http://osterlindstore.com/catalog/

For most of us, just posting the link is enough. We know the value of this 3-in-1 book. We've kind of been waiting for five years.

Back then, in Making Magic Real - the first book of the Osterlind Trilogy - we learned Something Significant which immediately raised our mentalism or our magic (or both. Why quibble?) to a new height. We gained applications which really did work that fast - which really did work with either magic OR mentalism (two different disciplines sharing many roots) and it rather surprised us. It may have taken us some time to become accustomed to this new level of power. But our audiences appreciated it. A lot.

Let me put it this way. I'd been doing restaurant magic - not mentalism, and not very complex magic. OK, I was doing sponge balls. Within a few hours after reading Making Magic Real for the first time, my customers were reacting to sponge balls as if I'd pulled dragons out of thin air. One lady insisted to others that I'd made the sponges appear in her EMPTY hand.

Strong, strong magic -- just from taking a significantly different approach as given in one little book by this Osterlind fellow. I was intrigued.

Making Real Magic followed, and the lessons became more intense. "Seeing Through the Eyes of the Audience" insisted one chapter, showing how to get into the perceptions of your audience and to assume nothing. A chapter on "Tom Bombadil" (Who never seems to get adapted into any of the versions of Lord of the Rings. Poor Tom!) opens insight into how alien we might be if magic was a part of our being. And then Richard offers an exercise which will, by the end of a week, make us actually seem ethereal. To put theory to practicality, a strong and crazy memory demonstration is taught. It's the Corinda memory routine, but from the planet Krypton. Everything the book has taught comes to a point, giving us a chance to BE something comparable to the Maiar of Middle Earth. To tie everything together, we end with "Making the Magic Your Own" which teaches and does just that. The Maiar were individual and so ought each modern mentalist and each modern magician.

And then the third book, Essays...whew! By this time, I'd found that mentalism suited my personality better, but I still loved magic -- and I regretted "leaving" it. Now I was learning that the problem wasn't mentalism vs magic, but weak magic and mentalism vs strong magic and mentalism. And I learned that to really, really become a Maiar, it has to be more than a love affair with magic and mentalism. Because an affair ends, and this mustn't. Because a bird which doesn't know it's a bird will never break free of gravity. Because audience management is more about the love between us and our audience than it is about manipulating them. Essays achieves the rank of good poetry; it changes us at some deep level. It asks the hard questions, and it asks them of us - personally.

And it leaves us with another effect which is adaptable to so many other effects. The first appearance of the Osterlind Design Duplication System (ODDS) appears in the back of Essays. Oh. My. Word. It's here almost as an afterthought, a throwaway - and it's applicable to so much more than a design duplication. Greg Arce has shown one way to apply this in a different direction. I wonder how much more ODDS has in it?

In his foreword, Richard Hatch (one of the most expert people on recognizing good books when he sees them) shows that this volume is a voyage of personal discovery and personal growth for the student. He urges us to take advantage of Osterlind's years of trial and error to become something more than we are. And he shows us that we're not just opening the covers of a book. We're discovering a new journey along a path which he calls the Osterlind Way.

*jeep!
--Grandpa Chet

Great review. Thanks Chet!

Thanks

Great review...

A great review!

A little trivia about Tom Bombadil: Many scholars have puzzled over who - or what - Tom Bombadil was. Bearing in mind that Tolkien was a devout Roman Catholic, and referred to The Lord of The Rings as his "great Chriatian work", some have speculated that Tom may have been God. Tolkien, when asked about Tom replied that some things should be left unexplained.

I think Peter Jackson was right on when he did not include Tom and Goldberry into the film adaptations. Yes, those of us who have read Tolkien's magnificent body of work would have loved it, but the general film goer who had not read The Lord of the Rings would have been confused by Tom and Goldberry IMHO.

Ahh, but poor Radagast the Brown; only a bit part in the trilogy, and NO screen time. I think HE needs a new agent!

Again, thanks for the great review! I am an avowed Osterlind disciple.

Best,
Vlad

Just for the record, from what I've read, Tolkien was a big fan of magicians.

Richard

PS C.S. Lewis was not.

But Shari Lewis was.

*jeep!
--Grandpa Chet

You're incorrigible!

Cherie got a t-shirt for me 23 years ago. It said "Incorrigible punster. Do not incorrige." Naturally, I loved that t-shirt.

*jeep!
--the incorrigible Grandpa Chet

Osterlind is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, mentalist teacher of our time!

I just wanted to put my two cents in. I really enjoyed this book, thank goodness it came out in hard copy as I never would have read the e versions. Richard is a clear thinker and understands the performance and the art of magic and communicates it very well in writting and keeps it entertaining. I'm afraid I'm not familiar with him as a performer but if he is as accomplished on stage as he is behind a keyboard he must be very good. If you are interested in reading about the art of magic and how you may improve as a performer or even if you want just something to think about I think you'll want to track down this wonderful collection of e books and essays. I'm certainly glad I did and it goes on my "books I always have close at hand" stack.

I have read the ebooks years ago. They were - and are - excellent. I always recommend them to my friends in the magic circle who want to read more about theory in magic. Sadly, only a few have followed my advice regarding this book.

Carsten

You gave them their chance. It's not your fault that you're now a much better performer and mystery entertainer than they.

*jeep!
--Grandpa Chet (Who applies this stuff every week.)