I'm very much interested in mentalism and magic, but regrettably, I'm quite poor. Through rigorous efforts, I've obtained Corinda's 13 steps, as well as several magic books. I'm looking for a copy of Prism, but it's out of my price range, and no matter how hard I look, I haven't yet found it from a free source, as I did the 13 steps. I'd like to ask, if any of you, like me, are poor, and have Prism, how did you come by it, and those of you who bought it, how did you come across the money?
(I already work 3 jobs, and my car recently died, so I'm afraid getting another job is simply out of the question.)

Just a forewarning, you will not be well excepted on this site by trying to get anything from exposure. Magicians, as a whole, are not very keen on the idea of exposure, as it hurts the art form. So I highly suggest that you edit your post, and delete any reference of you wanting to get products through free sources, or you will probably be torn apart by other members of this site.

Hi planes walker,

Sorry to hear about your financial problems, conversely if truth be told, mentalism works are quite hard to obtain, even if at heart you wish to dilligently learn the art of mentalism, I'm doubtless that anyone will give free sources or links in which you can get free copies of litteratures.

We have to admit it, I have been writing books myself, and I have been involved in the writing of certain books, and surely it is quite a deal to write about our art form, so taking works freely is stealing... Stealing people ideas, work and ideals... We are extremly respectfull in our art, and if you don't follow those respectfull ideals, you won't get any piece of work.

I can however reccomend you relatively cheaper works on the subject :
- Practical Mental Magic by Theodore Anneman
- 202 methods of Forcing by Theodore Anneman
- 25 One man Mindreading Secrets U.F grant
- Dynamite Mentalism by George Anderson (very cheap, and very good)
- Anneman's Burried Thresure (12 of his effects figured in SPHINX)
- Switchcraft by Elliot Bresler (the most complete, and comprehensive billet work availble on eart, and for a great price!)

As well you can Google ''the learned pig project'',
The author of the website gives old manuscript which is now available to the public domain (the authors either died, or they gave the permissions).

Hope this helps.
Max.

As a magician, I'd disagree... to an extent.
Everyone knows how linking rings work. This does not, however, effect the art of a good linking rings routine. I do, however, agree that exposure CAN be bad for magic; if a person can't appreciate the art of the effect, then once the method is revealed, nothing remains. The way to avoid this, is to make your magic into art. If all you have is a series of tricks, then sure, your show will suffer from exposure. Then again, if all you have is a series of tricks, why was it ever a show in the first place?

As to you disliking the idea of getting free materials, get used to it. Magicians trade effects all the time, like it or not. I refuse to edit my post in any way.


By "free," I mean "I traded for it." As in, although I payed in magic, I didn't pay in money.

Right. That's why I didn't just ask for a copy. It's unethical unless I give something in return.

Thanks, it does help a bit. I've applied for the learned pig project, and from what I've seen, the reviews for those books were very good, especially considering the low price; they may actually be within my range, if I save up.

Stay on topic, he was giving you advice about telling us you got something for free. Even if you "traded" for 13 steps, I doubt you gave the other magi enough information to warrant the trade (unless trading another book). Basically, don't ask for something for free here, don't tell us you're looking for free things, and don't mention exposure and you'll probably be fine with us. That's all Fallingblood was trying to say (at least that's how I interpreted it... if not, then it's my advice and I suggest you follow it). Stay on topic, don't make this into an exposure thread.

I asked if anyone wanted to trade at the END of my post. There was stuff before it.

I asked for advice; I do hope you don't plan on charging me for that.

The other guy brought it up; my apologies for perpetuating the conversation.

He came across rather confrontational to me, as though he were accusing me of sharing magical secrets with the world. (I will only share methods with dedicated magicians; I do have standards.) I don't share his opinions on exposure; to me, it creates an air of pretension, which is NOT condusive to the artistic aspect of magic. If penguin users really have this much of a problem with exposure, I assure you, I won't expose anything here.

It sounds like you're sincere in learning, but there are some rules you must follow. One is to not request PM's from people. I know it sounds silly, you can blame those who abused it for that one. If they offer to PM you without you asking, that's fine.
Two, is to remember that this is hosted by a commercial business, it's not a swap meet. Buy/Sell/Trade offers aren't allowed here.

Huh. I didn't see that in the rules, but I'll take your word for it. I'm new to THIS forum.

Verstandt. The primary purpose of this thread wasn't to arrange trades; I don't feel it'll suffer any if I edit that out of my post.

I think you'd make a good mod. You've clearly read my post, and your objections weren't confrontational accusations, but were, rather, based on simply pointing out violations of the TOS.

If you missed them, here they are.

http://www.penguinmagic.com/discuss/vie ... hp?t=65387

Ah, I see.
I s'pose their rationale holds here; my PM request was, indeed to set up trades. (I did read the rules, but somehow I missed this one.)
Well, I dislike that rule, but as trading things could hurt their business, I s'pose it makes sense. (To be honest, I think radio shack's policy is better; if you teach people how something works, they may want it even more, and the knowledge itself acts as a drawing point to attract customers. But hey, it's their business, they get to run it however they want, right?)

The problem here is, if you teach someone how a magic trick works, they already have it. That is, once you learn the effect, you won't buy it because you know how it works. It is different with books, you could maybe show an effect from it but not explain it and that might get people to buy it, but in magic you will never get someone to buy an effect after having seen how it is done. The only way that would happen is if the cards used in a card trick, or coins in a coin trick were gimmicked in some way and they needed the gimmick to perform it.

Which, to a poor man, is a bit of a moot point. I can't buy it anyway.
Ok. Really, I'm just curious as to what effects the book contains, considering how often people talk about how good it is. I'd settle for the effects without the methods.

If I may clarify, I never attacked you. I simply gave you a warning, as others on this site would tear you apart if they believed that you are part of the exposure problem. I say this because of the many instances of it that I have witnessed while being on this site. As I didn't care to see another instance of that, I gave you a forewarning to hopefully avoid a rather messy confrontation that could happen, as it has many times before.

If you can save up some money though, the book is well worth the price. Even if you have to buy it used (Amazon is always good about that). But if you have the 13 Steps, I would just say really work on that at first. It's a great foundation, and has the potential of lasting you years.

Touching story, really.
However, if you want my advice, here's how you can accumulate some more cash:
Quit paying for internet service, go find odd jobs, and put that saved money toward magic, if you truly want to do what you claim to.
It is quite effective. Try it.

I don't pay for my internet service. I use wifi off a computer I got from a scholarship.
Also, my car broke, and I'm working 3 jobs. My schedule is quite busy.