Imagine

THE BLURB:
Imagine.

A very simple word, and yet, such a powerful one.

Just Imagine that a volunteer from the audience can merely
think of any item from a list that has been entirely created
by the rest of the audience. She concentrates upon her
selection as the you run through all of the named
possibilities. When you get to the end of the list, you will
be able to tell the volunteer exactly what she is thinking.

Just Imagine that a person can merely think of any one of
the five standard ESP symbols—and you will be able to tell
them which one.

And all of this (and more) can be accomplished on the spot.
Nothing ever needs to be written. There is no advance
preparation. No secret assistants. No gimmicks. No forcing.
No pumping. No equivoque. And everything can be done without
the performer ever touching anything—so there is obviously
no sleight-of-hand. Simply put, everything here can look,
and feel, like real mind reading. And everything can be done
100% impromptu.

But, there is a catch…

If you are the type of person that often reads something
that is a bit different, and immediately believes that it
will never work, then this manuscript will not be worthwhile
for you. The material found between these covers is unusual,
powerful, and certainly not for everyone. So be forewarned.

Pages 42 - Soft Bound

MY COMMENTS:
Let's begin by restating the warning that the "material
found between these covers is unusual,powerful, and
certainly not for everyone." I'll say right up front that
inexperienced or insecure performers may not benefit from
this, and that's because it takes experience and confidence
to pull it off. It's not difficult, but the techniques are
certainly advanced. They are along the same level as, oh,
contact mind-reading, though perhaps a bit easier.

Like most of Rick Maue's material, Imagine, a 46-page 8.5" x
11" booklet, has a quite unusual format. Though it contains
five effects, the one that really counts is the title
effect, and it is the last one in the book. What Rick has
done is presented four other effects so that you can see the
evolution and thinking behind the fifth and main effect.
Though the other effects are fine, it is Imagine that is the
most incredible effect in the book and the one that most
performers will want to use.

In the first effect, Target Practice, a participant merely
thinks of one of four cards. The performer names that card.
Sensing Symbols is the next effect, which is virtually the
same, only it uses five cards, or the five ESP symbols.
This one is the first in the book to use the basis of the
actual technique that Rick Maue teaches. There is a
discussion on that technique and subtleties such as
participant selection. The third effect, Merged Thoughts,
one participant thinks of a value and the other thinks of a
suit of a playing card. The performer reveals the chosen
card. In the fourth effect, the participant thinks of a
single digit in the serial number of a dollar bill and the
performer reveals it.

Imagine, the title effect of the book, takes all of this
thinking and uses the technique for a fun and powerful
effect. It is the first effect described in the blurb. The
audience creates a list of five things. They can be lists
of anything, so long as they are all related (cars, flowers,
movie titles, etc). The participant merely thinks of one of
those things. As the performer goes through the list of
five things, he (or she) is able to name the thought-of
item.

Certainly, Rick Maue has developed a technique which all
mentalists should be familiar with, if not using. It is
truly remarkable and certainly looks like real mind reading.
As you might surmise, it can be done impromptu and for any
size group. Like contact mind-reading, there are no gaffs,
no set-up, no stooges, no pre-show work, and no sleights.
You need only some paper, a pen or pencil, and your
participants.

Rick Maue is another creator who has yet to put out
something that is not highly recommended by me. My only
quibble with this book is that there are no page numbers, so
I have to dog-ear the key pages I want to come back to.
It's a minor quibble, true. The important thing is that
this Rick Maue product, too, is highly recommended.