New book: “Reading Writing”

If you’ve read my posts of the last few months, you may remember that I promised to write about a book that I was going to release very soon. I had planned on writing bits and pieces about it until it was published, but I kept finding ways of improving it, which left me no time to post about it. I apologize and thank you, dear readers, for your patience.

Now the book is finally finished, and let me tell you, it’s terrific!

Okay, enough with the immodesty. But seriously, it’s an amazing book, if I say so myself (and so do Richard Osterlind and Mark Lewis, with more to come). It teaches a new skill that can be used on its own (which some performers already do), in conjunction with mentalism (which a few do) or in conjunction with close-up magic (which nobody does, as far as I can tell).

And it’s a worthwhile skill: it can help you expand your social circle, make you more interesting as a performer, and even make you more money.

So what is it about? It’s about doing readings by analyzing handwriting.

Readings are probably the most powerful thing we can do for laypeople. They’re more powerful and more memorable than even the best card trick or mind-reading feat. They’re about the spectator and cater directly to his or her ego.

That’s hard to beat.

Handwriting analysis is the ideal vehicle for readings. Because it’s about character analysis, it neatly sidesteps the need to make predictions, which pose ethical dilemmas and can harm a performer’s reputation if they don’t come to fruition. And because handwriting analysis is based on psychology, it’s more believable to skeptics and more acceptable to audiences—and performers—who want nothing to do with anything of a psychic or supernatural nature.

In addition, handwriting analysis is readily usable in a magic or mentalism act. The moment you look at a signed card or a billet, you’re in a position to say something insightful about the writer. It only takes a few seconds, but it creates a powerful impression and opens the door to more work, if you so choose.

I’ll write more about it soon. If you have any thoughts or questions, please let me know by leaving a comment below.