Book Overview & General Impressions
📚 "This is Absolutely Real" by Tom Blesdale (200+ pages, ~25 routines, essays), published by 1914 and currently priced at $70, is reviewed as the "worst mentalism book" in five years due to its "unoriginal" and "one-dimensional" material.
💰 The reviewer strongly advises against purchasing the book, even at a reduced price, as most of its routines are deemed impractical and reliant on "pipe dreams" rather than real-world efficacy.
🚫 The author's philosophy of avoiding "moves" often leads to "transparent" or ineffective methods, compromising the strength and believability of the effects presented.
🤥 Key promises from the ad copy, such as revolutionary ESP matching, a DIY impression pad, and wine glass bending hallucination, do not deliver, with methods ranging from "painfully transparent" to ineffective "word play."

Critique of Specific Effects
🃏 The ESP matching routine is severely criticized for its "weak as hell" and risky method, which relies on a transparent approach that spectators can easily discern, making it inferior to established alternatives.
🍷 The wine glass bending hallucination is dismissed as "ineffective" and "ridiculous," relying solely on psychological suggestion without any physical illusion, unlike Ted Leslie's gimmicked version.
❌ Many close-up routines, like "Eight Girls" (a prop-heavy prediction) and "Identity" (a gaff pack for character reads), are deemed too cumbersome or unnecessarily complex when simpler, superior methods exist.
🤡 The "Real Pieces" chapter contains "ridiculous" effects such as "The Numbers Game" (a blind fishing expedition for a two-digit number) and "Force Choke" (a laughable and non-functional psychological choking effect).

Recommended Alternatives
✍️ For insights into the Tommy Pad (TB impression pad), it is highly recommended to purchase the Alakazam Magic version for ~$40, which includes a crucial instructional video by Mark Spelman, as the book omits vital information.
🌟 For superior and more robust ESP card matching routines, mentalists should consider "Jazz Mentalism" or "Ryan's Revenge" instead of the book's weak offering.
🧠 For excellent, practical impression pad routines, it is advised to seek out "Secret Impressions: The Mentalism Charity Project" (2010), which offers truly valuable and often self-working routines, making it "far more valuable" than the reviewed book.

Key Points & Insights
➡️ Avoid "This is Absolutely Real" by Tom Blesdale entirely, as it represents a poor investment for mentalists due to its largely unoriginal, impractical, and ineffective material.
➡️ Prioritize mentalism resources that offer proven, robust methods over those that compromise effect quality for the sake of avoiding "moves" or rely on unreliable psychological gambits.
➡️ Invest in established products like the Alakazam Tommy Pad for comprehensive instruction and practical routines, which are often more thorough than the limited content in this book.
➡️ Continuously seek out mentalism that genuinely pushes the envelope and offers clever, convincing effects without resorting to excessive props or transparent, easily decipherable methods.

📸 Video summarized with SummaryTube.com on Aug 11, 2025, 19:58 UTC