How to Make Mentalism Interesting

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Mentalism was popularized by the great british mentalist deron brown. He used to imply, either implicitly or explicitly, a kind of process. To day we have a different kind of false claim being made - ability to read body language. This is so convincing if i wasn't telling you, how could you tell the difference? If you're really investigating, you need experts. And part of the thing i enjoy about menalism is i'm really trying to create a kind of provocative art for both believers and sceptics.

The most fundamental lesson that all magicians learn is that seeing is not believing. In episode 195, Michael speaks with internationally acclaimed sleight-of-hand artist and 35-year activist for scientific skepticism, Jamy Ian Swiss, about his lively, personal book, The Conjuror’s Conundrum, that takes readers on a magical mystery tour of the longstanding connection between magic and skepticism. Shermer and Swiss discuss: Swiss’s first encounter with fraud, the paranormal and supernatural, magic and mentalism, hot/cold/universal readings, pychics, talking to the dead, James van Praagh, belief, the afterlife, “the amazing” Kreskin, the Alpha Project, and more…