praetoritevong pls help me. I have no knowledge in mentalism and I'm not very comfortable reading books. I feel more comfortable watching a DVD. What DVDs of mentalism, showmanship, and presentation are so powerful? What devices are powerful? I'm planning on buying a spy earphone, spy camera, and spy microphone. I will have to check the price first. Pls help. Thank you very much.
Well, ok, again, a few things.
About books - I can understand not being comfortable with books. That said, the majority of great information is in books. So basically, it does mean that unfortunately, you will have to eventually delve into books if you want to find a lot of the best material. Books have been around a lot longer obviously, and most of the good stuff is in there, which is why they are recommended. Some books are difficult to read. However, others are far less so, so you should certainly give it a go, and if it doesn't work out, just work really slowly - the knowledge you gain in the long run will be worth it. 13 Steps is available in a DVD series, though, I feel I should mention that.
About mentalism in general - It's alright to have no knowledge, but it's something you must gain before you can perform mentalism properly. Mentalism differs from magic in several key ways - which is why you have to have general knowledge in what you perform. Just as actors know stagecraft - you have to understand what you're doing before you can do it for real. That's partly why 13 Steps is a great resource - each of the steps is an important aspect of mentalism and it gives you a good experience with each part.
About spy equipment - I'm a little lost here I must admit. I'm not really sure why you'd want these in the context of mentalism, although I certainly find them to be interesting little gadgets...
And back to your original thing. You want to read minds. Sure, that's possible. You want them to think of a word without forcing, and you want to know what they're thinking... That's possible, too. Again, keep in mind that we're not actually psychic though. You can create the appearance, for your spectators, of what you want - but keep in mind that you will always have to compromise in some way - and you will always know that you're not actually reading someone's mind.
But yes, there are many ways of doing this. Some require devices, some don't. It's best to read about mentalism in general, and find many different methods for yourself. You might be surprised - there are certainly ways to do this without expensive devices. But they involve other things. There are ways to do this without anything at all - but then the process may turn out to be different to what you expect.
As I said, effects always require some sort of compromise. There are many different methods, each with different compromises. You have to find a compromise that works for you - what I'm happy to compromise on will be different from what you are willing to compromise on. It depends on many things, from personal preference, to the purpose of your effect, to the persona that you portray. The way to find the best method is to find as many methods as possible, and for that, you need to put in the work to learn about mentalism.