Possibly the Worst Book Ever

Last week I bought 'The Master Book of Mark Lewis Power Stock Tarot Card Cold Readings' by Mark Lewis. The book is basically about using Tarot to perform cold readings on people. I started reading it yesterday and couldn't read beyond the Fool card. The first thing that came to mind was what a injustice to Tarot this book was. I couldn't believe this guy was even serious. He came across like a seedy, money-hungry con artist. His example readings were atrocious and influent -- the fact he made $2,500 a day completely baffled me. The book is also riddled with spelling mistakes and grammatical errors (multiple on the front and back covers alone). Not that I'm an expert on spelling and grammar, but why didn't his publisher go over the book before sending it to the printers? Has anyone else read or heard about this book? I'm thoroughly disappointed, borderline disgusted, not to mention $25 out of pocket. It's safe to say I don't recommend this book to ANYONE. You have been warned.
Whinge over.

Curiosity got the best of me and I looked up this book on Goodreads. I found it too, here:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show...ock-tarot-card-cold-readings?from_search=true

The reason the publisher didn't find all the typos is because there effectively was no publisher. The book was self-published, so no one is responsible for the errors other than the author.

Regarding the rest of it, the description on Goodreads makes it sound like the author is a swindler, is proud to be a swindler, and will teach you how to be a swindler, too. But a title that mentions cold readings kind of suggests that anyway. A book about cold readings is supposed to be an injustice to tarot. That's the whole idea.

Metafizzypop said:

Curiosity got the best of me and I looked up this book on Goodreads. I found it too, here:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show...ock-tarot-card-cold-readings?from_search=true

The reason the publisher didn't find all the typos is because there effectively was no publisher. The book was self-published, so no one is responsible for the errors other than the author.

Regarding the rest of it, the description on Goodreads makes it sound like the author is a swindler, is proud to be a swindler, and will teach you how to be a swindler, too. But a title that mentions cold readings kind of suggests that anyway. A book about cold readings is supposed to be an injustice to tarot. That's the whole idea.

Click to expand...

I don't agree that a book on cold readings has to be an injustice to Tarot. This guy is just plain disrespectful. I for one won't be his cheerleader, nor will I justify his writings.

Disrespectful to who? Or what? Anyway, there are people who do this for a living, among them those television psychics. It isn't swindling, it's entertainment. Plus Lewis was a magician, and they play the part of the fortune teller all the time, and then it really is more about the experience than about substance.

Alright, it's clear I'm being too sensitive. I took offensive to his book and his style but clearly that's his job. I'll let it go and let the magicians do their thing.

ETA: I just hope the sitter knows they're getting a reading from a magician rather than a Tarot reader. I also hope the sitter knows it's for entertainment purposes and for 'an experience' rather than the real thing. Guys like this have a tendency to ruin our reputations. Just saying...

Well, I'm not an expert, but among my many talents I actually did take a magic course. I wasn't good at it though.

Anyway, although I would assume there are charlatans out there, there are also gullible people who will believe anything. In the case of a proper magician, though, it's a whole other ballgame. Everything they do on stage is an illusion, and they operate under the assumption that if you accept the trick of pulling a rabbit out of a hat, then a "psychic reading" is as much of a trick. But yeah, I suppose Miss Cleo used the same sort of things.

Regardless - I would never read a book with a title THAT long!

Also - regardless - I am a self-published author (11 books and counting ...) and there are many built-in programs in WORD for spelling errors (although most of what WORD pre-97 would tell me were 'correct grammar usage' no one in the world would ever say!) so how anyone could produce a manuscript with multiple spelling & grammar errors is beyond me - or they just didn't care. Remember - if he typed "I'll axe him" instead of "I'll ask him" - no words are misspelled so it would slip through ... unfortunately. {BTW - most Cover Creator programs do not have 'Spell Check'}.

If you bought this off amazon or somewhere - you can leave reviews that state there is bad grammar and misspellings in this book and you cannot recommend it to anyone - IN CAPITAL LETTERS!

As the Amazon listing has only a single review, and it's a glowing one, I'd suggest you have at it.

This one's for you tarotbear...

Here are some examples of the poor grammar and spelling --

Powerfull
Psychomitry
Minuets (used twice)
Marks own, Marks stock method (no apostrophe)
The 100/80 rule that he uses simultaneously with the 80/100 rule. Which is it?
Form (should be from) The Magicians Making Money Series
Major Arcane he uses simultaneously with Major Arcana

There are heaps of other small typos, repeat words and lack of capitalisation. Not that I was looking for them but they did stick out to me like dog's you-know-whats. Maybe I'm being too picky and judgemental?

If I could I'd love to attach the influent and simply bad example reading he uses for the Fool. It'll make you cringe.

The book gave me a laugh, if nothing else.

Cold reading swindlers make me sick. Taking advantage of people in that way damages the ability for legit tarot readers to make a living since people assume we are trying to dupe people.

Hopefully the author lands in the slammer for fraud.