Magic Tricks

I bought 'Sherlockian' as a prerequisite to instructional DVD released by Ben under the same name. I have found many pro's and its fair share of con's, but all in all I find it to be a great supplement to anyone who is (1)Studying mentalism or (2) looking to learn and/or apply another level of audience management to their act.

PRO's:Honestly, its a really great booklet and scratches the surface of simple cold reading and it's applications. It makes you realize that simply paying attention to small things your audience wouldn't think nor make a connection to can open many new doors within your act. It puts you on a different level of thinking as opposed to you normal spectator or laymen. Ben does a great job at laying out the foundation to learn how to read body language and apply it from not only a mentally but through magic as well. It doesn't come overnight... none of the things Ben Teaches in the booklet are "Pick up & Go" Effects. You have to use trial and Error to figure out what works best for you. This in itself helps build character as a performer and help you understand your audience. "Three truths and a lie" is a great impromptu routine that not only teaches you real lie detection tactics, and once you get use to knowing what to look for and how to do it in a manner that is comfortable to you, its a great go-to effect. it took me about a week and a half of dedicated attempts with random people before I got into the swing of things, And I was making pretty accurate hits after just a couple of days.

CON's: It's already been touched on in previous reviews, but I'll say it as well. It isn't "Prop-free", but that doesn't we don't have 3/4's of the things he talks about using as props lying around our house. The fact that it isn't propless seems to rub a lot of people the wrong way, and I don't get it. Some of the dialogue can be a little difficult to follow, but its nothing that taking some notes as you go couldn't fix.

Like I said, all in all its a great booklet if you want to (1) better your skills as a mentalist, (2) Learn some great ways to read body language and how to apply it to a magic/ Mental routine, and (3) learn some amazing ways to separate the liars from your audience, but learn how to make incredibly accurate deductions.