Cold Reading and Psychics

[chriswiehl]

Im having a psychic fair at my school. and im pretty sure that all psychics do is cold reading. Now im not sure if that is true. im just guessing that is the basic idea of it.(im not saying psychics are real im saying that i think they do cold reading) am i correct? where is a good place to learn how to do this? if i wanted to show some friends someday how psychics work?
books, videos, tapes, what are some good resources to learn it?

 

[firmz]

Kenton Knepper - completely cold and Ian Rowland - full facts book of cold reading. Plus Luke Jermays Leading reading - combine that with E.I

 

[ajp500]

Yea, the ever so popular book 13 steps to mentalism goes into a basic idea of cold reading.

It is also takes years to perfect and get the idea of cold reading down perfectly.

 

[Deechristopher]

Trickshop.com has a few pretty good reading ebooks- I think Kenton's put some of his stuff as downloads at wonderwizards.com also.

I know that trickshop stocks the Fitzkee stuff which will tell you all you need to know really

D.

 

[Steerpike]

I wouldn't go with any of the recommendations here. My first choice would be Bob Cassidy's The Real Work of Cold Reading and follow that with Herb Dewey's Red Hot Cold Reading.

Rowland's book is far too cynical and some of his advice (such as not learning any psychic "sciences" like astrology and just making it up as you go along) is bull****. Kenton's Completely Cold really only works well if you already have a grounding in the basics. And Trickshop's stuff I find to generally be pretty run of the mill.

 

[maor tal]

I've the Kenton Knepper - completely cold
but i hate that becase i think isn't practical,if you want to use in Cold Reading,
here good article in this subject:
http://www.skeptics.com.au/articles/coldread.htm
You can watch in Derren Brown and you know how this work:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btP_vy5cQq4

Have fun,
Maor tal

 

[Steerpike]

Believe it or not, skeptics are among the worst people to ask for learning cold reading.

 

[Stuart Cumberland]

chriswiehl: First, I'd like to thank you for your approach to the question and willingness to learn.

Few, if any, good psychics use "cold reading". Most use legitimate traditional systems (palmistry, for example) and natural intuition. That's it.

My favorite quote is by steerpike:

Believe it or not, skeptics are among the worst people to ask for learning cold reading.

Ian Rowland I'm confident is sincere that he believes that that's how readers do it, but I sincerely doubt he's ever given a real reading in his life, let alone had one given to him. His book is laughable. Skeptics love it though.

With the exception of Bob Cassidy, all the mentioned books are by folks who haven't got a CLUE how to give readings. Seriously.

Want some awesome advice? Learn a simple "ology". Learn, for example, the meanings of the four major lines of the palm. You can learn it in an evening or two. It's pretty easy and there are plenty of places to pick it up. You won't need to B.S. anyone, make up fake lines or any of that skeptic-think. Just do it. Give entertaining readings and you're on your way.

I highly recommend finding Richard Webster's stuff. He's written books for the trade and he's written books for the public. Look up "Palmistry for Beginners" on Amazon. That'll get you going. You'll give FUN readings for your school friends and you won't sweat remembering those crappy "cold" lines.

One last piece of advice, if I may. I'm getting back into card magic after being out of it for nearly 30 years. If you do a card trick, simply add a fast quick card reading at the end...

They'll love your Ambitious Card routine... but they'll always remember your reading. As much as I'm loving card magic and having fun with it... nothing touches a good solid reading.

Stuart Cumberland

 

[Steerpike]

Few, if any, good psychics use "cold reading". Most use legitimate traditional systems (palmistry, for example) and natural intuition. That's it.

Agree and disagree. They're not consciously cold reading anyone, but when you get right down to it, cold reading is just intuition on purpose.

Ian Rowland I'm confident is sincere that he believes that that's how readers do it, but I sincerely doubt he's ever given a real reading in his life, let alone had one given to him. His book is laughable. Skeptics love it though.

He's right about a few things. He's done his homework on some of the psychological principles behind cold readings. But he's only ever done his "readings" for people that are just like him. In the controlled environment for a lecture for other skeptics, you can easily make up a bunch of crap about what Tarot card means what and no one will be the wiser. But if you want to make money at this, you're going to get caught.

His chapter on psychic baiting also, while sometimes intriguing, is also pretty transparently the work of someone with shaky scruples. From what I understand he's actually received enough criticism from the mentalism community that current editions of the book no longer have that chapter. And on top of that, his assertion that shutting up is the perfect way to stymie a reader is bull****. A good reader can do a highly accurate reading of you even if you persist in just sitting there with your lips sealed.

 

[Brad Henderson]

This link:

http://www.deceptionary.com/aboutreading.html

by Doug Dyment is considered to be one of the best bibliographies on cold reading. There are 6 items on his "must read" list. My book, is one of them.

And because of that, I feel I must say - ALWAYS be wary of people who give advice who also have a product to sell. (But, for the record, I did give readings professionally for a period of time.)

Having said that - there are two kick ass card tricks in the back of my book. One is taught with Tarot cards, but I do it equally as often with regular cards. McBride dubbed it the Everlasting Card trick, because once you experienced it, you would never forget it.

I'm not so sure REALLY that's true, though. Though one girl did remember it several years after as the best trick she has seen.

The other is a great trick that allows you to practice reading in a safe context - the trick will conclude successfully regardless of how accurate your readings may be. I wrote that piece for a student when he was 16. It ended up being a great piece and I was requested to perform it this past weekend at invitation only session that regularly pulls some of the finest sleight of hand guys in the US.

But remember, take my advice here with a grain of salt - I have product to sell.

Brad Henderson

 

[lilstunna]

watch the derren brown interview he talks about cold reading and phycics


http://blog.penguinmagic.com/

 

[Steerpike]

But remember, take my advice here with a grain of salt - I have product to sell.

A shade more honesty than we usually get around here, though.

watch the derren brown interview he talks about cold reading and phycics


http://blog.penguinmagic.com/

Okay, seriously. I like Derren. But there's nothing he teaches in that video that you couldn't learn from Google within 10 minutes of searching. This goes back to my point about skeptics being bad sources to learn from.

Derren is providing background to a skeptical crowd, exactly what they want to hear. He has no intention of teaching all the viewers how to become readers. Just buy the damn books and stop looking for shortcuts.

 

[Scarlett12]

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