or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
Express Checkout with PayPhrase
What's this? | Create PayPhrase
More Buying Choices
35 used & new from $9.49
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
or
Get a $3.51 Amazon.com Gift Card
Monsters and Magical Sticks: Or, There's No Such Thing As Hypnosis
 
 
See all product images
See 1 customer image
Share your own customer images
Search inside this book
Tell the Publisher!
I’d like to read this book on Kindle

Don’t have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

Monsters and Magical Sticks: Or, There's No Such Thing As Hypnosis [Paperback]

Steven Heller (Author)
4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
List Price: $18.95
Price: $12.89 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
You Save: $6.06 (32%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.
Only 4 left in stock--order soon (more on the way).
17 new from $11.33 18 used from $9.49

Formats

 Amazon Price New from Used from
Paperback $12.89   $11.33 $9.49

Frequently Bought Together

Monsters and Magical Sticks: Or, There's No Such Thing As Hypnosis + Training Trances: Multi-Level Communication in Therapy and Training + My Voice Will Go with You: The Teaching Tales of Milton H. Erickson
Price For All Three: $39.38

Show availability and shipping details

Buy the selected items together

  • In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

  • Training Trances: Multi-Level Communication in Therapy and Training by John Overdurf$14.96

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

  • My Voice Will Go with You: The Teaching Tales of Milton H. Erickson by Sidney Rosen$11.53

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Training Trances: Multi-Level Communication in Therapy and Training

Training Trances: Multi-Level Communication in Therapy and Training

by John Overdurf
3.9 out of 5 stars (26)  $14.96
My Voice Will Go with You: The Teaching Tales of Milton H. Erickson

My Voice Will Go with You: The Teaching Tales of Milton H. Erickson

by Sidney Rosen
4.6 out of 5 stars (37)  $11.53
Patterns of the Hypnotic Techniques of Milton H. Erickson, M.D

Patterns of the Hypnotic Techniques of Milton H. Erickson, M.D

by Richard Bandler
4.8 out of 5 stars (31)  $13.64
The Structure of Magic, Vol. 1: A Book About Language and Therapy

The Structure of Magic, Vol. 1: A Book About Language and Therapy

by Richard Bandler
4.4 out of 5 stars (19)  $14.93
Richard Bandler's Guide to Trance-formation: How to Harness the Power of Hypnosis to Ignite Effortless and Lasting Change

Richard Bandler's Guide to Trance-formation: How to Harness the Power of Hypnosis to Ignite Effortless and Lasting Change

by Richard Bandler
4.3 out of 5 stars (31)  $10.85
› Explore similar items

Editorial Reviews

Review

I really do think it is that good... -- Andy Bradbury, author of Develop Your NLP Skills and NLP for Business Success

I've been practicing hypnosis all my life and didn't know it. And so have you!! -- Robert Anton Wilson author of Prometheus Rising

One of the most important books you will read in your lifetime. -- Zanne Marie Gray, BookReview.com

Product Description

If you want to know how hypnosis really works (and, no, it has nothing to do with waving of hands or other similar nonsense), you will want to read this book. If you want to know the "magic" behind Ericksonian techniques and Neuro-Linguistic Programming, you have to read this book. From one of the true masters of hypnotherapy, this is one book that can really change your life!!
See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

  • Paperback: 192 pages
  • Publisher: New Falcon Publications; 2 edition (December 1994)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1561840262
  • ISBN-13: 978-1561840267
  • Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.3 x 0.4 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 0.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #133,954 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
    #30 in  Books > Health, Mind & Body > Psychology & Counseling > Hypnosis

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

More About the Author

Steven Heller
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

› Visit Amazon's Steven Heller Page
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Search Inside This Book:
Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
Although I have been using a form of "hypnosis" for more than fifteen years now, I found this book by Steven Heller and Terry Lee Steele not only illuminating, but intellectually staggering. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Magical Sticks, Milton Erickson, Left Meets Right Meets Left, Out of Conscious Unconscious System, Paul Watzlawick, San Diego, Weighing Anchors
New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats
Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Search Inside This Book:

Books on Related Topics (learn more)
 
 

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Monsters and Magical Sticks: Or, There's No Such Thing As Hypnosis
79% buy the item featured on this page:
Monsters and Magical Sticks: Or, There's No Such Thing As Hypnosis 4.6 out of 5 stars (38)
$12.89
Monsters & Magical Sticks: There's No Such Thing As Hypnosis?
9% buy
Monsters & Magical Sticks: There's No Such Thing As Hypnosis?
$16.95
Training Trances: Multi-Level Communication in Therapy and Training
5% buy
Training Trances: Multi-Level Communication in Therapy and Training 3.9 out of 5 stars (26)
$14.96
My Voice Will Go with You: The Teaching Tales of Milton H. Erickson
5% buy
My Voice Will Go with You: The Teaching Tales of Milton H. Erickson 4.6 out of 5 stars (37)
$11.53
Explore similar items

Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 
(14)
(6)
(4)
(4)
(3)
(3)
(2)
(1)
(1)
(1)
Agree with these tags?
See all 18 tags...

Your tags: Add your first tag
 
See most popular tags

Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store

If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store. Learn more
 

Customer Reviews

38 Reviews
5 star:
 (28)
4 star:
 (8)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:
 (1)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.6 out of 5 stars (38 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
89 of 97 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A Classic, August 31, 2003
By Karl (England, Great Britain) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Monsters and Magical Sticks: Or, There's No Such Thing As Hypnosis (Paperback)
OK, let's start with the flaws:

1. Neuroscientist Michael S. Gazzaniga is mentioned about half a dozen times, and almost every time, even in the Bibliography, his name is spelt "Gazzaneza".

That's it. End of flaws.
Everything else is just terrific and for anyone interested in hypnosis, or NLP, or both, this is one of those rare books You simply Must Have.

At the time of writing Amazon.com were pairing this book with "Training Trances" - which is a pretty powerful combination. But the books aren't just two stabs at the same material, they are significantly different views of much of the stuff that NLP is based on, and in particular the work of Milton Erickson.

The difference between the two books, and I say this with respect to all the authors, is that where "Training Trances" tells you what to DO, "Monsters and Magical Sticks" shows you how to LIVE "it".
(And in case you were thinking that "it" is Ericksonian-style hypnosis, as the book's subtitle says: "There's No Such Thing As Hypnosis?")

Just like "Training Trances", and despite its apparent simplicity this is a book that can be read over and over again. And each time you read it you'll find something that you didn't get before.

If this book is anything to go by, Dr Steven Heller seems to have been very much in the same mould as Milton Erickson, gentle, tolerant, humorous, caring, etc., etc.
At the end of the Epilogue, Nicholas Tharcher has included a brief obituary that includes these words:

"Though his work and his legacy endures, his presence, his sense of humor, and his enormous energy are gone. As one of his many friends I miss him."

By the time you finish reading this book, the only book by Heller now in print, I wouldn't be at all surprised if you feel much the same way.

A great book. Do yourself a BIG FAVOUR and get it.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


 
37 of 39 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars The Holy Grail of Old School NLP, March 6, 2007
By J. Storm (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Monsters and Magical Sticks: Or, There's No Such Thing As Hypnosis (Paperback)
This book is to modern NLP what the discovery of Jesus' tomb with him, his wife, and his son still in it would be to modern Christianity!

I am not a newcomer to hypnosis or Neuro-linguistic Programming by any stretch of the imagination. I have taken NLP Practitioner, Master Prac, and Trainers Training and have done various other NLP and hypnosis trainings over the past decade. But more than that, I *USE* NLP on a daily basis, with myself, with those close to me, and with everyone I meet. NLP trainings, for some practical reason, are never complete; they tend to leave "holes" in the big picture for those attending the trainings (if they don't render you utterly psychotic in the process--some people just can't tolerate NLP-style training. By the time they find out they're one of those people, it's already too late and irreparable damage can be done. Trainings by the Society of NLP are the worst, by far). You are expected to go out into the "real world" and fill in those holes with actual experience. I still had a lot of holes that I hadn't been able to fill in. Until this book...

Heller studied NLP when it was still new, back in the 1970s. He got the *real skills* back when they were still readily available from the originators. Nowadays, it seems most of the best-known NLP trainers and experts are only interested in selling you on their next seminar rather than actually teaching you something you can use. God forbid you should actually learn something and no longer need them, you know.

I got more practical NLP knowledge from this book than I did from all of the NLP trainings I've attended *put together*. Heller doesn't have a "New Code of NLP" to sell, he's not trying to avoid having the uninitiated learn his "secret recipe," he's sincerely sharing what he has learned in a very entertaining, highly memorable style.

The lack of theory that another reviewer complained so bitterly about is typical of NLP and Erickson-style teaching. He teaches you without overtly teaching you. Instead of dry, boring examples of theoretical dogma, Heller tells you stories about real people with real experiences that make the concepts very easy to understand and apply. Instead of pontificating over the technical and theoretical underpinnings of the etiology of the symptomatic complex, Heller simply says "this works, use this." And he's right. I would rather be able to do a particular skill without knowing exactly why it works than to know intimately why and how it works and not be able to do it at all. Wouldn't you?

If you're looking in other "scientific" tomes for verification of his concepts, you're wasting your time. Hypnosis and NLP in particular are about the qualitative, subjective experience as the individual perceives it. Quite of a necessity, when you generalize those things to a level where they are readily testable and verifiable in a cross section of the population, you lose something vital to the concept. Human beings are all unique. Therapeutic techniques, therefore, must be tailored to the uniqueness of the individual. This book operates from that basis.

Not exactly a book meant for beginners, Monsters and Magical Sticks will give the greatest benefit to those who already have some NLP training and knowledge. Traditional hypnotists or those doing only direct suggestion approaches may not find this book as useful as those doing more creative and naturalistic hypnotic interventions. NLP'ers will find a veritable treasure trove of practical knowledge in this amazing book.

Specifically, Heller talks about cerebral hemispheric specialization and its role in the way people think. He describes hypnotic trance as the naturally-occurring, everyday emotional state that it is. He gives real examples of how and when you go into trance and how to induce them conversationally in others. He talks about the species of conditioned response known as "anchoring" and how to use it. There is so much great material in this book, no simple review could cover it all. At its simplest, Heller has condensed down a vast body of knowledge into an easily-digestible whole that is unparalleled in any other book on NLP and hypnosis. Buy this book only if you want to learn to use effective hypnotic communication naturally in everyday situations.

I wish I had read this book a long time ago! It might have saved me spending the countless thousands of dollars (not to mention the debt I've accumulated) pursuing NLP training. With the average cost of just one NLP training easily reaching the $2,000 mark, the cost of this book is utterly inconsequential compared to the knowledge contained in it. When you learn the skills in this book, nothing will ever be difficult again!
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


 
25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars "You are NOT getting sleepy...", March 6, 2002
By "roxx33" (Boise, ID United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Monsters and Magical Sticks: Or, There's No Such Thing As Hypnosis (Paperback)
Doctor Steven Heller has written a fascinating book based on something that looks to be a passion. It's not that he is completely skeptical of any form of hypnosis, but he takes a hard look at the ritual and unnecessary dramatics of the professional "hypnotist." The word is in quotes, because you will see it that way all through the book. He was a clinical hypnotist for years. You should know that this title is not "Reader's Digest-level reading," it is intense and academic in approach. Steven Heller does believe in hypnosis, but under a different definition than most are used to. Monsters and Magical Sticks is filled with metaphors, imagery, and amazing success stories of his own case sessions. Learn about the "magic" behind Ericksonian techniques and Neuro-Linguistic Programming. This book will show you how hypnotism really works.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars What hypnosis really is
This book will easily explain what hypnosis really is and how it works. the author, Dr Steven Heller, was a hypnotherapist referred to by his peers as "The Wizard"... Read more
Published 8 months ago by greg haught

5.0 out of 5 stars I Love this book and have read it numerous times...
As a Master NLP Practitioner and Advanced Hypnotherapist I view this book by Steven Heller as a classic. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Paul Hessinger

4.0 out of 5 stars Appropriate Title
Well written, to the point! Great for therapists, but the lay person can understand the points presented! Our unresourceful patterns are just that Monsters... Read more
Published 22 months ago by Patricia A. Murray

5.0 out of 5 stars Very interesting.
Helped introduce me to covert hypnosis ideas. I bought the book for self defense against con-artists because I'd recently been taken advantage of by folks using covert hypnosis... Read more
Published 23 months ago by Nathan L. Hayden

4.0 out of 5 stars A CHATTY PRESENTATION
This book has a very chatty style; you could almost imagine the author reading it to you or chatting to you as you go through it. Read more
Published on January 27, 2008 by J. Hunter-Yetton

5.0 out of 5 stars Monsters and Magical Sticks
This is a very cool book about inducing Hypnosis where "traditional" inductions fail. It is directed at hypnosis professionals, but certainly an interesting read to anybody... Read more
Published on January 26, 2008 by H. Frick

5.0 out of 5 stars hyp hypnotist
Many years ago when Steve first published this book I owned an original copy signed by him. I cherished this book. Read more
Published on November 22, 2007 by Jeanne

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful Hypnosis Read
Don't be put off by the title, this is serious clinical stuff.

This is the most seriously fun and informative clinical hypnosis book I've ever read. Read more
Published on October 27, 2007 by George Guarino

5.0 out of 5 stars A study book
For me this needs reading more than once. It is a mine of information and very instructive. It provides a good fraame work that can be adapted to different situations. Read more
Published on July 2, 2007 by Des Collett

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb!
I rarely re-read books, I have read this one several times and it has been worth my time each and every time.
Published on May 13, 2007 by J. Lipstate

Only search this product's reviews


Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   


Look for Similar Items by Category

Look for Similar Items by Subject

Search Books by subject:









i.e., each book must be in subject 1 AND subject 2 AND ...
 

Feedback

If you need help or have a question for Customer Service, contact us.
 Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
Is there any other feedback you would like to provide?

Your comments can help make our site better for everyone.


Your Recent History

 (What's this?)

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.