You cannot be a mentalist unless you dabbled with the idea of using a book test. The effect in itself is amazing. You hand a book or magazine to a spectator, ask them to decide on a word, focus on it and the thought of word is then revealed by the mind reader. On the surface, it is absolutely incredible. Of course, we all know that there is an Achilles heel to every book test. There is that one or more pieces of information that are needed to hone in on what word the spectator is thinking of. The methods range from blatantly asking what the first letter is to some complex mathematical algorithms to figure out the necessary clues.

I recently came across what I think is the book test that is nearest to perfection. It is called Words Beyond by the Other Brothers. As far as book tests go it is relatively inexpensive. The list price is $35 but it can be found for much less. What I like about the book test is that it fits in a back pants pocket so it is extremely portable. It also looks like a book you would buy anywhere. The book can be handed out and the spectator can turn to any page. The spectator can pick any long word and you can divine six out of the eight letters without knowing anything. Finally, knowing the last two letters is as simple as looking where they are looking. You instantly know all the letters of the word they are thinking of without asking, adding or prodding.

So why you ask is it not THE perfect book test? The issue is that you can reveal the letters but still not know the word. There are two banks of force words that use the same letters but are spelled differently. For example “hare” and “hear”. The same letters but different order. There is no way provided in the instructions for actually revealing the thought-of word, only the thought of letters. There was one suggestion of playing “Hang Man” and as they place the letters on the paper you can see how the spelling is going. That does not work for me. So, with a little initiative and some time, I figured out a method to deduce the thought of word without asking and playing Hang Man. At last, I found my ultimate book test. Totally hands-free, no pumping and no mathematics. If you are looking for an inexpensive and killer book test and you don’t mind putting in a little effort in figuring out how to bring this to the next level, I highly recommend Words Beyond by the Other Brothers.

To watch a trailer on Words Beyond click here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kubPhi0L7gY