Mind Magic

Mind magic involves picking up people's thoughts, anticipating how they will behave, and predicting the future. In today's world mind magic is the only type of magic that audiences often believe is real. There is still mch unknown of the human mind and magicians take advantage of this in the presentation of their tricks. Magicians who specialize in mind magic are called mind readers or mentalists. Often they disassociate themselves from the world of magic. This is because if anyone suspected they minght be using any magic-type props or slight of hand thier reputation as ming readers would suffer badly.

Mind Reading Stunts
In order to advertise their shows, magicians enjoy perform one-of-a-kind stunts. If done well, they can generate a lot of newspaper coverage and even exposure on television. The master of modern-day publicity id David Blaine who gained worldwide attention by sitting in a glass box for 44 days, being frozen in ice, and being buried alive.
Often, such events are of a mind reading nature. A favorite is to predict the headline of a newspaper or a result of an upcoming sporting event. The envelope with the prediction inside is placed in a lock safe, or held securely by a well-known personality, to prevent any attempt at tampering by the performer. Despite this, the prediction is invariably correct.
Another popular stunt is a blindfold car drive. The mind reader is able to drive alone on a busy road, although his eyes are covered. David berglas received extensive coverage prestigious maagxine in 1953 when he combined a blindfold drive with the recovery of a lady's slipper hidden in a London park. It was this single amazing feat that propelled him to future stardom.

Claims To Be Real
Most mind readers rarely claimed to be genuine as there is always a danger they might be found out. This happened to a brilliant mind reader named Maurice Fogel in 1949. He was pursued by a journalist when he made such an assertion and his methods were exposed. This was very detrimental to his career. Other mind readers have learned from this. Modern-day exponents, such as Derren Brown and Marc Salem, admit that an eight-year-old can copy what they do- with 20 years of practice!
Uri Geller, who is famous for bending spoons and starting broken-watches, is a modern-day exception. He continues to maintain that his powers are authentic and no trickery is involved. Despite the attempts of magicians such as the skeptical James Randi to prove otherwise, there are still some who believe that Uri Geller has inexplicable powers.

Spiritualism
Uri Geller isn't the first person to claim genuine powers. 19th century Spiritualists maintained that they could communicate with those who have died, or that the dead could somehow speak through them. Spiritualists still work today and sometimes known as mediums. Many people go to mediums to seek comfort when someone close to them has died.
Most mind reader are careful to distinguish themselves from mediums. Harry Houdini made it a personal crusade of his to expose mediums who making false claims. He disagreed this with his great friend, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes. Conan Doyle lost his son in World War I and sought the solace of mediums to communicate with him in the afterlife. He did not want to hear Houdini arguing that most mediums were frauds.