Sleight of Mind: Suggestion and Mind Control: The Mentalist's Toolkit

Sleight of Mind was a turning point for me. It was the first book that captured the essence of the actual use (not theory in ideal-world situations) of suggestion and NLP. It also gave me a handle on how to develop my performances, and got me thinking clearly for the first time about my performance persona and what impact it had on my audiences. The NLP tips and tricks are incredibly useful, and the hypnotic induction advice is excellent.

It's a good, broad title that gets you thinking about who you come across as in real life too, and exactly why you get on with some people and not with others. Reading it there'll be times when you'll want to kick yourself for somewhere in the back of your mind already knowing some of its advice, and yet not acting on it. I read it once every few months just to remind myself how important what it says is.

This is a book that has severely got up the noses of NLP'ers and 'regression therapists' for coming clean about some aspects of NLP and Hypnosis. I'm glad to say that this is real life, usable stuff, not the hyped up bilge that most books on the subjects offer. This is the basics, the good stuff that everyone needs to know first if they're going to explore these things in any way, and I've got no hesitation recommending it.

I enjoyed 'Geist' by the same authors, both are good reads and extremely useful to those interested in or performing Mentalism or Hypnosis.