Mind Reading A Thought-of Word from a Book!

Tell a spectator the word they select in a book!Get 2 different books, each at least 100 pages or so.  Thumb through the first book, supposedly to show it.  Actually, you secretly note the first word on one of the pages in the middle of the book, and the page number!  (Suppose it is “bread”.)  Hand this book to a spectator.

Flip through the second book, asking the spectator to say “stop” whenever he’d like.  Look at the page number the spectator stopped you at, and call it out—only you actually call the page number that you glimpsed in the other book!  Have the spectator flip to that page in his book and note the first word on the page.  “I’m getting an impression”, you say, concentrating deeply.   “It’s a fairly short word.  A thing.  Something you eat, I think.  Is it…’bread’?”

Tips:

1. When glimpsing a word, if it is one that your assistant may be unable to pronounce, or if it is a very common word like “the”, keep flipping until you come to a better one—like “sister”, “table”, “sometimes”, etc.
2. After you call the page number the spectator supposedly stopped you at, immediately close your book and set it aside–so the spectator can’t see that he stopped you at a different page.
3. As with most magic tricks, don’t repeat it for the same audience, as they are more likely to catch on the second time.  If they want to see it again, show them a different trick (perhaps one of the others in this blog).