I was sent a free copy of Manus by Myke Phillips to review. Just so you know.
Having said that, I would have writen the same review had I paid for this,

http://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/viewt......rum=15&5

Manus is a 49 page ebook containing 5 mentalism effects.
Three of them use playing cards, one is a remote viewing using an iPhone (no app involved) and one utility method for use when revealing a thought of word.

How many times have you bought into the hype and add copy for an e book, only to read it once and then let it sit gathering virtual dust in some deep recess of your overpopulated hard drive?

Well guess what?.......... This one's different.

No hype, just a small post to say the book is available for review. But it delivers some cleverly thought out effects.

I've never heard of Myke before, but I like the way he thinks.

Personally I use very few effects involving cards, so for me they weren't the effects that caught my attention when reading the description of the ebook.
But for those that do use cards, these effects are well thought out and refreshingly different from many other mentalism card effects.

The remote viewing effect using your iPhone is, again, refreshingly new and an great example of clever thinking.

However, for me, the Searchlight Principle, enabling you to know what letter in a word someone is thinking of was what piqued my interest.
And I wasn't disappointed.
Standing on the shoulders of a giant in the world of mentalism, this effect takes a known idea and runs with it.

For me this was the star of the book, though others may be more tempted by one of the other effects.

All in all it was nice to read something that wasn't just full of tweaks or an alternatives to some done to death principles
I will certainly be looking to read more of Myke's work in the future


Steve

Thank you so much for your kind words Steve.

When Steve offered to review my ebook, he was very open and honest about him not being very interested in card effects in his act.
It was his honesty that lead me to choose him to review my ebook. The reson is because, good or bad, I wanted you the reader to know
Exactly what you are purchasing.

For anyone interested in my ebook, there is a special price for one week from  Manus E-Book

Kindest regards
Myke Phillips

Hey everyone,

It had been awhile since I had boughten any ebooks.
So I was looking at the Café, and saw this thread, and when I saw the price $9.99, I jumped on it.
Expecting to be disappointed like sometimes it happens, I was thrilled upon reading.

There are 5 effects in here.......I will use 4 of them, just because I don't own an Iphone for the last effect.

Rarely do I buy something that I can almost use everything from the book or DVD. This is different as steveline said.

I love all of them

Psychological Snap
88mph
impossible card location
searchlight principle

This is a great ebook, and you all should support Myke, as he is a great new thinker in magic, and I would buy another ebook from him in the future.

Thanks

Alex

Wow! Alex, thank you so much for that compliment, you will never know how much that means to me.

I have been performing and creating my own mentalism effects for a while now and wanted to share them with the community.
I have always been afraid that other performers would not like my effects and methods so I have held back so much since now.

This is my first offering and I can assure you I have some nice things to share with the mentalism community.

Thank you so much for your support

Ps, if you have any questions about the effects in my book, just pm me and I will do my best to answer ASAP.

Kindest Regards
Myke Phillips

Congratulations, seems like a great book!

Thank you to all the people that reviewed my first book "MANUS" for me.

Derek Heron http://www.derekheron.com

Steve Young http://www.thoughtillusions.com

ALEJANDRO HINOJOSA "BMWGuy"

Anthony Jacquin http://www.headhacking.com

KEN DYNE http://www.confessionsofrealmindreaders.com



I really appreciate the wonderful comments that I have recived so far. I am wiating for a couple more guys to tell me what they think of the book.

everyone so far seems to like the searchlight principle where you are able to discern any letter in a word that someone is thinking of, every time.

My book is available here if anyone is interested "MANUS"

Kindest Regards
Myke Phillips

I bought this out of general interest and 9.99 pounds burning a hole in my virtal pocket.

My initial comments, for what they are worth, are:

Psychological Snap - a crafty effect, although requires you to either have mastered a particular card skill, or to prepare something in advance. There are several alternative methods that extend the range of options, some of which seem more practical than others. The effect is something you would need a leisurely amount of time to do.
Eye Can Remote View - I don't have an iphone, so I'm not going to comment on this one.
88mph - again requires you to have mastered a particular skill, one which I'd guess most intermediate cardpeople have at least heard of. It's something I've done at times, but never consistently often enough to be able to do it confidently. Myke is upfront in saying that a lot of practise will be involved if you want to get this down. This effect isn't a speedy one either , best suited for someone who can keep up a good run of interesting talk while they go through the necessary.
Psychological Impossible Card - a nice idea, it requires a 'something' and control of the person you are doing this for, and various potential actions on their part are noted, along with how to deal with them.
Searchlight principle - It's simple but cunning, and if you do the particular type of presentation this relates to, I can see this being very useful.

There are a couple of minor typo errors, but overall it's nicely and clearly presented.

Overall, I can see these being useful if you like to build effects slowly and are happy to invest time in getting the building blocks in place, or if they relate to skills you already use.

Hi muse,

Thank you for your honest review, much appreciated.

Kindest Regards
Myke Phillips

Congratulation Myke,

I very much enjoyed Manus and I look forward to trying your routines out.
Thank you
TC

Thank you tctahoe,

Let me know how it goes, I would love to hear a review after your performance.

Kindest Regards
Myke Phillips

This book is an excellent read! I can see great things happening for Myke if he keeps releasing material on par with this. It was a pleasure to read the material and will give anyone some serious food for thought.

I am not just saying this and I am most definitely not a marketing stooge for myke it is my honest opinion.

All the best with your future ventures!

Pete

Peter, Thank you so much. I am so happy you liked my book.
"
I have never met Peter Turner before but I did buy his book "A symphony of silence" amazing and exiting effects in there.
Fully recomended.

Kind Regards
Myke Phillips

Are you going to Blackpool Myke?

Unfortunately not this year Peter. Got 3 kids, Wife will go crazy. lol

Regards
Myke

No problems Myke, I understand! We shall defo meet soon

Pete

Unfortunately my ebook is canceled as of now.

I have many more books to offer but one person who I can't name has ruined it for you all.

I am furious right now!

lesson, if you want something done, do it yourself. If you can't, better to pay for it.

I'm really sorry to all those who I promised that a great product was on its way.

Kindest Regards
Myke Phillips