I have been reading into this subject for ages.
Answer: Yes you can be, eg Derren Brown.
Also Ormond McGill's Guide to stage hypnotism is OUTDATED. Sure its a great starting point but their are concepts inside that are considered dangerous. Here are my recommendations.
Mentalism:
Read this
http://gunnsight.blogspot.com/2004/08/gunns-beginners-guide-to-mentalism.html
Hypnosis: These books are gold!
-Geoff Ronning's Guide to Modern Stage Hypnosis (considered the new stage hypnotism encyclopedia)
- Reality is Plastic by Anthony Jacquin (Impromptu hypnotism, getting great reviews everywhere)
Look on the magic cafe for more discussion. There is a specific forum dedicated to mentalism and hypnosis.
-DL
P.S Read the MagicCafe for reviews on Zap, what the members here at t11 here are right, there are many products more value for money.