Protoplasm, the new book from mentalist Christian Painter, is an unexpected surprise. Perhaps, like me, you’ve never heard of Painter--he’s a full-time pro performing with his wife, Katalina--but by the time you finish with this book you will likely want to meet him.

There are about a dozen items in Protoplasm, plus a good chunk of Painter’s philosophy and opinions scattered throughout. You’ll learn that he doesn’t pay much attention to most of the "rules" of mentalism, such as the one that says to never use playing cards. For Painter, entertainment and mystery come first, and the judgement of arm-chair mentalists need not be considered; he’s too busy making a living and pleasing his audiences.

All of the material in the book has the straightforward polish and practicality of many actual performances. Painter explicitly shares some of his hard-won knowledge with you, but sometimes it’s just instinctively built into the staging or methodology. Either way, you’ll benefit from it. A good example of this is the two-person mindreading method, "PDQ," that is impressive in its simplicity and effectiveness.

Although the book’s subject is close-up mentalism, several of the items could be easily adapted to parlor use. Additionally, note that almost all of the effects are routined such that you’ll need a table (for dealing cards, and so on), although some of them could probably be adapted for walk-around use with a little modification of the processes.

The material in Protoplasm won’t disappoint. The only criticism I can offer is that the book is basically a word processing document that has been printed and (nicely) bound. The book could benefit from an actual publication design (not using 3 blank lines between paragraphs, for example), and I think the material deserves a more respectful treatment. But don’t let that dissuade you, if there’s any truth in the hoary aphorism that "it’s the material that matters," Protoplasm proves it in spades.