Come Sail Away (Thank you Styx) into the deep seas of Deep Mental Mysteries. I love the premise of this book . . . making the method of an effect deep - as in well below the surface of the metaphorical water. Speaking as one who spent a good chunk of time well below the depths of the sea, I can appreciate the subtleties of this deep work. For example, I was a submariner. Most people pronounce that as Sub Mariner as in a below par mariner. However, the accurate pronunciation is Submarine - er as in one who is on a submarine.

It's subtle differences like this that can make a world of difference in our performance and methods. A slight emphasis difference changes me from a stealth operator of a billion dollar war vessel to a less than adequate sailor. Like this subtle difference Larry takes on a journey via essays and effects that teach us about small simple ways to change our final result. What I really liked about this book is that it's sort of another side of Larry, that I've not seen before. Everything in the past that I've seen has been focused on effect/presentation/meaning/etc.

As he so clearly pointed out in the foreword, just because something is really, really, really important, it doesn't mean that other things are unimportant (I've taken a few liberties in my "quoting" of Mr. Hass). The deeper (i.e., farther away from the surface) the method, the more deceptive the effect is, thus the more deeply the audience is impacted by it. Beautiful. Truly.

Further, Larry gives us his two-cents on the difference between magic, mentalism and mental-magic, and why the tireless debate is fraught with fallacies and frivolous slinging of sophomoric slurs. This was very eye-opening to me. Frankly, throughout the book, there were things I didn't entirely agree with, but that's the best part. It got me thinking . . . deepening my knowledge and perceptions. And even further further, Larry explores a method that his highly under-known and highly under-used thus making it extremely deep and worth the price of the book alone.

Bottom line: if you want some seriously thought provoking material, some depth on depth and a small handful of excellent powerful baffling and mysteries effects, then BAM (thank you Emeril Lagasse) - Deep Mental Mysteries by Lawrence Hass.

Final Verdict:
5 Stars with a Stone Status of Complete and Total GEM!