Attic Salt
Welcome to my very first book review.
I’m going to kick this off with a review of Attic Salt by H. E. Lyon.
Why Attic Salt?
Well, because it’s not available yet and I’ve been privileged enough to have a pre-sale version of the book, meaning I can be first to review it.
And it’s a flipping brilliant book!
Who is H. E. Lyon?
Henry E Lyon is the author of Attic Salt, he’s an older gentleman, married with a family and he’s been a working mentalist all of his adult life.
He’s also created his own effects and is now sharing them with the mentalism community, I don’t need to go into great detail here as he has an introduction at the start of the book, so those who buy it will be able to learn more, oh and for those who don’t know;
Henry is a character created by Peter Turner.
Whilst Henry is a character, all of the stories and anecdotes in the book are true stories, it’s the characters’ names and relationships that have been changed.
Pete created the pseudonym so he could send the book to several Mentalists, whom he respected to get an unbiased review and get their honest thoughts.
A little background
I was one of only a few people, Pete had told that he was writing this book and that he planned on using a pseudonym. In fact, some of the people who received a review copy still don’t know it’s him! He sent me a very early PDF of Attic Salt shortly after he’d finished writing the first draft way back in early 2018.
I read it and thought the effects were great but as is typical with Pete he wasn’t entirely happy with it, so he embarked on a journey of further refining the routines and adding extra content until he deemed them worthy of sharing!
It’s no secret that I’m friends with Peter Turner and naturally I’m a huge fan of his work, Pete has an insane ability to constantly create new and exciting effects/routines for Mentalism.
But that doesn’t mean I won’t form my own opinion of his work, in fact when he’s shown me things I don’t like or appreciate, I am always honest with him. So why should this be any different?
Attic Salt, like most good books, starts with an introduction, which is actually very thought provoking and encourages you to think outside the box.
The introduction ends with a paradoxical question in the form of a puzzle, from there we move straight into the first chapter;
Interesting openers & Ice breakers
Henry likens openers to supermarket free samples, they are designed to whet the appetite and leave the spectator wanting more. I think this is a great analogy for opening sets. He then turns his attention to what makes a good opener, the benefits of an opener and how this is especially useful for nervous people, before discussing incentivising openers and bar bets.
Henry shares an opening routine using billets. This is such a cheeky routine that I’m sure will have you grinning from ear to ear when you read it.
There is so much information crammed into this first chapter, you can’t help but feel excited for what’s to come next!
I won’t name every effect and essay in the book individually as that would just be silly!
Anyway what do you think the contents section of books are for?
However, I will tell you this; Attic Salt has more than enough content to satisfy everyone, in the form of great essays and effects.
Billets, playing cards, poker chips, coins and even; Dare I say it?
PROPLESS!
There I said it, propless, yes that stuff that makes your head hurt for days on end, don’t worry though it’s not too taxing and there’s not a right lot to be fair.
Some of my favourite parts of the book:
Marking billets
“Aint nobody got time for that” I hear you cry.
Well even though many of us are clued up when it comes to marking billets or playing cards, I found this section particularly interesting and very useful.
All I’m really willing to say at this point is;
There’s more than just billets being marked here!
There’s an essay on creating out of necessity, this is accompanied by a nice little story about his friend David who had started to develop arthritis and was contemplating giving up performing. That is until Henry came up with a solution to his problem.
As a side note here, I’d just like to point out that under no circumstances whatsoever should you call a David, Dave. They really do not like it!
It is very much like a can of silver paint exploding in your face…
Not a facial from the Tin-man!
However, it would be remiss of me if I didn’t also point out that if you are a David, then should we ever meet and I call you Dave, do not correct me as you will most definitely only be making the situation far worse for yourself!
I speak from experience on both accounts of the David/Dave debacle.
Davids/Daves consider this as your fair warning!
Judgement Day
Let me just tell you about Judgement Day
No silly, I’m not here to preach!
Judgement day is hands down my favourite routine in the whole of this book and believe me there’s plenty of them to choose from!
I have an obsession, well a few actually but I’ll keep this clean!
I have a thing for OOTW
No, not Old Orange Trashy Women!
Out of this world.
Yes, out of this world effects. There’s just something about them that gets me going, a bit like that website, oh what’s it called?
Ah yes eBay, that’s it!
Anyway, Judgement Day is a fantastic take on the OOTW plot.
It’s hard hitting and it’s very easy to learn.
When I first saw this performed, I couldn’t believe my eyes. It was just so impossible, yet it had actually happened.
It was like watching Ace Ventura’s Pet Detective…
Backwards…
In slow motion!
I almost thumped Pete, it really was that spectacular.
But the fun doesn’t end with Judgement Day. There’s a variant:
The Oracle
Imagine OOTW with envelopes containing random amounts of money.
And having the outcome predicted, I know right?
FRICKING EXCELLENT!
If that’s not enough to give you twinges, then you should probably stop reading this right now and take up Oddsocking!
An Oddsocker
Anagrams?
Not me amigo, I haven’t got the neural availability required for anagrams…
Or so I thought!
I really didn’t want to read this chapter, as anagrams don’t usually interest me in the slightest. So I decided to skip this section and move on, however something told me to put the book down and revisit it at a later date.
So I listened to that little voice in my head and when I revisited this chapter, I decided I’d approach it with the same enthusiasm I had for the rest of the book and I’m very happy that I did.
I found that I was rather enjoying the anagram chapter and his explanation of anagrams is very direct and easy to follow. This section is much more than just an introduction to anagrams, this is actually an essay, providing the reader with a complete formula for succeeding as a performer.
Summed up beautifully in stories, as is the rest of this book.
There’s so much information covered in this chapter, he could quite easily have saved it and wrote another book about it.
Contrast
(Kurotsuke)
Yea sure, Kurotsuke is a cool game you can play with multiple spectators but what if I told you, you could use it for so much more?
Oh yeah, like what?
Said that voice in the back of my head. Well what if you could use Kurotsuke to covertly harvest information from a spectator? Well now you can!
Autological presentations
Ever heard of those before? Well I mistakenly read the title as Astrological presentations.
Really Pete?
I’m sure you’ve covered enough astrological stuff already. I thought to myself. Alas, I was wrong but then I am proper old and my blinkers don’t work like they used to.
Anyhow this is an interesting essay on Autological presentations with some nice routines and presentational ideas.
It’s actually quite difficult to pin point certain routines in the book as they are weaved into stories making this a much more enjoyable read that sparks the imagination in a way that you’re almost forced to think creatively in how you would approach the same effect.
To finish up:
Attic Salt is a 335-page story driven mentalism book that’s bursting at the seams with mental gold.
It has some great illustrations, tons of effects, cool anecdotes and thought inspiring essays.
What I found with Attic Salt was; even when I thought I was reading an essay on a certain principle or ploy, you’re actually getting a routine or effect and vice versa.
You really have to read every single page of the book, otherwise you’re likely to miss those golden nuggets of wisdom and mental joy.
For more information about the release of this limited edition hard back book, then please contact the Northern wonder, Mr Michael Murray over at MindFX
Save the Faeries
Ryan