Just been thinking about a story that didn't make it into the book regarding Broken Stereotypes (Chapter Six, Oracular Vernacular)

There's a retired guy up the road from my mother's house who's done very well for himself as a plumber but, far from being your typical plumber, he looks like an ageing rocker - long grey beard, tends to wear a black bandana, black jeans. For his age and demeanour, I'd have him down as a Saxon / Iron Maiden kind of guy.

The best thing though is he has a massive three wheeler bike with huge handlebars in his garage, with an elongated drivers seat and two seats at the back over the giant oversized wheels. The whole thing make a terrific noise, and watching him drive off every Sunday for its regular service drive was always pretty cool. It's got flames down the sides and looks like a Waltzer on wheels.

My gf at the time and I got talking to him in the street, and asked if we could have a go on the back. He said sure, meet me at my mothers house the following Sunday.

Next Sunday we were quite excited, it was a lovely summer's day, and we realised the bike had a powerful stereo system on board. As we cruised up through the town's streets and into the countryside, I shouted at plumber man to put some music on. I could just imagine us whizzing along country lanes blasting out Back In Black AC/DC, or a bit of early 'Stones at the very least.

We spent the next half hour listening to Celine Dion on full blast. As we pulled up outside my mother's after the trip, Celine was belting out 'Near, far...' from the Titanic soundtrack.

So, there you go. Don't judge anyone by their packaging. I knew a lot more about my mother's friendly neighbourhood plumber after our excursion. Look out for people's idiosyncrasies. They're not only useful, but oftentimes, hilarious.

Too bad this won't be available as a pdf.

The Kindle version is formatted nicely and I'm reading it using the kindle app on my laptop.

I'm sure it is. I run a small retail business so supporting Amazon doesn't exactly fit in with my values is all.

Some time in the new year JBCRR will be available from other retailers. Not sure when that will be though.

I have the Kindle version and am thoroughly enjoying it. Truly excellent work for anyone wanting to learn cold reading, or be able to strike up a conversation with anyone, anytime, anywhere. This is a fantastic cold reading system and toolkit.

The hardcover edition I ordered a month ago still has not arrived. The day it was supposed to be delivered, Amazon notified me they were pushing out the estimated delivery date. Then, when the new delivery date arrived, they pushed the date out a second time. The book was supposed to arrive today, but for a third time they pushed the delivery date out again. Not sure what Amazon's issue is with the hardcover edition, but the softcover edition appears to be in stock for immediate shipping.

Gosh, I am really sorry to hear that. All I know is that hard cover versions are a relatively new thing for Amazon print on demand. The only thing I know for sure is that returns are pretty simple on Amazon, pretty much always in the purchaser's favour. Please, if anyone has an issue with print quality or delays in their delivery, please get back to Amazon asap. A negative review for my book due to a late delivery or print problem will not be seen by Amazon. Only an actual return will be noticed.

Thanks for the kind words Stunninger, I hope it arrives soon.

I also hope many of you are enjoying your new year's read! Hit me up if you've got any questions or suggestions.

Thanks for buying my book.

Bev

Does this teach you how to strike up a conversation?

I’m not sure that any book can help teach you how to strike up a conversation. However the second part of the book, Cold Reading Games, offers a great variety of ploys, tips and tricks (with examples) of how to initiate conversation. Like all these things, it takes practice, and I can only hope that the book gives people enough confidence to try these things in the real world. Others who have bought the book may have more to add.

As Julian says, the Cold Reading Games section offers lots of ways to break the ice or start a conversation.

A quote from the book:

"Here are a few of the many ways Palmistry, Graphology and Numerology can help strike up conversation:" p. 112

The great thing about a short reading to strike up a conversation is the reading is all about them, a topic they are very interested in.

What would be a good opening line - Do you want to see something interesting?

There's a section in the book that covers this called The Approach. In addition to the ideas shared in the book, come up with your own ideas and try them out. Everyone has their own preferences and an approach that one person likes may not appeal to another. Read the book, try the ideas he suggests and also do some experimenting to see what additional ideas you can come up with. Part of the fun is getting started and just doing it. Even when you know very little. In fact, this can be an advantage. The book gives you lots of ideas to get you going.

In fact, each of the chapters concerning Palmistry, Graphology and Numerology have their own section on how to approach people. It’s slightly different for each system.

Another facet I think should be mentioned is the chapter on creating an entertaining and interesting backstory for the source of your knowledge. Coming up with a good reason as to why you know about any of this stuff can alleviate performance anxiety.

Ultimately, the book strives to give you as much ammunition as it can for you to get started. The idea of putting both books together in one tome was to stress that, although the study of cold reading is somewhat intellectual, its practical delivery requires a great deal of chutzpah, especially if you’re going to launch into a reading out of the blue.

Unfortunately we’re not all born with chutzpah. But it can be practiced. Hopefully there’s enough ideas in the book to help get your mouth in gear. A mindset of ‘it’s about them, not you’ helps encourage empathy, and takes the heat off the need to ‘perform’.

Thanks. I used to do the cube on people - it's a visualization technique. I suppose that's cold reading.

KINDLE E-INK EDITION NOW AVAILABLE

After much badgering for a kindle edition that would work with flowable text for reading on e-ink Kindles such as the paperwhite, I’m pleased to announce that the reflowable version is now up on Amazon. If you have a Kindle Fire and are happy with the print replica version, don’t remove it from your device or it’ll get overwritten with the new flowable version when you re-download it.

If you’ve previously tried to order JBCRR for Kindle from Amazon and have had the alert ‘this book is not compatible with your Kindle’ well it is now.

I hope everyone enjoys it, simply because creating the flowable Kindle version nearly broke me and took me a month! It really takes work to get these things looking good on flowable devices that use either EPUB or MOBI and it’s anything but automatic. It’s a bit like turning a book into a website, but less fun.

Anyhow, hope that keeps a few people happy out there.

https://mybook.to/jamesbondcoldreading

Unfortunately my Kindle Paperwhite still gives the 'not compatible' message when I try to download it

Noted. I'll see if I can get Amazon to push the newer version out. I've no previous experience with having more than one Kindle version, but I've read somewhere that I may have to instruct them to press a button that I don't have access to.

Thanks for your patience! I'll keep you posted here, and in the newsletter.

OK, I've just been onto Amazon chat support. The NEW kindle version has this identifier:

ASIN B0CT48C2QT

If you have bought the old version already and have enjoyed it on your kindle fire or other non-e-ink device, the old ASIN is locked into the print replica version. It can't be changed. Of course, this is news to me, they don't tell you these things, and I am very angry about it.

Amazon tells me that the only way to download the newer version for kindle is to ask for a refund, and then download the new version.

I'm pretty shocked this is how it is, but apparently it's the only way. If I'd of known that the whole print replica thing was such a pain, I wouldn't have bothered.

So, if you're keen to get the kindle flowable version that will work on an e-ink kindle after buying the print replica version, you'll need to get a refund, and then repurchase it.

It should be pretty easy to get a refund and simply repurchase. But I do apologise. Nothing should be this much bother.

Should you go this route, just double check the ASIN of the kindle version is B0CT48C2QT. This is the NEW ASIN.

This link should get you there: https://mybook.to/jamesbondcoldreading

Thanks for your patience.

Bev

PS If anyone is getting the 'not compatible' message from their first ever purchase of the book, please let me know! You can reply on this thread, or send me an email via the website.

PPS Sorry! Grumble.

So, as explained, it looks like you're still trying to download the print replica version from your initial purchase, which is incompatible with your e-ink kindle. .This version will never suddenly become compatible. As far as Amazon is concerned, it's a different product with a different identifier / bar code.

You'll need to get a refund, and then buy the kindle version again with the ASIN B0CT48C2QT. You can also check the title to make sure PRINT REPLICA isn't mentioned. It should say KINDLE EDITION at the end of the book's title.

Apologies again, hope you get it sorted. I spent a month making the kindle e-ink version, and this whole thing is infuriating.

Bev

Hi Bev. No problem at all. I'll let you know how it goes, and thank you for your hard work and quick responses:)

BW

Steve