If you’re new to mentalism and you’re hungry to know some tricks, then a modern take of this centuries-old skill might be a better match for you.
After all, it’s a rewarding feeling to be able to do the tricks the modern masters of mentalism can do.
This is what the book Modern Mentalism by Giochidimagia is trying to achieve. It’s a book about all the modern tricks and their how-to’s.
But is its content and depth of discussion enough to give you all the groundwork you need to do the most popular mentalism tricks?
We’ll find out in this Modern Mentalism book review.
Overview of Modern Mentalism
Modern Mentalism promises to be a complete treatise of mentalism techniques and concepts.
It talks about the principles of mentalism, a bit of its history, and a lot of tricks that you can do even if you’re a beginner.
Some of the tricks you’ll learn are mind-reading, card-guessing, knowing the future, and even hypnosis.
The book is broken down into 10 chapters. Each chapter focuses on a major category of the tricks in mentalism.
There is also a dedicated chapter talking about the tools you’ll need – from an invisible deck to plain old carbon paper.
About the Author
Giochidimagia is the name of the narrator of the book and also the publishing house from which this book came.
Giochidimagia has always been interested in magic and illusion since he was a child in the 80s.
But while watching a magician on television was his introduction to the world of mentalism, Giochidimagia moved towards a more psychological approach to this practice.
In other words, non-mathematical tricks are his area of focus.
Hence, his focus became more centered on body language and other psychological behaviors that give clues on what his audience is thinking.
So it’s safe to say that his knowledge in mentalism serves as the basis of some of the tricks and discussions in Modern Mentalism.
Modern Mentalism Book Review
Content
As we mentioned, Modern Mentalism is a book focused on demonstrating several modern mentalism tricks that don’t involve mathematical computations.
Each of the 10 chapters focuses on an area of mentalism tricks like mind-reading, hypnosis, psychological methods, etc…
There’s a brief introduction for every chapter, but the book doesn’t go too deeply into the basics. Some terms are also discussed during the first part of the book.
However, Modern Mentalism sometimes goes straight to the tricks without proper grounding for beginners who’d like to understand the foundations of each area of mentalism.
Plus, there’s not enough historical explanation and in-depth discussion on the factors that may help in the success of these tricks.
It would be a lot better if the tricks were discussed in length along with a better and deeper understanding of the main concepts for mind-reading, hypnosis, and so on.
Nonetheless, the whole book is easy to understand for those who just want to dive right into practicing mentalism tricks. So if you’re not into going so deep into it, then you’ll really enjoy this book and find it very helpful.
Lastly, we want to mention that we’ve noticed that the author seems to confuse ‘treatise’ with ‘treaty’. Based on how it is organized, this book is meant to be a treatise of mentalism tricks.
Depth of Discussion
You should know that this book is made to be a quick read (around 1-2 hours).
And if you’re learning about mentalism, quick reads aren’t enough to cement your understanding and skills.
While we are impressed with the number of tricks explained in Modern Mentalism, we can’t help but wonder more about pitfalls, best practices, and other examples that will guide the reader into doing a better job with these tricks.
Some questions like where did the trick originate from, who does this trick best among the famous mentalists, were a few things that could have added a richer grounding for every new mentalist reading this book.
Moreover, Modern Mentalism has less than 200 pages. And in those 200 pages, Giochidimagia tried to fit at least 20 tricks.
The how-to of the tricks was covered, but there’s a big lack of discussion on how to perform these tricks in front of an audience.
The inclusion of so many tricks might have compromised the quality of discussion the author could have made.
That said, it’s still a helpful book for those that aren’t looking to dive deep into mentalism. It’s for people that just want to learn as many tricks as possible.
Ease of Reading
If there is one thing we love about Modern Mentalism, it’s the ease of reading throughout the whole book.
If you don’t intend to practice the tricks, you can finish the whole ebook in 1-2 hours. Yup, the whole book is that easy to read.
Plus, the author uses layman’s terms in explaining and demonstrating the tricks. It also helped that pictures were added to demonstrate how they’re done in practice.
So yes, this book is perfect for beginners.
Modern Mentalism Pros and Cons
With our review out of the way, let’s summarize everything with its pros and cons.
Here are some pros and cons when considering buying this e-book.
Pros:
- Has a wide variety of tricks
- Terms and instructions are easy to understand
- A 1-2-hour read
Cons:
- Does not talk about the tricks and techniques in depth
- Not ideal for advanced mentalists
- Mistakes ‘treaty’ to ‘treatise’
Conclusion
Modern Mentalism by Giochidimagia is a good attempt at teaching a lot of non-mathematical mentalism tricks in a short period.
However, we’d say it’s more of a crash course. It doesn’t help beginners fully understand and know the extent of the skills needed in mastering each mentalism trick.
So now that you know about this book, is it worth reading?
It’s all up to you!
If you feel like it will help, then go ahead! It will be a great read and you’ll actually be able to learn a lot of great tricks.