Review: Not Enough Depth
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 01 19, 2014
Like a lot of people, I think, I've always been fascinated with the idea of hypnotism. I've read a lot on the subject, and when I saw this book advertised on Free Book Dude, I thought I'd pick it up.It contains basic advice on how to begin, with techniques for stage hypnotism that you can try on your friends, to relaxation techniques you can use to help others, to tricks on self-hypnosis.There's not a lot of theory, though. It's a "Do this and that will happen", with no real explanations as to why, or what to do if it doesn't. It opens with a chapter aptly called "Start with the Chicken", which explains how to go about putting a chicken into a trance. My first thought was, "Oh yeah? And where on earth am I going to find a live chicken?"While there is a cautionary note that people shouldn't try these tricks unless accompanied by a trained professional, there's once again no explanation why, or what could go wrong (other than "Not much, because of the subconscious mind's built in defence mechanisms." But then, why put the warning in to begin with?As I said, it's not very in-depth at all, and I also can't find any reference to the author's qualifications, so I can't say if he's actually qualified to write the book. Although, his other books include "How to get a girlfriend", so maybe that answers that question for you!It's enough to get one interested, though, and perhaps enough to get me started on writing characters who are stage hypnotists? Maybe one who's not very good at his job, and hilarity ensues. Hmm, the wheels are turning, now!