Taboo by Bruce Bernstein

Bruce Bernstein – Taboo

TABOO is the first offering in a series of restricted releases aimed at the "inner-school" of Psychic Entertainers. These manuscripts will only be available directly through me and will not be wholesaled to dealers. My plan is to release materials over time that I've been holding back, or that have been created recently that meet only the highest standards of which I am capable.

I'm proud to start these offerings with the release of TABOO, since I feel it represents some of my finest thinking and blazes new ground in Psychic Entertainment. The concepts explained in this book will show you ways to reveal audience members' deepest, darkest secrets, in an amazingly entertaining manner.

Here's what I wrote in the introduction - "TABOO is a unique melding of concepts I’ve been working on for nearly a decade and is perhaps the most advanced routine of Psychic Entertainment I’ve ever created.





It would be wrong to just call TABOO an effect, it’s so much more than that. Let me also state as clearly as I can, that TABOO is only suitable for the boldest and most charismatic of performers. This is not something to be done casually for some friends or as a demonstration of mental magic.





But that said, even if you never perform the effect, I believe that you’ll find there is much to be gleaned from my thinking about this presentation from the “cutting edge.”Another point I should make clear at the start is that TABOO must be personalized and custom tailored to the particular performer who is brave and talented enough to tackle this presentation. To expect a “one size fits all” script or approach is only asking for failure. But with the techniques and variations I’ll be sharing in the book, the right performer will have found his or her miracle." 

Although, I describe several variations on the theme in the book, including "THE ULTIMATE TABOO, which I created for my own personal use, here's the basic plot:

Several spectators are asked to join you onstage and are requested to think of things they have done, or might do, that would be considered "Taboo" by most people.

You then start to read their thoughts all at the same time, revealing facts and information in a way worthy of a soap opera or reality show.

Even though they are asked to keep a "poker face" and not give you any hints about their secret Taboo, you are able to "zero in" more and more on each of their secret thoughts, until it starts to become clear you're starting to figure out just which Taboo each of them are thinking of.

Then, in the most incredible of climaxes, each of them individually acknowledges time and time again,  just how how accurate you've been in discovering their most personal of information.

O.K. – Although that sounds incredible, I know what you're thinking. 

Even if that were possible (which it is!), I'm sure you're thinking that this routine could easily cause embarrassment or discomfort to those participating. But, perhaps the most amazing part of the routine are the many psychological subtleties and powerful gambits I teach that will actually put them at ease and show them how to thoroughly enjoy their roles as the "Stars" of the presentation.

Michael Weber - "I believe two things about Taboo to be true: 1) Bruce has crafted a routine which is both practical and powerful, and 2) 99.9% of the mentalists I have seen don't have the balls to present it the way it deserves to be performed."

Christopher Carter – "Bruce Bernstein is a genius. This fact is accepted by everybody who knows his work. Where others put out minor variations of popular and frequently over used themes, Bruce’s published effects consistently range from innovative to groundbreaking. It’s not that he doesn’t draw inspiration from prior creators. All creators do that. What makes Bruce’s work stand out are two things. First, he sees the potential in ideas that the rest of us breeze over without noticing. Second, he combines these ideas in such a way that the result is vastly greater than the sum of the parts."

"Taboo is a perfect product of Bruce’s devious mind. Within the method, there are elements that we all will recognize but they are applied, in combination, to a devastating effect."

"And what is that effect? It’s practically the holy grail of mentalism. When people find out that you’re a mind reader, they worry that you’ll be able to divine their deepest, most intimate secrets. Thanks to Taboo, you do exactly that. Amazingly, Bruce stages things so that you reveal their secrets in such a way that they will never be publicly embarrassed, and yet there is no doubt that you have received impressions you really should not be able to know."

"When Bruce first shared his idea with me a few years ago, I was delighted with its boldness and simplicity, and I hoped to one day be able to do it. Since that time he has refined the routine and added subtleties that make it even stronger. It ranks, in my opinion, among his best work."

"I have one caveat about Taboo. The characteristic that makes Bruce’s work stand out is that he understands the difference between mentalism and magic. His best effects rely on subtle methods that require a b