Hi, I'm not new to magic, but I'm pretty new to mentalism. a few years ago I fell out of magic (from school, scouts, and just being busy and no time to really focus on it). But lately I've been getting back into magic. I've been teaching myself the foundations and relearning all my sleights again, and now that I'm back up to speed with things I'm looking to start and really focus on mentalism since I have always been more fascinated with mentalism than magic, and I also personally find it a bit more "realistic" and better suiting for how I like to preform (I'm able to adapt my preforming style to most any branch of magic like a preformer should be able too, but I think when it comes down to it mentalism is better suited for me). I also am a psychology major and I LOVE the psychology behind mentalism, like using suggestions like Luke Jermay and the likes of that, and I also find mentalism to be much more personal and I can really use what I learn with psychology with my preformance (like what people want to hear, what makes them react certain ways, things of that nature).

And sorry about that huge paragraph that probably seems pointless, but I just wanted to get a background about me out just because I always find know what a person is really looking for helps with answering questions and making reccomendations.

Anywho, on to my question: I have "13 Steps" and I've been reading that a lot and really digesting it and I have been working a lot with the techniques in that book and I've been learning a lot, and I'm looking for a step up because I honestly do not find anything in that book to be of a challenge so I think I can go a little more advanced (I don't want to seem like a "poser kid" looking for "just some cheap effects" or to "rush" or anything, I've been doing a lot of research on the side and I've been looking at my own skill and that's my conclusion). Now I've been reading a lot that people are suggesting both PMM and 13 Steps cause they BOTH are foundations to mentalism. My question is would it be worth it to get PMM also? Would I learn different stuff from that book (such as techniques) or is it really just a different style of teaching the same stuff with only one or two new things thrown in? If it would not be worth it to get PMM, might there by another reading for me to aquire that would be benificial to me?

sorry for this huge post. and Thank you very much for your help.

Some people say it is worth it and it is to a point. However, 13 steps should be the only foundation you need. If you think it is all a little too easy, think again. Sure mentalism is 90% presentation and 10% skill, but you need to MASTER your presentation and your skill before you can present it to anyone. Trust me, you're probably not as advanced as you think you are. Keep reading 13 steps until you're done. Then read it again. Then move on to more advanced stuff. The next book I'd suggest would be PRISM by Max Maven.

I am by no means a "Mentalist" but I do present a lot of things with a psychological or mentalism twist to them, if it works for the effect. I have both books, I like both books, and really the cost is so negligible for PMM that it's really not worth it NOT to have it. The techniques and some effects may be the same, but there are some really cool things in both and if you want to get some extra perspectives, it's worth it to have for me.

BTW, if you do pick it up, check out "Who Killed Mr. X?"

-JT

if you have 13 steps a great follow up would be the dvd sets. it is a 6 dvd set. http://www.penguinmagic.com/product.php?ID=S11799

also max maven has a dvd set called nothing which is great and video mind.

luke jermay has a "store" on the site which has a lot of dvds and books that teach good mentalism.

in my mind it is good to have many sources to refer to

hope i helped