to get into the trade of cold reading.
One of the cooler parts is that it includes actual transcripts of full readings - from start to finish - that Ian Rowland has done on TV. As you are reading them you will get to see first hand how the theoratical 38 tricks work in reality and if you've been reading carefully you'll be screaming the names of all the tricks in your head as you're reading these transcripts when they come up.
This part of the book is important I think, and a similar part is missing in the other book I read and sent out to people. The reason I think this is important is because it helps you put all the knowledge together and see how it works. What good is a trick on how to pin point a specific childhood event when you aren't sure how to conduct a reading so that you can get to the point when you'd want to!
So after reading the sections on putting it all together you can pretty much get a good idea of how you wanna develop your cold reading style.
Now just because the book includes 38 different tricks (plus countless other pieces of advice and knowledge) doesn't mean you have to get them all down to do a successful reading. From looking at the way these things are structured it looks like maybe a handful could be enough to convince someone of your powers, especially if you master them so that you can do a good delivery.
This book stands up to all the great reviews it has gotten because if one studies these tricks and gets them down to the point where they can formulate them on their feet (you gotta be quick on your feet to improvise anything, especially a cold reading since psychics are supposed to already see the answers not be thinking about them!) then you can pull off a convincing psychic act.
This book has basically all the information you need to perform at the very least decent readings that will entertain at parties or at work. With practice and re-reading this book a few times to get all the stuff down cold one could over time become a pretty convincing reader, maybe good enough to even charge for readings.
The book is available ONLY at www.ianrowland.com . It is not available in stores, libraries, etc. Ian publishes and distributes his own book, and doesn't make it available so easily so that only those who really wanna know these secrets can learn. The book also isn't cheap, at 32 GBP + Shipping from London, England, which is roughly $67 total (at the time I bought it).
Yes, that is a steep price, but I think that the book is worth it because this information is really not available anywhere else (and boy have I looked). And if you think about the money some people waste on multiple dating systems or whatever, you'd think they could spare a few bucks on something as cool as learning how to do convincing and detailed readings.
I plan to re-read this book and start practicing these techniques first in my head to rehearse my own style of prestation, then on coworkers, and then on strangers. I think the skills here are very useful and interesting.
Oh yeah, and the book also has a chapter on applying some of these skills to other areas including dating, sales, and criminal interrogations. Of course these are just brief overviews and not very detailed, but still interesting reads.
I highly recommend it for everyone. If you are interested in psychic readings, psychic abilities, or even the broad category of magic this is a MUST READ.
If you have no interest in the above this is at least a fascinating read about something unique you've probably never studied but may find fascinating and useful.
Either way, its a good read.
