Psychological Subtleties 2

THE BLURB:
Psychological Subtleties remains one of the best selling
books in the magic and mentalism community and is considered
a basic reference source for any complete library on our
art. Psychological Subtleties offers ideas, tips and
observations of natural human responses that can be inserted
into performing situations to make the overall result of an
effect much stronger, entertaining and memorable. Several
performers incorporated that knowledge into their acts and
built whole routines around those clever ideas.

Psychological Subtleties 2 picks up where the first book
ends. Whereas Psychological Subtleties was not a book of
tricks and routines, this book contains complete routines
from professionals who understood the value and impact of
those ideas in the first book.

Here you will find routines from: Peter Arcane, Greg Arce,
Lance Campbell, Dr. Bill Cushman, Christian David, David De
Leon, Paul W. Draper, Gerard, Jonathon Grant, Patrick Kuffs,
Andy Leviss, Rick Maue, Mike Merchant, Ravi Johannes Pazhur,
Ian Rowland, Leonardo Silverio, and Michael Sibbernsen as
well as routines and more subtleties from the mind of
Banachek.

Hardbound, 203 pages

MY COMMENTS:
If you have the first volume of Psychological Subtleties,
then you probably don't need to hear what I have to say
about this. You already know you want it and probably
already ordered sight unseen.

But for those who don't have that first volume, I'll try to
convey the importance of this series and this book. First
off, psychological subtleties are the crux of any
mentalist's performance. These little details elevate one's
performance dramatically. With mentalism, the details are
more important than the props you use or the sleights
involved (which is not to say that there is little
importance in the props and sleights). And Psychological
Subtleties catalogues the best of what mentalists are using.

Interestingly, I've always found Banachek's first volume to
be a barometer of how well someone understands the art of
performing mentalism. If a mentalism enthusiast read the
book and felt it contributed little to their performance or
knowledge, I knew without question that this person was
either an inexperienced mentalist and/or someone who really
didn't understand the art. Details and psychology woven
into a mentalist's presentations are an essential ingredient
to the success of any performance. This series is all about
that very subject. Banachek recounts a letter in the first
chapter of the book about a novice mentalist who didn't
think much of the book until he performed a show that wasn't
as successful as he wanted it to be. Then he read the book
again and saw so much information that would help his act
that he apologetically changed his mind about the book.

As the blurb says, this book picks up where the last one
left off. Sections include Subtle Psychology, Subtle
Presentation Points, Subtle Suggestions, Subtle Pre-Show,
Subtle Blindfold, Subtle Non-Verbal, Subtle Teaching, and
Subtle Amnesia. Even though there are references to
material in the first volume, this book can still stand on
its own. This is indeed a must-have for anyone interested
in mentalism.

Just to be complete, this new volume is about an inch taller
and wider than the first edition. The pages are a bit
thicker and the font is larger. It also has a jacket. At
the time of this writing, that first volume is out of print.
But the publisher is working to quickly to re-format the
first volume to match the second volume (and the third one
which is planned to be released in about a year).