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When Barrie Richardson’s Theater of the Mind was published in 1999, it drew immediate acclaim from mentalists and magicians, professional and amateur alike, and quickly became a bestseller. In it, Richardson, a longtime professional performer and speaker, exhibited an unerring track record for fashioning astonishing effects and routines, dressed in powerful and engaging presentations and supported by ingenious, practical methods.

In Act Two, Barrie Richardson shows that he has lost none of his gentle thunder. His new book features 54 tricks, ideas and routines, with all the attributes for which his work has become known and admired. Most include full presentations that use humanity, humor and an unfaltering sense of drama, that culminate in feats that are clearly impossible and thoroughly amazing.

Along with some of his most prized routines, Richardson includes valuable examples taken from his professional repertoire of motivational talks for public and business audiences.

The scenes in Act Two amount to what might be called a modern “miracle play.” Here is a scant sampling of the action:

Spectators name any card and a position in the deck. They count down to that position in an isolated pack and find their card at the precise number they chose. The performer never touches the cards, there are no forces or switches, and the deck is ungimmicked.
Remarkable new billet techniques are applied to ordinary business cards and Post-It notes to create astonishing effects of mind reading.
A deck of cards, shuffled by two spectators, mysteriously separates into reds and blacks in their hands, while the performer tells of mysteries experienced on Mt. Kenya at the equator.
Various feats of superhuman memory and rapid calculation convince audiences of the performer’s extraordinary mental powers – and their own.
A strange solid form materializes under an ungimmicked cloth napkin, and then just mysteriously melts away.
The true and complete method is revealed for the ancient Jar of Rice Suspension, presented to a tale of training and accomplishment in China.
Ground-breaking methods are explained for the divining of one or several mentally selected cards.
Also included are three new deck-switches, done while standing, that require no sleights or use of pockets; a deck that secretly unshuffles itself after being mixed by a spectator; and many more mysteries using coins, bills, magazines, marbles, rope and more.

Frequently, sequels fail to live up to their predecessors. That is not the case here. You won’t want to miss Act Two. A quality hardcover, 382 pages of baffling and practical material, loaded with full presentations.

Contents:

ix Introduction (Michael Weber)
xiii Preface

1 Chapter I: Winners All
7 The Thought Hatchery
12 Another World
19 Do Continue
25 Everyone a Winner
29 The Modest Memory routine

35 Chapter II: Devilish Devices
39 The Ambiguous Coffee Can
41 The Legal Switch-pad
44 Devious Deck Switch
48 Rounders
52 Lazy Magician’s Memorized Deck
54 Double-Sided Peek Box

57 Chapter III: After Dessert
61 Solid Ghost revisited
67 the Power of Touch
71 After the Dessert Thought Transference
74 Impromptu Psychic Matching
78 The Janie Test

83 Chapter IV: Money Matters
87 The Human Scale
93 But There’s More!
105 Net Worth
114 Helicopter Coins
121 Dr. Faust Does a Miracle

125 Chapter V: Mind Excursions
129 The Tossed-out Magazine
135 Untouched
144 Birthday Cards
150 Marble Memories
157 The Simplex Mind-reading Routine

165 Chapter VI: Magic And Metaphor
171 Giant Pairs Repaired
175 Letting Go!
179 The Impossible Knot Routine
188 Seeing with the Chinese Eye
192 The Unchecked Assumption
196 The Astonishing Rice jar Suspension
203 The ABCs of Our Lives

207 Chapter VII: Card Deceptions
211 “My Card” Trick
217 Optical Brainwave Illusion
223 Bluff Card to Pocket
229 1-2-3 Card in Wallet
234 Out of My Sight, But in My Mind
241 A Mental Maguffin

247 Chapter VIII: Paper Chase
251 Business Card Center Tear
256 Post-It Note Center Tear
261 Eliminate the Negative
264 A Question is Answered
270 Contact
275 The Double Billet
281 The Devil’s Peek
287 The Devil’s Routine

293 Chapter IX: Super Mentality
299 Thoughts on the Memorized Magazine Demonstration
303 Fifty-two Cards in Succession
308 Synergistic Memory Demonstration
313 The Incredible Human Calculator

321 Chapter X: Aha! Think Of A Card
325 Final Ecstasy
333 Psychic Poker
341 Impromptu Princess
346 The Blind Voice-detector

351 Epilogue: Reflections