Nothing unites two minds like love…

The effect is beautifully simple and straightforward: a spectator opens a book, chooses a page, thinks of a word – and you read their mind. This effect is enhanced by the fact that it looks just like a book of poetry – complete with table of contents, index, a forward by the editor, and editor’s notes sprinkled throughout. It really stands up to close scrutiny. And, there are no dice to roll or cards to choose – at every stage the spectator has a real choice.

Incandescence is a highly intricate assemblage of gimmicks (there can be up to 12 phases!) It's easy to skip from one phase to another, using only the ones you like best. The skill level ranges from simple to intermediate, depending on the number of phases you choose to learn. And, the number and variety of phases gives you enormous flexibility in performing for repeat clients or at trade shows where there might be people lingering to watch the effect over and over. It’s also great to perform for couples.

Unique features of this book test:

Unlike some book tests that begin with the magician making a mistake, Incandescence gives you two really strong hits before you have to do any fishing.

The way you discover the spectator’s choice is based on an original principle. The method exploits ambiguities inherent in the English language so that any questions you ask are merely clarifications, not the bald “then what letter does your word begin with?” style questions of many book tests.

Unlike many book tests, the text in Incandescence is actually readable and so the effect is every bit as mysterious for the person holding the book as the rest of the audience.

The strongest, most-popular phases in the test require very little memory work (the reactions you see in the video are mostly from a phase that requires learning only 6 words).

The majority of the memory work in Incandescence is in the “alternate phases” intended primarily for magicians who perform in situations like trade shows where people linger and might wonder why people keep choosing the same few words.

 

 


 



 



"Chris sent me a review copy of his new
book test, Incandescence. I like book tests and this one is a great one! Chris took the time to really make this right. You can weave a lot of emotion into your presentation because of the design of the effect. I recommend this highly!"

- Richard Osterlind

"A worthy entry in the field of book tests... Philpott has formatted and composed the text in a manner that does an excellent job of hiding the key words... He also gives some great advice on presentation... Incandescence is a fine book test."

-Brad Henderson, Magic Magazine

"Incandescence is a beautiful, thoughtfully constructed effect. This being a book of love poetry, there are so many possibilities for the performer. The performance tips at the end of the manual are also very valuable words. Any mentalist who takes them to heart will benefit greatly!"

-Angela Funovits

"Incandescence is a very impressive effort by writer/director/performer Chris Philpott. He has cleverly taken the premise of the book test and applied it to a genre of book (love poems) that contains inherent emotional meaning for the audience.”

-Thomas Baxter, Mentalist and author (The Nail Writer Anthology).

“I believe that "Incandescence" has many new and original features that make it a significant contribution to the genre… ‘Incandescence’ is clearly well worth an investment of several times the selling price.”

- Dick Christian, author of an upcoming encyclopedia of book tests

 

Special thanks to magician Michael Rangel for performing in the Incandescence video.

Incandescence:
The Love Poem Book Test©

 

 





©Chris Philpott 2011 - 2016. All rights reserved. Original designs and content by Kathleen Breedyk and Chris Philpott.
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PLUS: Here's an example of a strong, original and easy-to-memorize three-phase routine:

1) After freely choosing a page and reading a few verses of love poetry on that page “to stimulate the mysterious psychic connectedness that love brings” the spectator thinks of a word and you read their mind.

2) You ask them a question about the poem they chose: not only do you tell them the answer they’re merely thinking of, but you say you’re getting a second answer as if they’ve picked up something unconsciously – when they double check, that second answer proves to be the real answer.

3) In the climactic phase, you ask that the spectator not give you any indication if you are right or not until the very end. As they think of a verse, you describe a scene in detail – location, objects, colors, actions, emotions. When you’re done, you ask them to point to the verse they chose and you read it aloud: hit after hit – all your scattered observations coalesce into a single beautiful verse of poetry! This is a real applause-getter!

Magica, by Chris Philpott, LA Magician

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