Customer Reviews

How to Be a Mentalist: Master the Secrets Behind the Hit TV Show

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If you're a fan of the TV show, you'll be intrigued by the premise of this book and want to dive into the secrets of what makes Patrick Jane so awesome. Unfortunately for you, this book won't open the doors for you that you're hoping for. This book serves mostly as a primer, giving you basic information for particular things he does, without giving you any real meat to make it happen for yourself. If you have no experience in mentalism effects or hypnosis, then this is a way for you to sound informed at a party. However, putting any of these in practice will be hard.

To the book's credit, it does reference particular episodes to explain what the author is talking about. That does make it relevant to the show. And it's not that thick, so you'll be able to knock this out in just a few hours.

Really want to amaze folks? There are several books that would give you enough information to be effective, though you would need to read each for a particular area. The Encyclopedia of Cold Reading (all you would need to prove yourself a mind reader), Anneman's Mental Miracles (to show off a little), and a basic hypnosis book (if you're willing to put in the practice time) would be more beneficial if you are truly interested in "how to be a mentalist". If you're just interested in a little more depth on what they do in the show, pick this up.

This book is the result of a mentalist selling a product to his audience, not a mentalist explaining mentalism.

He perpetuates Mentalist myths like Derren Brown's NLP and gives readers the explanation that Mentalists use to make their "magic" seem more credible. When he explains things (like telepathy acts), he gives a routine so watered down that any amateur could detect the pattern.

If you want to learn about mentalism, read Corinda's 13 Steps to Mentalism.

This book isn't even authorized by the actual writer's of The Mentalist.


13 steps to mentalism

While the introduction builds up excitement, the book as a whole is disappointing. I did not learn anything new in this work, nor did I think differently because of it. In the book, the author tells the readers to buy expensive clothes and a good car, because perceptions is everything. That is the shallowest thing any "mentalist" can say.

The only benefit to this book is it reinforces stereotypes. Read it if you want for enjoyment, but do not get it to learn.