BANACHEK – ABOUT PAUL

There are a few people in this world who perform mentalism that really get what a pure mentalist is, or maybe I should say, that as performers, there are a few that care about being a pure mentalist. 

Few that understand the power of an extra word, an extra non pointed out part of the presentation, can take a trick to a miracle status.

Paul Brook just happens to be one of those few.  His touch is gold, much like Midas.  Only his gold is the stuff of legends within our mental performing world.

Banachek

KEITH BARRY – REVIEW

F**KING brilliant! I love this!

I haven’t added a single piece of mentalism to my close up repertoire in years. This is going straight into my act with my own twist on one of Paul’s presentations. This is a HIT!

Keith Barry

MARC PAUL – REVIEW

Thank goodness the mentalism community has Paul Brook in it!

Because he absolutely understands what our business is about and he’s happy to teach all of us what he knows.

Paul’s latest book is a large tome on just a single trick, an effect that you may already know. If that puts you off already then good, because this book is not for you…move along.

If on the other hand you want to understand how a busy professional mentalist takes an existing effect and crafts it into a powerful, multifaceted, entertainment packed, audience pleasing ‘worker’ then this book is most definitely one you must read.

I don’t think I’ve ever read a mentalism book that goes into so much detail about a single effect and it’s a fascinating read.

Paul passionately describes his journey of discovery with this particular routine, in fact he describes it as an obsession and he’s probably right! It’s an old effect buried away on an old DVD. It’s cute and fun and that’s what first attracted Paul’s attention.

If I’m honest I know this effect and I too have played with it and thought it was…okay. But whereas I put it to one side and forgot about it Paul’s brain clicked into gear and started his journey.

His creative process and how and why he incorporated each of his changes is fully described and this is worth its weight in gold to any mentalist who wants to get more creative with their material.

Over the years Paul has shaped that ‘okay’ effect into a powerful, engaging and commercial piece of mentalism that has tremendous value to the real world performer.

That value is its entertainment potential and its flexibility. This routine can have so many different presentations applied to it and Paul fully describes LOADS!

Whoever you are and whatever you do as a mentalist you will find a presentation here that works for you.

Paul uses this is every type of environment from trade shows to weddings and corporate events and he has adapted the effect to become a bespoke piece of entertainment.

He’s made it look like he has created this effect just for particular clients event…this is one of the reasons why he is one of the top paid mentalists in the UK.

I was simply stunned by the amount of variations and presentations that Paul has created. This is a book packed with ideas and any one of them you could add directly into your close-up mentalism set today.

If it’s not already apparent I’m a big fan of Paul’s work and if you want to earn money performing mentalism you must study Paul’s material, he knows!

Get this book and you’ll understand so much more about what makes good, commercial, real world mentalism.

It’s a great book.

BTW: When you do get this book make sure you check out Paul’s ‘Hidden Persuaders’ for each presentation…audiences LOVE this type of stuff!

Marc Paul

MADISON HAGLER – REVIEW

If you’re looking for the next cutting edge method in mentalism, this isn’t for you. If you’re looking for something to fool your magic buddies, this isn’t for you. If you’re looking for a strong, easy effect that will amaze and amuse a lay audience and give you hundreds if not thousands of routining possibilities, then this is just what you NEED.

Madison Hagler

NING  CAI – REVIEW

Master mentalist Paul Brook does it again with It’s Your Choice! This powerful close-up mental effect is a real winner. Get this NOW!

Ning Cai

DREW McADAM – REVIEW

Many years ago I was shown a “card trick” move by Ian Rowland that appealed hugely. It was deliciously clever, and so simple it could never be described as a “sleight”. However, I don’t use playing cards and, although the move is deceptively simple and utterly hidden, I could not think of a way to incorporate it into an effect – boy, that was disappointing. I held onto it for years, and mulled it over on numerous occasions. I knew there must be some way of using it, but nothing came.

However, Paul Brook has taken the hard work out of it.

He has produced a superb multi-layered effect with “It’s Your Choice” that utilises exactly that clever little move. Applying his renowned creative thinking to it, he has created an effect that is not only brilliant in its own right, but can be applied and modified to exactly meet the requirements of the client.

One move. A host of subtleties from which to choose. Only requires four blank cards… But add to this a few incorporated hidden persuaders and pseudo-psychological explanations – of which there is a plethora of examples – it leaves the participant with the realisation that their choice from four options was the only one their subconscious would allow them to make; something you knew before the process even began.

Moreover, once the reader grasps the structure of these “hidden persuaders” it opens up hundreds of possibilities for the performer to modify the delivery to meet their performing style, whatever that might be.

So, four blank cards, a marker (or two different coloured markers – nice touch) and this book. It’s going to keep you busy, and smiling, for a LONG TIME.

Drew McAdam

ALEXANDER MARSH – REVIEW

I LOVE THIS.

Paul has taken a clever yet simple idea most of us will have dismissed and created a solid worker piece.

He gives you everything; clear instructions on the (very simple) moves followed by dozens of presentational hooks, plots, and ideas.

All this combined really makes this a no brainier.

If you’re a psychic entertainer, psychological magician, or bizarrist working close-up, walk around, trade shows, weddings, almost anywhere, this will be going into your repertoire.

Alexander Marsh

PHILL SMITH – REVIEW

Paul kindly let me have a pre-release copy of ‘It’s Your Choice’ to look at. The effect is a refined version of a relatively simple (quite old school) piece, but Paul comes at it from every possible angle and explains the hows and whys of his routine in intricate detail. It’s good, it’s strong and intriguing and it has a very ‘real world’ vibe to it. There’s almost nothing to carry, it’s trivial to make up, and as soon as you’ve performed it you are immediately ready to go again.

Allow me to zoom out a moment and use this text to talk about Brook himself slightly. Paul has been on my radar for a LONG time, and his signature used to be quite exotic psychological routines with methods that sometimes edged into a more experimental space. He certainly had a few effects which people were angry about the methods for -because they loved the effect but the method (whilst brilliant) was not something that would fit their regular performing style. It was stuff that, in the right moment, in the right place, would leave spectators floored, but I think for a lot of people that proviso may have been a little off-putting.

Over the last ten years though, PB has pivoted his performing quite heavily into a very specific corporate space and it’s been interesting to watch how this has manifested in the material he’s developed – increasingly his methodologies are built to be bombproof, functional for a very broad range of commercial audiences and reading It’s Your Choice you can see how worked the material is. The method is well explained, very easy, and it works 100% of the time. It’s not circumstantial, dependent on finding the exact right situation or moment – you can walk up to anyone, any time, anywhere, and this trick will work, in a very self-contained high-impact way.

Whats nice is that these more streamlined presentations actually still manifest the same character as the OG PB stuff, this psychological wunderkind exploiting weird and little-known aspects of human psychology to create miraculous moments, but in a more every-day doable way. And because the structural method is simple, that allows Paul to explore the presentational options, and a big chunk of this text is variations on the presentation, so even if the core effect doesn’t suit your style or persona, there will be something in here that does.

So, overall, it’s a good solid routine that I think a lot of workers will be able to incorporate into their professional performance, especially in the corporate space. Plus, because it has a super flexible method, amateurs will also be able to have fun developing handlings and variations for their own unique styles.

Phill Smith