Poker Without Cards

Bryan

66

pwc
eye 2nd that -

Bryan , posted 11/25/05

Scott

13

Poker Without Cards
Praise, hate & ambivalence!

Poker Without Cards pulls the circus tent back on persuasion and marketing. If you ever wanted to meet The Great Oz, read this book.

-Mark Joyner

Towards an Understanding of Mental Distress as Propagated Through Modern Media

-Loudwire Culture Jammers

Ben Mack, a.k.a. Benjamin Garth, was a highly creative and talented member of the Magic Castle Junior Magicians Program, a club for young magicians that is sponsored by the world-famous Hollywood Magic Castle. Kids between the ages of 12 and 19 years of age are allowed to audition for membership in the Junior program. It is very difficult to become a member and only about one in every ten are accepted - even after several tries. Ben was accepted on his first try. His unique performing style combined an offbeat sense of humor with some very inventive magic and Mentalism. But performing was not Ben's only impressive attribute. While in the Castle Juniors, he started a business called "Magic At The Drop of a Hat." Through his company, this ambitious young entrepreneur authored and published a book on fire-eating, as well as coordinated bookings for himself and other magical entertainers. Eventually, he built the booking side of his business up to the point that he employed fourteen magicians who appeared at an amazing 32 different restaurant locations on a weekly basis! In 1987, Ben was awarded The Academy of Magical Arts' (the fraternal organization that oversees the Magic Castle) prestigious "Award of Merit." In 1990 he vanished from the program to pursue other realities.

Diana Zimmerman
Founder and Chairperson Emeritus
The Magic Castle Junior Program

"Poker without Cards reveals the hard-to-swallow truth that one cannot know reality until one understands memetics and poker. Is the world ready for such a revelation?"

Richard Brodie, author, Virus of the Mind: The New Science of the Meme

"I met Ben in 1980 at The Farmers' Market Magic & Fun Shop. I was 18 and working the only hourly job I have ever had in my life when this 12 year old walks up to me, extends his hand to shake and says, 'I'm interested in what makes magic work.' I became his mentor. He paid me in cash for his first lesson, then he bartered a Pachinko he had fixed for three additional lessons. Then I allowed him to barter help with my shows for lessons. More than anything, I tried to teach him Natural Philosophy, using magic to explain perception and persuasion. I made him read the classics, The Fitzkee Trilogy among other books on magic history and theory. I worked with him on turning a series of tricks into a routine. In the 24 years I have known him, I have never seen him stop studying what makes magic work."

Lorenzo Clark, Board of Directors, The Magic Castle

"Of all my EII students, Ben Mack has made the most substantive changes in life situations. He is a strong student. When I met Ben, he was a babbling social nitwit. Now look at him--he got permission to post endorsements from the likes of me. Ben, you don't need this validation. You need to write more accessably if you want to reach a broader audience."

Dr. Christopher Hyatt Ph.D.

"Ben Mack brought me down to earth, opened my eyes, and gave me volcanic insight with a single paragraph. What I was too close to my passions to see, he saw instantly. And that can make all the difference."

Howard Bloom, author of The Lucifer Principle: A Scientific Expedition Into the Forces of History and Global Brain: The Evolution of Mass Mind From The Big Bang to the 21st Century.

Poker Without Cards reads like Trout Fishing In America--Neither are about what they say, both have strong political perspectives and are likely to be passed-over by the minds they leave behind. Reading Poker Without Cards is like getting an electric shock treatment to your cosmography. Readers beware, your perceptions will be changed and the adjustment period may be disorienting, but it is well worth the read. Poker Without Cards depicts Bennington College while I was there. Ben evokes the magic we called college, the homes we called dorms and the tensions we called life. If you read one difficult book this year, make your way through this one--The journey is worth the effort.

Justin Theroux

My Dearest Ben,
May this letter of introduction serve you well. You speak the truth. This is likely to make you virtually unpublishable.

To whom it may concern,
If something happens to me and I die suddenly, I want you to know of the extraordinary importance of a novel I just finished reading, POKER WITHOUT CARDS.
Ben Mack is at the bleeding edge of avant-garde fiction. Just amazing!
Memetics, Shannon & Fuller woven into a novel. Just add Internet and you've got the major themes of my next book.
Reading POKER WITHOUT CARDS is like reading a young Bucky, world politics are explained in a way not previously visible, but once viewed, cannot be seen any other way. Ben Mack wrote a consciousness thriller, combining natural philosophy with storytelling?the effect is like taking acid, only you never come down.

Sincerely,
Robert Anton Wilson

"Ben Mack,
Since you don't have the guts to be a homosexual, I'm glad that you are pissing off your parents by writing."
Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

I just finished reading Poker Without Cards. I am not exaggerating when I say it is one of the best books I have read in a long time. I actually read the entire book in one setting; I have only done that with a couple of other books. It's fantastic on many levels, it kept my attention from beginning to end, and it is a book that has needed to be written for a long time. I love its attack on the modern psychological/psychiatric institutions. They need to be transformed. The book portrays them correctly as a modern day thought police. You have my full support for the message you are conveying with your book.

Reads like a modern-day 1984. Ben Mack is one of the few among us who can see. I think the world has found a new Orwell.
Best of luck with the book. If it is exposed to enough readers I am certain it will be a big hit.

Kirk Packwood
Memetic Magic - Scott , posted 08/26/05

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