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DT3 Inner circle Hill Valley 1920 Posts |
"How to Persuade People Who Don't Want to be Persuaded" by Joel Bauer
is a good one. |
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scarnecky Veteran user Utah 330 Posts |
Quote:
On 2008-02-18 14:24, kriskraze wrote: You surprised me KrisKraze, I find myself agreeing with you on this... To add- "Little Green Book of Getting Your Way" by Jeffrey Gitomer- |
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Andini Special user Columbus, OH 685 Posts |
Surely I'll repeat a number of the previously mentioned books, but for what it's worth:
Blink - Malcolm Gladwell The Memory Book - Harry Lorayne Unmasking the Face - Paul Ekman Handwriting Analysis: Putting It To Work For You! - Andrea McNichols Crimes Against Logic - Jamie Whyte Mind Performance Hacks Born Standing Up - Steve Martin (Just finished this!) Truth in Comedy - Charna Halpern Win The Crowd - Steve Cohen Anything by mental_floss, particularly: Condensed Knowledge Forbidden Knowledge Cocktail Party Cheat Sheets Any of Uncle John's Bathroom Readers + any other book you can find. |
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r1z08 Inner circle 1158 Posts |
The Art of Seduction definitely earns its place in this list.
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R Gould Regular user 193 Posts |
Quote:
On 2008-03-01 06:22, Virungan wrote: Not to be pedantic, but the film is called F FOR FAKE, no "IS" in the title. I made the same mistake for about a year and that prevented me from finding it in my library system when I was searching for it! |
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R Gould Regular user 193 Posts |
TRUE AND FALSE by David Mamet
(Contains some amazingly sound advice for performers, as well as those who choose the artistic path. A book to mentally prepare yourself for this kind of life.) HOW TO WIN FRIENDS AND INFLUENCE PEOPLE by Dale Carnegie (It's stunning to me how often people violate two of the most basic principles in this book -- LEARN PEOPLE'S NAMES and SPEAK IN TERMS OF THE OTHER PERSON'S INTEREST. Just following these two things would help one in all areas of life.) |
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R Gould Regular user 193 Posts |
Another...
THE SERPENT AND THE RAINBOW by Wade Davis This is about the voodoo rituals of Haiti, focusing on how living human beings are turned into zombies. Shows in vivid detail how "Belief creates the universe". Perform and plan your mentalism accordingly. |
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dunlop Loyal user Norwich, UK 201 Posts |
May I recomend "The Morning of the Magicians" by Louis Pauwels and Jacques Bergier
It's a facinating book! Here's what wikipedia inform about it: "Le Matin des Magiciens was a book written by Louis Pauwels and Jacques Bergier in 1960 or in October 1959.[citation needed] It was first published in English in 1963 with the title The Morning of the Magicians. A German edition was published with the title Aufbruch ins dritte Jahrtausend (Departure into the third Millennium). The book was a general overview of the occult and the works of Charles Fort. Le Matin des Magiciens was highly influential in the way it presented occult subjects to a populist audience and spawned many books imitating its style. The English edition, The Morning of the Magicians, became an international best seller, with over 800,000 copies sold worldwide. The book was a collaboration of ideas spanning a wide variety of subjects from Nazi occultism to supernatural phenomena and the place of mankind in the universe relative to traditional philosophical positions. It also temporarily renewed interest in the works of Arthur Machen." It is really much more than that; I would say that it really is an investigation of how the man, in his mind, created the fantastic. I also recomend: "Introduction à la littérature fantastique (1970), translated as The Fantastic: A Structural Approach to a Literary Genre in 1973" by Tzvetan Todorov Nicolas. |
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Bill Brunelle Regular user 192 Posts |
This recommendation may be too far afield for many of you, but I heartily recommend going to http://tinyurl.com/6kp24v and taking a look on Amazon at "Your Life As Art" by Robert Fritz. He does an incredible job of showing how the creative process can be applied to your life as a work of art. Much of the material in there can be applied to creating new routines or shows and is the real deal in terms of the discipline of the creative process.
Now here comes a small commercial. I became so enamored of his work that I went on to train with him and am now, in addition to full time performing, regularly teaching a 5 week course in New York City called "Creating Your Life" and based on the book. Anyone in the New York area who would like to know about my next courses can feel free to call me at 212-222-5841 for details. A few magicians, mentalists, and actors have taken the course and found it very valuable. I recently surveyed my students and found that the number one reason they decided to take the course was that they were at a major crossroads and wanted to be in charge of their new direction. (By the way I have yet to turn a profit teaching this. I just love the material and grow in my own creative life every time I teach it.) End of commerical. Ignoring my course, I heartily recommend anyone check out the above link and look at Amazon's "Search Inside" excerpts. You'll know pretty quickly if it resonates with you. The book alone can be very helpful in clarifying your own creative process as it applies to both your life and your performances. Bill Brunelle 212-222-5841 New York City |
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aldiamo Regular user 155 Posts |
I found this topic searching for a book here... Someone else has reccomendations?
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dmkraig Inner circle 1949 Posts |
An Actor Prepares and Building A Character by Constantin Stanislavski.
And when you think you're hot snit, Nightmare Alley by William L. Gresham |
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Sid Helkule Inner circle Australia 1481 Posts |
This one helped me out enormously:
Click here I would probably be practicing close up magic with no girlfriend if I hadn't read it. |
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Brane Loyal user Virginia, USA 272 Posts |
Sorry to pull you away from books for a moment, but this one strikes me as so good, I must mention it for the serious and thoughtful mentalists.
One of the difficulties that a young mentalist encounters is 'How do I convince people that I really am the sort of person who has some special ability or is special in some way?' Yes, of course there is demonstrating your ability, but there is certainly more to it. HOW do you demonstrate that ability? Without the parallel ability to convince your audience that you're not just an attention hungry poser with a clever trick of some sort, that's all it becomes; someone demonstrating a puzzling trick, perhaps to pick up girls or show his superiority. You must stand, speak and respond with the calm, knowing certainty that a person with such an ability would have naturally. That pervasive attitude of genuine (!) certainty would 'sell' the trick as not being a trick, I think. Books are very good and many excellent ones have been mentioned. If you would like to watch an actor deliver such a convincing performance, spend 89 minutes with the DVD Jerome Bixby's 'The Man From Earth.' This man's story is far more difficult to explain than 'merely' an ability to sometimes sense the thoughts or feelings of others, and yet he does it masterfully without sounding challenging, bragging or condescending. If you can watch this from end to end without being at least partly convinced yourself, I might wonder if you are the sort who can convince others, as you may just be deaf to the important subtleties involved. I saw this about two years ago and it's still not quite faded from my memories. OK, back to the lists of books; thank you for your attention. brane |
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Tony Iacoviello Eternal Order 13151 Posts |
Brane:
Thank you. I had not heard of that film, but looked it up and it seems like my kind of movie. Tony |
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cc New user 75 Posts |
TRUE AND FALSE by David Mamet.
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muse Special user Scotland 925 Posts |
'Irrationality' by Stuart Sutherland. Not a difficult read but full of insights and wisdom about the context in which we see things
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StuartNolan Elite user 479 Posts |
Anything by Ivor Cutler, Ken Campbell or Spalding Gray.
Always loved Samuel Beckett especially Play, Happy Days, Endgame and Krapp's Last Tape (the best live performance of any kind I have ever seen was Max Wall in this play). More recently The Author by Tim Crouch A friend also recommended TRUE AND FALSE by David Mamet. I've just ordered it s
"One should always be a little improbable." - Oscar Wilde
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StuartNolan Elite user 479 Posts |
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On 2008-02-18 00:20, DT3 wrote: I agree. A great book. And I had no interest in tennis when I bought it. Anything by David Foster Wallace on tennis is amazing. Especially the tennis bits of the novel Infinite Jest.
"One should always be a little improbable." - Oscar Wilde
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Bean Regular user 119 Posts |
"Why People Believe Weird Things" by Michael Shermer. A nice exploration into the human mind.
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merlin1979 Veteran user Bottling the impossible 345 Posts |
I've mentioned it before on other threads but "Psychology of the Psychic" by Marks is a must read for all those interested in 'organic' mentalism. It is a learned opinion on the testing that occurred of Uri Geller and others. Very well written.
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