Customer Reviews

Secrets of a Telephone Psychic

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4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This title barely qualifies as a "telecom book", but sounded amusing enough, so thought that I would give it a try. I'm glad that I did.

Secrets of a Telephone Psychic turned out to be an amusing look inside the world of telephone psychics. Written by a veteran telephone "psychic", the book seems to confirm our worst fears... that people at the other end of psychic hotlines aren't really psychic!

This is not a journalistic expose' of the telephone psychic industry, but the personal account of one man who made his living as a telephone psychic for several years. Over time, he began comparing notes with fellow psychics and learned all the tricks of the trade. The author exposes himself as much as anyone else, and actually makes you feel some sort of empathy for the trials that these low-paid independent contractors are forced to go through.

Besides giving an overview of the industry in general, and an insight into the minds of telephone psychics themselves, the author also delves into psychological issues surrounding hotline callers. After answering thousands of phone calls, the author has been able to gain great insight into what type of people call these numbers, why they call them, when they call, why the general public is fascinated by them, etc. The book reveals just as much about psychic hotline callers and the general public as it does about the telephone psychic industry itself.

For anyone considering calling a psychic hotline, this book is a must. The chapter titled "How to Call a Psychic and Not Go Broke" should save you much more time and money than this book sells for.

For anyone considering becoming a telephone psychic, this book will reveal the sometimes dark world that you may be getting into, and provides tips on how to handle difficult situations. It isn't exactly a "how-to" guide for aspiring telephone psychics, but it comes darned close.

About the only downside of this book is the author's occasional meanderings into new age culture, psycho-babble and spirituality. If you are in to that kind of stuff, it may make the book more enjoyable. To me, it was just a temporary distraction from the rest of the story.

Overall, the book was extremely educational and enjoyable to read. The author's wry sense of humor is prevalent throughout the book, and his colorful stories are ones that you will end-up repeating to your friends. Carrying a cover price of only $$$, this book is a bargain. Well worth your time and money. I'd recommend it to anyone that is curious about the telephone psychic industry, or who just needs a good laugh.

The publisher's marketing department must have been pulling their hair out, trying to find the right moniker for this captivating book. I'll admit the title is why I stopped and ordered it from Amazon...(after reading the hediously written and very disappointing "Adventures of a Psychic", I needed something funny and down to earth to clear my palate. And this book delivers!) But it's so much more than just a detailed look at the author's time on the phone lines. A lot more.

Sure the psychic thing is highlighted throughout, but there's a distinct effort by Woodruff to include the reader in his understanding of why our culture is so fascinated with mystics and psychics; astrology and the tarot, etc. And what this symbolizes about our longing for the magical and mysterious in our lives, and how modern day entertainment and diversions just aren't cutting it for most folks (and nevermind our antiquated religious institutions) and he does this with examples, anecdotes, short essays and recounting his personal history with metaphysical subjects and fringe folks from his childhood.

I also appreciated his discursive approach to sequencing the various chapters and subjects (although my wife didn't). One minute Woodruff is writing about hunting down Dionne Warwick for an interview, the next he's conversing with sociologist Camille Paglia about oracles and then, in a loopy segue, he's detailing his struggle with a lovelorn caller and her questions about how a dildo works--I was laughing out loud!

Be warned this isn't a New Agey book. It's a bit naughty, intelligent throughout and a lot of fun!

Up late? Mesmerized by the electronic promises of another 900 number? Wondering just what the Age of Aquarius holds for you -- or what the heck the Age of Aquarius is? Mute that television, and pick up this book instead of the phone. Frederick Woodruff is a mystical pragmatist -- someone who really seems to understand that we are sophisticated yet silly -- just like our Creator! In this true gem of a paperback, Woodruff recounts his experiences on the psychic lines with the warmth of Mark Twain and the humour of John Cleese as Screwtape! What is most unexpected in this book are the philosphical musings and insights the author shares with us. If any of you have read Sybil Leek or Aleister Crowley, Carlos Casteneda or Carl Jung; Frederick Woodruff rests somewhere in a very comfortable middle quoting any of the aforementioned very eloquently along with Dorothy Parker, John Steinbeck, and Oscar Wilde. I recommend this book for anyone interested in what is truly needed for successful divination or knowing what desires lurk in the hearts of American's with a touch-tone phone. Also included is an excellent recommended reading list and tips for calling psychics yourself. Just read it -- if for nothing more than the hilarious chapter titles!

The job of telephone psychic is not one for dilettantes. (Maybe the author should start a service called Dial A Dilettante.) You either take the work seriously, give good, pure, skillful, and dedicated service to everyone, including the uneducated, confused people the author makes witty wisecracks to and about, and thus survive and learn from its tremendous trials and learning opportunities, or you write a cute book about it. I bought this book hoping to learn how to be a better telephone psychic (having been one for many years and always seeking to improve). It's a challenging yet rewarding business and for ten dollars I thought I could gain a tip or two that might be valuable. Unfortunately, all I gained was some additional philosophy and a few laughs at the shared nuisances of the trade. (Actually, I liked the part about Jimmy Jeff the convict and his longsuffering girlfriend on a conference call cursing and blowing the author off -- sometimes I feel like saying in cases like this, "Yes, Bubba still loves you, but unfortunately by the time he gets out of prison he will be pregnant" -- but of course I don't say this.) The real issue is not how lousy some clients and readers and management can be, but how can we be better readers. ("There is no such thing as a resistant client, there is only an incompetent therapist." -- NLP.) To become a better reader, I recommend the author rely less on spiritual aphorisms, stories, prayers, and such colorful hoopla, and study NLP, advanced astrology, enneagrams, Jungian archetypes, Myers-Briggs, the counseling techniques of Virginia Satir, Erickson, Perls, Grinder and Bandler and others, and gain more experience in personal and business relationships (yes, maybe even a long-term committed one) and decide he is going to help every caller who calls him become a better and more successful person in their career and relationships through greater patience, thoroughness, in-depth eliciting and proactive listening and working with their core issues, learn to do the "bullfight" better (keeping the dialogue going even when the client is "resistant" to what he or she needs to learn and being able to stick in the sword of truth a little lighter and sharper and more effectively), and stop dismissing his callers with cute one-liners that may protect his fragile ego but do nothing to help them attain greater happiness and success in their lives, and maybe stop being so ambivalent about the telphone psychic industry, the hand that feeds him. It is like any other industry, we make it better by being better. And it should be said that most telephone psychics are at least now much more in earnest, skilled, and dedicated than this example from the late nineties -- and to be charitable I am sure that the author, with his core earnestness, extreme intelligence, philosophical sophistication, and obviously caring nature, has become much more skillful and effective by this time in his work too. But this book, alas, as it is, IMHO will help no telephone psychic become a better telephone psychic. Hmm, maybe a more experienced and wiser sequel is in store, eh, Frederick? SON OF SECRETS? THE SECRETS EVEN I DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT?

I have always had a great innate curiosity about telephone psychic lines. I have wondered about even the mundane details like how the calls are routed, how the equipment works, the reasoning behind the lines charging so much money , ect.
This book gives an informative , down to earth ,insiders look into all of it.I always thought that working at a psychic line would be fun , easy money, but according to Mr. Woodruff psychics often get shortchanged by their employers and shady business practices are pretty much the norm.

Mr. Woodruff does have an intelligent, well read writing style.
I admire his candor in admitting that he works more with his intuition and common sense than otherworldly forces. He seems to care a lot about his clients and strives to give them the best reading possible.
I couldn't help feel a little disappointed though. I'm one of those people who wants to believe that psychics gets their information from mysterious forces that come from totally outside of theirselves.I guess I want magic and dazzle in a psychic reading. Not to knock Mr. Woodruff or his psychic style.
He is obviously very well trained and good at what he does and has helped many , many people.
The book has a section on how to call a phone psychic and not run up a huge , unpayable bill.
I won't be consulting a phone psychic because I feel that the past readings I got were mostly a waste of money and I feel I got mainly (...), nobody as credible as Mr.Woodruff, thats for sure, but for anybody who is planning on calling the information could be invaluable. The author even went undercover calling 3 different psychic lines himself.If you enjoy your mystical mixed with the practical, this is a book for you.

I have read several "phone psychic" books, and this one is, hands down, the best. Frederick Woodruff (named for Frederick Nietzsche, so he says) has "been there, done that, and lived to tell the tale." The book is not an expose' as the title would seem to indicate, but straddles several genre's, from memoir to self-help book to an "insider's look at the business." For that reason, it is a fascinating and an entertaining read -- but that is also what keeps the book from being really a 5 star book.

A psychic's best friend is his (or her) gift of associative logic. Unfortunately, in some cases, it is that very gift which prevents the focus needed to organize and write a really great book. "Secrets of a Telephone Psychic" contains enough information to make three or more really excellent books, but it is presented in a rambling (though charming and "chatty") way which keeps it from being really useful in itself. Stream of consciousness may be a valid literary technique if you happen to be channeling the departed spirit of James Joyce, but from a reader's perspective, it can be distracting and even annoying. In "Secrets" Woodruff's scattershot approach, coupled with the modest size of the book, results in there being a lot of information on a great many topics, but not enough - not nearly enough - on any one. In an early chapter, he reports his dismay at discovering his friends regard him as a dilettante. Judging from the book's organizational quirks, however, it would seem to be an accurate, if unkind, assessment.

There much in this book of great value. Woodruff is Philosophically aware and Psychologically astute. His observation regarding the source of infidelity as residing in unresolved Oedipal yearnings is, alone, worth the price of the book. There are many such gems, and for that reason the book is well worth purchasing. Unfortunately, due to the problems stated earlier, the bright gilmmers of wisdom are highly ephemeral, and tend to evaporate from the mind like the morning dew. In his rush to get to the next topic (or perhaps his inability to stick to the topic) he glosses over much that is really worth more attention.

These are, however, minor flaws in an otherwise excellent work. It's possible that this stuff would bother only me, since my Horoscope reveals that I am SUCH a Virgo (Sun, Moon, Ascendent and Ruling Planet - Mercury all in Virgo) and as such I tend to be hypercritical and analytical past all sane boundaries. But I can also lavish praise when it is merited. "Secrets of a Telephone Psychic" receives of me, therefore, lavish (but not unqualified) and well deserved praise. Buy it today!

As far as I can tell, the author tells no secrets about telephone psychics. Perhaps the "a" in the title is particularly important: perhaps the title should be more like "Secrets of someone who happens to be a telephone psychic." In any case, I diligently read every word of the book (including the copyright page) and didn't find anything I would consider a secret. Perhaps some of what Woodruff writes is what he had thitherto kept secret, but any reader would be hard pressed to guess what it might be.
Woodruff has written a book loosely concerning his (single) year of working as a telephone psychic. He alludes, however, to a break, so it isn't even clear that he actually worked an entire year. With just a year (or less) of service in only one tiny part of an industry, we cannot expect the author to have learned much and, indeed, he does not demonstrate having learned anything.
About half of the book (though it seems like much more) comprises a primer on sundry "New Age" or "mystical" notions. As one might expect, the thinking here is utterly incoherent and literally (in the logical positivist sense) nonsensical. Readers will not be surprised, then, that most of the book is terribly written and that Woodruff cannot even write about a typical day without recourse to chiche.
Potential readers should also be aware that the book is extremely short: I read it in somewhat less than three hours.
The only reason I'm giving this two stars is that I _did_ finish it, so incredulous was I that anyone would believe the silly things Woodruff (and many of his customers/clients) apparently does and do.

I was really taken with the vocabulary, jokes and comparison leaps. Pluto the hound of Disneyland made me laugh out loud. I would classify this as a primer or cliff notes for the occult. Perhaps for next printing title should reflect the real meat of the book is not in the telephone psychic stuff that's the comic relief for the heavy stuff sandwiched in between. Fast snappy read.

I picked up this book thinking it would include stories of people who called the psychic network. Yes, there were a few of these but most of the book centers around the author's personal life... something I was not interested in.

This psychic expert lays bare *his* soul and invites you to contemplate the mysteries of the caller. On the ride, you'll be up at 2 AM with Mr. Woodruff, waiting for the next ring on the next page. Very funny, sometimes a little heartbreaking, Secrets of a Telephone Psychic reveals what it is like to call and what it is like to answer. The book shows Fortune working in the lives of the seekers *and* the oracle. It lets you in on the inner operations of telephone work. Plus, you get to listen to the gossip of just exactly what those eclectic callers want to tell their expert. Let me tell you, they don't hold back, and the author knows how to tell a story.