Don
09-09-2009, 12:00 AM
Reality is Plastic has been garnering a lot of attention among stage hypnotists and those (primarily very young men) who want to do street hypnosis. The first thing you’ll notice with this book is that it’s more like a website than a book. It’s comb bound with each section numbered or sub-numbered. I actually like this format as it implies that it can be easily updated between the clear front cover and black back cover. It’s also brief. Just 102 pages that look more like they were put out from a word processing program on a laser printer than being professionally typeset. For $45 it could be more professionally finished, but these days that’s a minor quibble. The cost to produce something professionally has gone down so much that a lot of writing that should never have been published is now available next to high-quality works. So the real question should be, “What about the content?”
To answer that I have to give a bit of a preface. When it comes to a book that supposedly trains you in any area, it is either a beginning book or is more advanced. Beginner books tend to be slower and more general, including lots of things (such as history) that advanced books need not cover. It’s assumed that if you want an advanced book you know the beginning stuff already. The problem is that beginning books tend to be larger and sell more than more advanced books. Advanced books don’t usually sell as much as the beginner books.
So is RIP meant for beginners or advanced students of hypnosis? That is the difficulty with this book. It doesn’t have the breadth of a book for beginners. There’s little about history, development and theory. Some of the concepts are taken more from NLP sources but go unexplained—they’re just dropped in. I think that’s inappropriate for a beginner’s book. But it’s also not for advanced students. Most of the instructions are very, very basic. Some are renamed, but the inductions given here are very much like the rapid inductions in any other book on the subject. On the other hand, some of the language is highly literate, far more so than you might find in a beginning book meant for a wide audience. I liked that aspect very much.
Another problem with this book is that it’s really not clear whether this is a book about hypnotherapy—because there’s very little guidance on therapeutic methods—or about stage hypnosis—because there’s almost nothing about skits. If it’s about street hypnosis, then many of he concepts for stage or therapy room don’t seem to apply. His advice for dealing with abreactions ranges from appropriate (sometimes going rigid can be a sign of a seizure which may or may not be associated with an abreaction) to highly questionable (“If you are not going to start doing impromptu therapy then the best thing is to simply tell them that everything will be OK, that you spend some time with them and that in a momen you will bring them back up and they do not need to bring these memories and feelings back with them”). Oh, and the text could use a good editor, too.
The text describes a wide variety of topics (beginner stuff) but doesn’t go into detail (more advanced). It provides some rapid induction techniques and describes how the author could use these for such things as getting free drinks.
If the above was all there was in this book, I simply couldn’t recommend it. However, there are also a lot of great ideas here. For example, I particularly liked his idea of a super suggestion, where you tell the person you are working with that they will accept everything you suggest: “From this moment, everything I say now is your reality, every single thing. You know what I say you know, you will do what I ask you to do, feel what I say you can feel and see what I say you can see…” Some people may object that this is too authoritarian. I disagree. Even Erickson used highly authoritarian suggestion at the appropriate time. Specifically, the deeper in trance a person it the more authoritarian you can (I would contend you should) be. The book is filled with tips and ideas like this.
Perhaps more importantly, in today’s world we have to keep up with what’s going on. And if you look at various videos on the internet, you’ll see that one of the big things is impromptu or street hypnosis. This is sort of like stage hypnosis in the streets, but usually involves just one person. Some untrained and I would contend either stupid, unethical, or both people are just walking up to strangers and using instant inductions to attempt to put them into trance. One advertisement for an expensive training DVD seems to show people inducing hypnosis by practically ripping a person’s arm out of its socket. Thankfully, Jacquin is neither violent nor unethical. He asks for agreement before inducing hypnosis and if he uses it to get something such as a jacket or hat without paying for it, he returns it later. I would have no problem being hypnotized by Mr. Jacquin and feeling good about it.
There is another thing that is very positive about this book. It will (hopefully) give hypnotists the courage to see that they can go up to someone on the street, talk to them, get them to agree to be hypnotized, and the help them get into trance. I recently took a training in this process and most of the students agreed that the biggest difficulty was having the courage to walk up to strangers and do it. If this book builds such confidence then that confidence will carry over into other hypnosis practices.
When I took a training in this type of hypnosis (with Brian David Phillips), I specifically asked how you could monetize street hypnosis. After all, since your not going to be using it for impromptu therapy (at least I hope not) and it’s really not a “pass the hat” afterward type of show, why do this except to show you’re a wisea$$? The answer was you can’t directly monetize street hypnosis, but it does make great advertising and can be used to answer the “So you’re a hypnotist? Go ahead. Hypnotize me,” type of challenge.
Although in most instances the book is available by itself or via downloading (for the same price as the printed version. Hmmmm), if you get this directly from the author or through some magic stores it has an accompanying DVD. About an hour long, it’s basically a shortened version of the book with videos of examples along with a “talking head” explanation/lecture. For some reason, the author has chosen to do the lecture parts in black and white rather than color, and brightly lit from the observers right so half of Mr. Jacquin’s face is in deep shadow. It’s effective, dramatic and moody. Once. After awhile it seems like it’s just “artsy fartsy.” That’s a curious thing to do considering his very lower-class British accent. I’m not Henry Higgins, but it sounds as if Mr. Jacquin’s accent was born within hearing range of Big Ben. While that might not bother many Britons, as a former student of language I at times found the dropped final consonants disconcerting and other accent issues disconcerting. Well, I imagine he’d find my California accent disconcerting, too. The other complaint I have with the DVD include a very stilted speaking style with pauses between sentences that are too long and sometimes not paying attention to the person he’s hypnotizing.
How do I sum this book up? It doesn’t have the breadth to be a beginning book. The exercises and techniques, however, are too basic to be a more advanced book. There is no major revelation that makes this NEW! and EXCITING! However there are enough gems to make this valuable to many hypnotists, whether you’re stage, street, or a hypnotherapist.
With the DVD, I believe Reality is Plastic is a great second or third book for beginners. It doesn’t have enough to stand by itself as a beginners book, but it would make a great addition. It might also be good for someone who has spent a few months studying and practicing hypnosis. It’s beyond beginning but not really advanced. It’s not for hypnosis 101 or 201, but it would be appropriate for, say, hypnosis 121.
For beginning hypnotists: recommended for use with the DVD and in addition to more thorough texts.
For intermediate hypnotists: recommended to help you recall ideas you’ve learned and get additional tips and tricks.
For advanced hypnotists: mildly recommended for tips and tricks. Nothing highly revealing or new.
To answer that I have to give a bit of a preface. When it comes to a book that supposedly trains you in any area, it is either a beginning book or is more advanced. Beginner books tend to be slower and more general, including lots of things (such as history) that advanced books need not cover. It’s assumed that if you want an advanced book you know the beginning stuff already. The problem is that beginning books tend to be larger and sell more than more advanced books. Advanced books don’t usually sell as much as the beginner books.
So is RIP meant for beginners or advanced students of hypnosis? That is the difficulty with this book. It doesn’t have the breadth of a book for beginners. There’s little about history, development and theory. Some of the concepts are taken more from NLP sources but go unexplained—they’re just dropped in. I think that’s inappropriate for a beginner’s book. But it’s also not for advanced students. Most of the instructions are very, very basic. Some are renamed, but the inductions given here are very much like the rapid inductions in any other book on the subject. On the other hand, some of the language is highly literate, far more so than you might find in a beginning book meant for a wide audience. I liked that aspect very much.
Another problem with this book is that it’s really not clear whether this is a book about hypnotherapy—because there’s very little guidance on therapeutic methods—or about stage hypnosis—because there’s almost nothing about skits. If it’s about street hypnosis, then many of he concepts for stage or therapy room don’t seem to apply. His advice for dealing with abreactions ranges from appropriate (sometimes going rigid can be a sign of a seizure which may or may not be associated with an abreaction) to highly questionable (“If you are not going to start doing impromptu therapy then the best thing is to simply tell them that everything will be OK, that you spend some time with them and that in a momen you will bring them back up and they do not need to bring these memories and feelings back with them”). Oh, and the text could use a good editor, too.
The text describes a wide variety of topics (beginner stuff) but doesn’t go into detail (more advanced). It provides some rapid induction techniques and describes how the author could use these for such things as getting free drinks.
If the above was all there was in this book, I simply couldn’t recommend it. However, there are also a lot of great ideas here. For example, I particularly liked his idea of a super suggestion, where you tell the person you are working with that they will accept everything you suggest: “From this moment, everything I say now is your reality, every single thing. You know what I say you know, you will do what I ask you to do, feel what I say you can feel and see what I say you can see…” Some people may object that this is too authoritarian. I disagree. Even Erickson used highly authoritarian suggestion at the appropriate time. Specifically, the deeper in trance a person it the more authoritarian you can (I would contend you should) be. The book is filled with tips and ideas like this.
Perhaps more importantly, in today’s world we have to keep up with what’s going on. And if you look at various videos on the internet, you’ll see that one of the big things is impromptu or street hypnosis. This is sort of like stage hypnosis in the streets, but usually involves just one person. Some untrained and I would contend either stupid, unethical, or both people are just walking up to strangers and using instant inductions to attempt to put them into trance. One advertisement for an expensive training DVD seems to show people inducing hypnosis by practically ripping a person’s arm out of its socket. Thankfully, Jacquin is neither violent nor unethical. He asks for agreement before inducing hypnosis and if he uses it to get something such as a jacket or hat without paying for it, he returns it later. I would have no problem being hypnotized by Mr. Jacquin and feeling good about it.
There is another thing that is very positive about this book. It will (hopefully) give hypnotists the courage to see that they can go up to someone on the street, talk to them, get them to agree to be hypnotized, and the help them get into trance. I recently took a training in this process and most of the students agreed that the biggest difficulty was having the courage to walk up to strangers and do it. If this book builds such confidence then that confidence will carry over into other hypnosis practices.
When I took a training in this type of hypnosis (with Brian David Phillips), I specifically asked how you could monetize street hypnosis. After all, since your not going to be using it for impromptu therapy (at least I hope not) and it’s really not a “pass the hat” afterward type of show, why do this except to show you’re a wisea$$? The answer was you can’t directly monetize street hypnosis, but it does make great advertising and can be used to answer the “So you’re a hypnotist? Go ahead. Hypnotize me,” type of challenge.
Although in most instances the book is available by itself or via downloading (for the same price as the printed version. Hmmmm), if you get this directly from the author or through some magic stores it has an accompanying DVD. About an hour long, it’s basically a shortened version of the book with videos of examples along with a “talking head” explanation/lecture. For some reason, the author has chosen to do the lecture parts in black and white rather than color, and brightly lit from the observers right so half of Mr. Jacquin’s face is in deep shadow. It’s effective, dramatic and moody. Once. After awhile it seems like it’s just “artsy fartsy.” That’s a curious thing to do considering his very lower-class British accent. I’m not Henry Higgins, but it sounds as if Mr. Jacquin’s accent was born within hearing range of Big Ben. While that might not bother many Britons, as a former student of language I at times found the dropped final consonants disconcerting and other accent issues disconcerting. Well, I imagine he’d find my California accent disconcerting, too. The other complaint I have with the DVD include a very stilted speaking style with pauses between sentences that are too long and sometimes not paying attention to the person he’s hypnotizing.
How do I sum this book up? It doesn’t have the breadth to be a beginning book. The exercises and techniques, however, are too basic to be a more advanced book. There is no major revelation that makes this NEW! and EXCITING! However there are enough gems to make this valuable to many hypnotists, whether you’re stage, street, or a hypnotherapist.
With the DVD, I believe Reality is Plastic is a great second or third book for beginners. It doesn’t have enough to stand by itself as a beginners book, but it would make a great addition. It might also be good for someone who has spent a few months studying and practicing hypnosis. It’s beyond beginning but not really advanced. It’s not for hypnosis 101 or 201, but it would be appropriate for, say, hypnosis 121.
For beginning hypnotists: recommended for use with the DVD and in addition to more thorough texts.
For intermediate hypnotists: recommended to help you recall ideas you’ve learned and get additional tips and tricks.
For advanced hypnotists: mildly recommended for tips and tricks. Nothing highly revealing or new.