Palmistry is a traditional art of divination which, in recent times, seems to have come back into vogue. Along with other traditional arts such as cartomany and tarot, palm reading has been dusted down and given a ‘New Age’ makeover. And, while it doesn’t qualify as ,magic or mentalism, it is nonetheless, an art which some magicians and mentalists may find useful to add to their repertoire. Put simply: many people like to have their fortunes told or their inner selves brought (gently) to the light by a skilful ‘reader’. You may soon find that you get asked to demonstrate your palm reading talents in addition to – or instead of – your mind reading ones!

Now, I must say that, up to now I have read very little on the subject of palmistry but, having read a great deal on the subjects of tarot and cartomancy, I can well believe Julian Moore’s assertion that most books on palm reading are “hard going”. That has certainly been my own experience with tarot. Most books seem to think that the learner will be prepared to study and memorise many densely-written pages of complicated meanings for each of the 78 cards in the deck before even starting to learn how to do a reading with them!

The ‘lifetime’s study’ approach is unlikely to appeal to professional of semi-professional performers who have been offered the opportunity of a palm (or tarot) reading spot this time next Tuesday. “Hang on a few years while I learn how to do it,” is probably not a reply guaranteed to get you repeat bookings…

Accordingly, this book is aimed at cutting through the waffle and getting straight to the core of the business. Or, as the author says, “This book and accompanying flash cards are designed for you to teach yourself the basics of palmistry as quickly as possible, structured so that with only a few cards memorized you can immediately start ‘giving readings’. By having very simple and memorable information from the start, practicing on others can begin almost immediately, and as practice is the only way to become adept at palmistry, this is important.

The flash cards are central to his teaching method. Provided in the form of a 20 page PDF document, these have named pictures on one side and lists of related information on the reverse. So, for example, card number 6 is entitled ‘Finger meanings’ and shows a diagram of a hand. On the reverse, a simple mnemonic is given to help you remember the names and meanings of each finger; other cards are devoted to the thumbs and the various lines that traverse the palm and fingers.

The main eBook guides the reader through the study of the flash cards. Once you have learnt the first five cards, you should know enough to try out a reading; then you can move onto study of the remaining cards in order to add depth to your interpretations.

There is more to this book than just learning a set of inflexible meanings, however. This is, in my view, is a flaw of some other ‘easy learn’ divination systems. They teach you a simple mnemonic which lets you rattle off a set of meanings in a fixed and inflexible order but they forget to teach you how to make the reading interesting and enjoyable for the client.

Palm readings – in your own words lives up to the second part of its title – “in your own words”. Much of the book is taken up with a discussion of how to use the knowledge of palm reading to construct an interesting and meaningful dialogue with the person whose palm is being read.

Overall this is an intelligent, well presented book which is well illustrated with useful tables and pictures to help the reader acquire the basic skills of palm reading in the minimum of time. For that reason, it can be strongly recommended to anyone who wants to learn to do palmistry ‘for real’ but has only a limited amount of free time in which to do so.

That said, the book does have its limitations. I personally would like to know something of the history of the subject – which civilization ‘invented’ palm reading, which notable historical figures have had their palms read and so on. This eBook avoids such digressions. Instead, it is a purely a nuts-and-bolts practical guide. I guess that once you’ve mastered this, you can buy one of the more discursive books on the topic as a source of more expansive information.

I have one other minor criticism. The Flash cards are formatted as complete pages which have to be printed out. The author’s suggestion that you carry these around in a pocket or handbag, initially seemed to me to be more a case of wishful thinking than practical advice. However, when I asked about this he informed me that the pages can be printed onto 4x6 index cards – something which I have not yet tried but shall do shortly.

If you haven’t got index cards, here’s a tip. With the aid of a neat little printing utility called FinePrint you can print two, four or eight cards onto a single sheet of A4 paper – either single sided or double sided. This can then be cut and/or folded.

In summary, while this book is not an ‘in depth’ account of palmistry – its history, mystery and lore - it does provide you with a well structured and highly practical study guide which will assist you to learn to read palms very speedily. Great value.

Incidentally, this is by the same author who wrote the excellent Post Justify – an E-Book guide to mentalism with Post-It Notes – which is another very worthwhile book to add to your collection.

Huw Collingbourne