Beyond Real Minds by Oliver Ferguson

Beyond Real Minds by Oliver Ferguson contains some of the signature effects of a busy professional psychic entertainer. When Oliver approached us to distribute his book - we asked him to have faith in us - and allow us to "vet" his contributions by sharing them "in confidence" with several well respected and established mentalist and readers.  While we have heard of Oliver before and in fact he is a long time customer - we wanted to make sure his contributions were solid. When you have a customer that provides you with a product - it's hard to be totally objective for many reasons. Fortunately, we are lucky to have great relationships with many working pro's and we thank them for their reviews.  These effects have been be pre-reviewed by some of the most recognized names in Mentalism and have passed the test.

The collective works of Neal Scryer was undoubtedly one of my strongest inspirations and in fact a strong motivation for me to finally release my works in a book. I owe a debt of gratitude to Neal (and many others like Ron Martin, Larry Baukin) for re-engergizing the passion in my work.   - Oliver Ferguson

Included:

Hellstromism. This is Oliver's trademark effect. It's contact mind-reading in reverse, with an audience volunteer finding the hidden object. Afterwards, she has no idea how she did it.

Triple Book Test. A three-part book test using seven ungimmicked books. Oliver often gives away the books to his participants at the end of the routine.

Imaginary Picture. A volunteer looks at the blank side of a business card and visualizes a picture of someone they know on it. The psychic also stares at the business card and tells the volunteer the age of the person they're thinking about.

My Only Card Trick. This is the only card effect Oliver does. Two people select cards from a shuffled deck. Standing well away, the psychic divines the colors, suits, and full identity of the two cards.

Several ideas for psychic readers, including The Greatest Opening Line a reader can use with clients, The Clinging Technique, and a system for giving two-minute numerology readings with nothing written down. And - EVEN MORE!!!!

FOREWORD

I was surprised when Oliver Ferguson asked me to write a foreword to this, his first book. Oliver and I have been friends for more than thirty years, and he's always insisted that he'd never write a book for the mentalism community. In fact, he was so adamant about this, that I stopped pressuring him to write a book many years ago. I'm thrilled that he's changed his mind.

Oliver is a true "underground" performer. He's made a good, full time living out of mentalism for most of his adult life, yet he's almost completely unknown in the magic and mentalism worlds. He's never belonged to a magic club, never been to a magic convention, and never visited a magic or mentalism forum. I'm one of the very few magicians that he knows.

Despite this, he's extremely knowledgeable about all aspects of our art. He has a huge library of books on magic and mentalism. He regularly visits magic dealers, and secretly enjoys the fact that no one at any of these shops has the faintest idea that he's an extremely successful psychic entertainer.

Oliver has had numerous opportunities to become more visible to the general public. However, he's an extremely private person, and has no need for fame or public acclaim. He loves his work, but is happiest when he's at home with his wife, children and grandchildren.

He told me that he's written this book to pay back part of the debt he owes to previous generations of psychic entertainers. He's benefited from studying their works, and wants to contribute to the art himself. This book contains a tiny fraction of Oliver's repertoire of original ideas. I hope this is just the first of many books by my talented and inspirational friend. - Michael Henning- September 2014

Testimonials: The collective works of Neal Scryer was undoubtedly one of my strongest inspirations and in fact a strong motivation for me to finally release my works in a book. I owe a debt of gratitude to Neal for re-engergizing the passion in my work.   - Oliver Ferguson

Mark - thanks for sending me the review copy.  You have a very good book here, I would suggest you try to close this distribution agreement with Oliver and get an exclusive.  The content is strong, I really like Hellstromism and Olivers' Clinging Technique. But all the routines have merit.  Oliver's first work stands completely on it's own merit - if you can lock up another exclusive line - this book and hopefully future works by Oliver would be a nice addition to your SME Illuminati - as you call them!  - Bill Montana

Well constructed and fine tuned applications of strong principals of readings.  It's obvious Oliver has been working on this book for a long time.  The reader will find a lot of information, knowledge and power within these pages. While I have not heard of Oliver until now, I'm anxious to learn more about him.  I know it's not easy to be objective when you have a business relationship with him, prior to this book, and your smart to seek outside council - my vote is the material is valuable regards to the content and price. I'm curious to know what others that you sent the book too thought, as well as to get to know Oliver  - Darrell Mac.

Hi Mark, I had a chance to review the books (Beyond Real Minds - Oliver Furguson & The Unholy Grail - Larry Baukin) on long trans continent flight from L.A. to New York.  Regards to Beyond Real Minds, no question Oliver has a great deal of experience which I was able to see in the "subtle touches" and psychology that he implements in his readings.  When I read a book, I am most intriqued about these applications compared to the effects themselves. This is not to say the contributions are not strong - they are - I can see them working very well.  It's just that I believe the mark of a good reader is in their ability to effectively employ these "soft touches". Beyond Real Minds has both strong routines and equally good execution techniques.  That stated, these two books are not going to appeal to everyone (you know this I'm sure as it's a very specific target) - both books have exceptionally strong potential.  But are primarily directed or targeted to those that have a serious interest in readings (The Unholy Grail especially is a book  for the serious and advanced cold reader), Larry's system is truly "A Game Changer" for the serious reader.  Beyond Real Minds on the other hand could be easily applicable to an individual that is still getting their momentum going, as well as the advanced reader.  My view - both books are a worthwhile investment. Regards to pricing, I think it's on the mark.  I know it sounds convenient for a seller of magic goods - but as an artist who has worked a lifetime honing skills, I don't want strong and advanced material on the market at low prices - just like education, it shouldn't be cheap and sincerely helps keep this valuable knowledge out of the hands of the "just curious."  In closing thanks for the recent big order of my books, I'll have my assistant mail them to you so you'll have them in plenty of time before Halloween - Charles Garner