I had to chuckle at some of the comments about "out of date" information set into this thread. You see, I've worked some of the most famous effects of the big stage using Howard Thurston's actual props such as the Sawing in Half and in so doing, I've watched that massive, clunky looking cabinet totally dumbfound the public and get a better reaction than my pretty little thin model sawing. I've seen Kirkham get standing ovations for doing the original slight of hand version of The Orange Bowls -- a very "simple looking" effect in which two empty glass bowls end up overflowing with real oranges . . . there are some complicated gimmicked versions of this same effect, not nothing as elegant as the original.
Methods can be ancient but in the right hands . . . the hands of a serious minded and focused student . . . those old methods can and will devastate minds, including that of the older generation who've forgotten about said techniques because they'd been ignored for so long. Doug Henning built a successful career reviving long thought dead or impractical effects.
13 Steps is a "Must" for anyone wishing to take an honest go at developing Mentalism as is Annemann's Practical Mental Magic (which is actually less applicable in some ways than Corinda) and the Karl Fulves self-working Mentalism text. In addition to this I would include Banachek's
Psychological Subtleties and
Psychophysiological Thought Reading (along with Disc 3 of his PSI Series).
My book
MENTALISM: An Introduction & Resource List will give you a better overview on things, including a look at a few other texts not directly related to show biz/magic that the student should consider.
The part most fail to understand is that Mentalism doesn't concern itself with "tricks" -- there is only one primary Illusion and that is the claim and validity you paint around yourself as the performer.