Hi guys!

So I'm interested in the effects with cold reading and graphology, which would look something like this:

or anything similar.

Can you advice me any DVDs or books, maybe even from here at Penguin?

Thanks a lot!

"The Full Facts of Cold Reading" by Ian Rowland is considered one of the best resources for learning that sort of thing.

Naturally, it focuses just on cold reading: it doesn't have any magic tricks in it, per se.

The First bit looked like some pretty standard muscle reading. You can get that in Banechek's dvds. http://www.penguinmagic.com/p/S4628

The cold reading he did wasn't bad for an amateur but most of it was just a battery of Barnum statements all strung together. I am personally trying to step out into some really cool CR techniques. I can't really chat about it because it is unreleased material and I am unfamiliar with some of the proir material that it builds on. Suffice it to say that this chap should start taking some more risks. Sure you miss but just like in that video enough hits that that is what the spec remembers. And when it hits it hits really strong. Basically....a miss is a miss. If you are going to take enough of a chance to be willing to deal with a miss...why not take it on something that could have hit really strong.

Ie. You miss telling a guy, "You are a kind of orderly person but sometimes your life gets so busy that things become very disorderly and you struggle to put things right."

You miss telling a guy that, "when you were a kid you had a dog named Max."

If you get enough hits on the other stuff then at the end of the performance the spec registers the two misses at the same level. Sure he missed twice but he hit 8 out of 10 times! But if you hit on one of those two statement the second will be so much stronger that the first.

ie. "Wow he really pegged my personality well....that was cool."
or....."HOLY CRAP! He knew the name of my flippen dog! That is absolutely NUTS!"

So in short....a spectator will grade a miss the same but they weight hits very differently depending on how specific they are.

Erik, are you getting bolder my good man?

Pete

Jakubr,

If you truly want to be proficient in the area of cold reading, take every chance available to observe "psychics" offering communication with the dead. Watch any footage you can find of this sort, and you will quickly learn what kind of techniques are at work.
Furthermore, when you are out on daily errands and so forth, make a habit of evaluating people based on their appearance. If possible, engage those people once you have made an impression of them, and note whether or not your summation was accurate.
As a final word of advice, practice the techniques when you have an opportune situation in which to do so. This is the hardest part. If you want my recommendation, I would tell you to buy a deck of Tarot cards, and use them when you can. Tarot cards are, in essence, automatic cold readings. Learn how the interpretations use broad statements (these interpretations for the meaning of each card are usually provided with the deck in some sort of manual). Once you've become comfortable, make up your own interpretations when giving "readings" and see how well those interpretations are received. Then, every once in a while, try "shotgunning," or adding in specific information about the person based on probability. The dog example that eostresh offered is perfect. If you miss, keep talking, and find something the person can latch onto, and elaborate upon it.

Naturally, you may want to find a few books on the subject. However, I find that the section offered in 13 Steps to Mentalism along with consistent practice in the field are enough to get you to where you want to be.