The gyp, hoodwink, shuck, sandbag: An artform that has been passed down through generations of hustlers, con men, and freaks. Selling snake oil is the ultimate con, and readers will find within these pages everything from classic deceptions to the most recent of ruses. From fooling your friends to dangerous stage stunts, Jim Rose, snake oil salesman extraordinaire, provides new angles to old tricks. Those who dare to explore these pages will find themselved enticed by this special brand of snake oil. Step right up: it's all here. There's nothing it won't cure!
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. . . a sort of Bible of anti-tech entertainment and troublemaking. -- Knoxville News Sentinel, April 18, 2005
. . . the tricks of the trade that only somebody of Rose's far-flung freakish experience can impart. -- Des Moines Register, March 25, 2005
A mind-bending journey . . . if people can be fooled by it, it's in Rose's book. -- Las Vegas Sun, April 26, 2005
. . . the tricks of the trade that only somebody of Rose's far-flung freakish experience can impart. -- Des Moines Register, March 25, 2005
A mind-bending journey . . . if people can be fooled by it, it's in Rose's book. -- Las Vegas Sun, April 26, 2005
About the Author
Fact is stranger than fiction. A brain trust of Hollywood’s most talented creative minds could never conceive the cultural icon that is Jim Rose—an internationally renowned performance artist, controversial author and Snake Oil salesman extraordinaire.
Rose burst into national prominence during the 1992 Lollapalooza tour, garnering raves on MTV and publications ranging from the Wall Street Journal to Rolling Stone. The venerable rock ‘n’ roll magazine called the Jim Rose Circus "the absolute must-see act." USA Today termed Rose’s troupe "Lollapalooza’s word of mouth hit attraction." The quick witted show became the darling of high and low brow society alike.
Prior to Lollapalooza, Rose honed his spectacular and exotic skills throughout Europe and North America. His shows are revered as a mind bending thrill ride. Rose leads and misleads a rapt audience on a journey rife with black magic secrets, idiotic achievements and dangerous exploits. It explores and sometimes exposes the intricate distinctions between man, monster and dumbass. Performances are infused with Rose’s wicked wit, hilarious asides and stunning feats. He delights the audience with a charismatic tongue-in-cheek style reminiscent of the glory days of P.T. Barnum.
Since the early Nineties, Rose has headlined seven world tours and released a self titled video (on Rick Rubin’s American Recordings) which quickly became a cult classic. A perennial favorite among the most influential musical artists in the world, Rose was invited in 1994 to tour with Nine Inch Nails and a then unknown Marilyn Manson. Tours with Korn and Godsmack followed.
By 1998, Rose and his Circus were astonishing the masses on another world tour and on other levels. First, Rose was featured as a guest star on The X-Files. Then his eccletic lifestyle and compelling personality became the basis for a provocative literary work. His book, Freak Like Me was released by Bantam Doubleday Dell and ending up on several best-seller lists. As reported in the LA Times and Daily Variety, he has sold the book’s movie rights to White Peach Productions and scheduled to start shooting at the end of this year. Later, Rose’s legendary persona garned a new degree of infamy thanks to hit TV show The Simpsons—where Homer joined Rose’s circus as the Human Cannonball in a truly memorable episode.
Rose’s recent accolades include being the top ticket of the Melbourne (Australia), New Zealand and Edinburgh (Scotland) Fringe and Comedy Festivals. Jim Rose can also be played. He is the popular Psymon on Play Station’s new SSX Tricky and SledStorm 2, both EA products. His TV series "The Jim Rose Twisted Tour" can be seen in reruns all over the world.
Rose’s cutting edge business acumen has been noticed organically: Wall Street Journal cover story, Fast Company magazine cover and featured in the new book The Deviant’s Advantage. He has been hired to consult for numerous corporations including Microsoft and regularly assists public relations firms with pop culture campaigns and strategy. Rose served as a spokesperson for Gordon’s Gin and his creative exploits were detailed in the book Improperganda—the Art of the Publicity Stunt. He has just wrapped as an actor for the movie "Doubting Riley" produced by HBO’s "Project Greenlight" alumni.
Rose currently resides in Las Vegas, busily preparing his next literary project, planning a world tour, consulting and playing poker. On the side, he even finds time to extol the virtues of Snake Oil.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Twice-Told Tales From One Who Knows Better,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Snake Oil: Life's Calculations, Misdirections, and Manipulations (Paperback)
This book is interesting and informative, but clearly a quick-'n-dirty effort. Rose claims he wants to tell "all he has learned" about con games and sideshow ruses, before he starts to forget any of it. In fact, it's obvious that he merely rattled off whatever happened to come into his head as quickly as he could and slapped it between two covers. In some places, he tells the same stories twice in the space of a few pages - apparently forgetting he had already mentioned them - and in many places he merely retails well-known parlor tricks as "insider secrets".There is no attempt in the book to be systematic - it is a hodgepodge of magic tricks, rigged carnival games, actual con scams, math tricks, mentalism, bar bets, and just about any other kind of "tricky" move, but only a few of each. Anyone who has read even a little about any of the above subjects will find they already know most of what he has to say - and that a vast range of lore in each category has been left out. The book would work well if it were billed as an introductory review of different kinds of tricks and scams - maybe for kids who are intrigued by such things but haven't started to read up on them yet. (It also needs some serious editing and better organization.) With that less-ambitious aim in mind, the book can be read for pleasure and information - but as a comprehensive review of every scam ever pulled, from an insider expert, this book itself is its own best scam.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Master work by the circus master,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Snake Oil: Life's Calculations, Misdirections, and Manipulations (Paperback)
I'd have given this book five stars but for the fact the book was shorter than I'd have liked and some of the info doubles up in subsiquent chapters. However having gotten my very small beef out of the way this book is fascinating. If you ever fantisize about joining the circus or becoming a con man then you'll love this book!!! From mentalism to sword swallowing, from pimping to card sharping. More scams than you can shake a stick at.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Win bar bets,
By Brian (Sparks, NV) - See all my reviews
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Snake Oil: Life's Calculations, Misdirections, and Manipulations (Paperback)
There's a lot of great info in this book and it's a lot of fun to read.If you want to win bar bets or you're curious about how these things work, then read this book.
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