90 of 92 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Introduction is worth the price of admission!, March 1, 1998
This review is from: Magic in Action (Paperback)
This is an excellent book for anyone wanting an inside view of a master utilizing NLP(tm) in action. These are actual working transcripts of Richard Bandler the co-founder of the NLP(tm)technology doing work with patients. Within the pages you'll encounter him literally performing magic in terms of creating transformational change with private clients. This book is unlike others by either Bandler or Grinder (the other co-founder of NLP(tm). All of the other books available by these authors are taken either from training transcripts or written as training manuals, in this one the transcripts are from one to one sessions with Richard himself. These transcripts are packed with information. You'll find him utilizing hypnosis, reframing, anchoring, and all the other NLP(tm)techniques you've heard of while continually pacing and leading the client he's addressing. As Richard suggests in the introduction you could re-read this book for each of these patterns and come away with a deeper, fuller and richer appreciation of the model each time you do. In a way you could almost learn to do NLP(tm) from this book alone, however this is not what either I or Richard would recommend. As Bandler writes in the introdution to this edition, NLP(tm) is an experiential model and the way to really "get it" is to work with someone who is really skilled in its application. Within this same introduction Richard uncovers his own thinking about the model he calls NLP(tm) better than any other place that I've read. This description alone is worth the price of the book if what's offered is really assimilated. I would of given it a 10 however there are some sections within it that really bog down and could have been improved with better editing ... then again ... What I recommend is that if your interested in the direct applicaton of NLP(tm) as a transformation technology go ahead buy it, read it and enjoy it!
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50 of 51 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the KEY NLP texts, May 1, 2002
This review is from: Magic in Action (Paperback)
You could say that this is a book in six chapters, plus an introduction and one appendix - the former is taken of an interview with Bandler in 1990, the latter covers the NLP "Milton Model" in some depth.
Excited?
You would be if you knew what is in those six chapters!
According to the back cover blurb (taken from the Introduction):
"*Magic in Action* shows the ways in which I use humour and speed to work with clients. It gives the layman an idea of what an NLP session should be like."
Basically this is a set of trancescripts (pun intended) of Richard Bandler doing brief therapy the NLP way. They cover topics such as a rather unusual form of agoraphobia, fear of authority figures, weight loss, changing limiting beliefs, etc.
More than that, however, they show Bandler using many of the core NLP techniques to facilitate lasting changes, typically in less than 30 minutes.
An additional feature of the first three sessions is that they are taken from a project at Marshall University, West Virginia, and in two cases include a brief follow-up interview that took place about 8 months after the therapy session.
(Only two, because in one case Richard and his client went straight out and demonstrated that the client's agoraphobia had already completely disappeared.)
As the previous reviewer has said, this is a book that will bear, indeed requires, several readings to get the most out of it. Bandler himself (or was it the unnamed editor?) recommends that, after having read the whole book, you start again, annotating each transcript in the same way that the final chapter has already been analysed, to better understand how Bandler has used various linguistic patterns to achieve his results.
Seems like a pretty good idea to me.
The book gives some interesting insights into the attitude, motivation and practice of the originator of NLP. At the same time, though Bandler certainly isn't prepared to spoonfeed his readers, it is as good a teaching tool as any book could ever be.
If you're serious about NLP, this book is a definite 'must read'.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Regardless of the wrappings...., January 8, 2008
This review is from: Magic in Action (Paperback)
It took me a while to get past the 60's covers on Bandler's books and longer still since I had to get past a lot of the writings I've read by others on NLP (most read like papers presented at a Star Trek convention).However,once you get past the covers and the BS spouted by many NLP "experts" it is refreshing to read Bandler's work. It is very down to earth, uses humor effectively, and the stuff makes sense. This is not the book I would recommend starting with, but do start with Bandler's earlier works if you want to know the real possibilities of NLP.
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