Lior Suchard - Mind reader: unlocking the secrets and powers of a mentalist

For Tal,

who fills me with happy thoughts.

I couldnt have done any of this without you.

L OS A NGELES , M ARCH 23, 2009, 9:28 P.M.

One night I was in Los Angeles with a friend and his family when a car followed us home from a party, slipping into the private gated community behind us. We darted into the house, wondering what to do, while the car parked across the street. There were four of us, and we decided to go back outside and investigate. Safety in numbers, we thought. But the moment we stepped into the darkness outside the house, a large man leapt out of the car and screamed, Dont move. Whoever you are. Police. He was holding a gun. Weve all seen it in movies but its really, really scary when its happening to you. Thoughts flew into my mind, none of them good. Then, almost before we knew it, there were six police cars, sirens blaring, and a helicopter circling overhead lighting up the sky. What was going on? The first policeman yelled at me, waving me forward. All around me lights were flashing and there was constant noise and movement but all I was looking at were guns. Within seconds I was handcuffed, my hands bound together in front then jerked up over my head. The policeman patted me down, not rough but purposeful. Invasive. I searched his face, his eyes, but didnt see anything. My mind was just filled with the word why? and choked up with fear. From my jacket pocket, he pulled out one broken spoon, a handful of long silver nails, one pencil, and one small notepad. He brandished the broken spoon right in my face like it was a weapon, yelling furiously, What the hell? What the hell is this? For a moment, I was silent. Shocked. Im, Im a mind reader, I stuttered. A mentalist. A performer? He stared at me in disbelief, glared at the items in his hand, and then shook his head, telling me to balance on one leg.

It turned out that he thought I was driving drunkI wasntand he called for backup when he saw four men start out of the house toward him. The point of the story is that all the officer found on me was a broken spoon, some long silver nails, a pencil, and a small notepad. The spoon had been broken in two with the power of my mind at a private party two hours before. The nails I would bend in practice to prepare for a Japanese TV show the next week. And the pencil and paper were for everyday mind stuntsyou never know when you might need them. These items mean the world to me. Literally. They are the tools of my trade, and they have taken me from a small town in Israel to TV shows, live shows, private parties, lectures, business conventions, and trade shows in more than forty countries around the world.

When youre standing there, scared for your life, with strange thoughts flashing through your mind, you find yourself reduced to your essence. While I balanced on one leg and proved I wasnt drunk or dangerous, the policeman looked at that broken spoon again and said, A mind reader?his voice suspicious, but his eyes open, vulnerable. I reached for my notebook and pencil, looked into his face, and scribbled something down for myself. Then I asked him, If I were to ask you to think of a number between one and a hundred, what would it be? My fear was gone. He thought for a moment. Twenty-eight. I tore the paper from my notebook and gave it to him. It said, The policeman will say 28. He was blown away, grinning from ear to ear like a child.

My name is Lior Suchard, and I am a mentalist. I entertain people by showing them the amazing power of the mind. I love to see their eyes widen with surprise when I tell them what theyre thinking, or, even better, when I make them think what theyre thinking. I love the positive energy that comes out of all my shows, my encounters, big and small, on the streets of Tel Aviv, at a TV show in Japan, or before eight hundred people in Vegas. No matter who someone is, they become like a child again when they experience that sense of wonder. Its why I do what I do, and my run-in with the policeman reminded me of that. If my essence is getting people to laugh and wonder with the help of a broken spoon, a handful of long silver nails, a notebook, and a pencil, then Im okay with that. Besides, the experience gave me another cool story to tell, which is part of my essence, too. L.A. cops, huh?

So what does a mentalist do? Right now, Im incredibly busy performing all over the world: Las Vegas, New York, Los Angeles, Japan, South Africa, Russia, Europe, Israel, the list goes on. Ive traveled to three different continents in one week. I sleep a lot on airplanes and carry several different phones. I never know who might call or when. It could be the king of Romania one week, Donna Karan or a high-tech maven the next; with Russian oligarchs in between just telling me to show up at a private airfield at a certain time. And, by the way, dont be late. I appear in many countries on TV talk shows, including Jay Leno, and sometimes they even invite me back. Including Jay Leno. Im big in Japan. Go figure. I work at international corporate events and trade shows, for companies like Coca-Cola, Microsoft, BMW, and Omega. Im invited into big-business conference rooms to break the ice before meetings, to make billionaires play niceand Im invited to private Hollywood parties to entertain movie stars and their A-list friends. Ive opened for Joan Rivers in Las Vegas, where I also have my own show. And yes, Im welcome in Vegas as long as I stay out of the casinos. By the way, the stories about the black list are true!

Sometimes, when I happen to be at the beach or the market or the local diner, I perform. I just cant help myself. Im walking down the street and before I know it Im meeting someone and performing. Im amazing them with my mind games and theyre looking at me, wondering, Oh my god, how did you do that? Its fun. I love the energy. Its a whirlwind of an adventure, and everywhere I go I put in my best performance. I may have just arrived off a twelve-hour flight from hell, had a fight with my manager, my mother, and my girlfriend, but no one in the audience will sense it. I check my fatigue, my emotions at the door, and when I step onto the stage or enter a room, I turn my mind on full blast and become Lior Suchard Extreme, supernatural entertainer. Positive energy and human connection are everything to me. I live to show others how amazing the mind is and to make people laugh, to step outside of themselves and say, Wow. Whether theyre a Hollywood movie star, a CEO of a Fortune 500 company, or the person sitting across from me at the airport, its all the same to me. I want people to wonder.

YOULL SEE THIS LOOK OF WONDER THAT I LOVE SO MUCH WHEN I HEAD TO THE BEACH AND TELL RANDOM PEOPLE THEIR BIRTH DATES. GO TO
WWW.MINDREADERBOOK.COM/BIRTHDAY

So thats what this mentalistor supernatural entertainer, as I sometimes call myself nowdoes when not evading the police. But maybe that doesnt really answer the question. What exactly does a mentalist do?

Well, in general and according to Wikipedia, the tradition of mentalists as stage performers goes back to the sixteenth century, but there are references to seers and oracles among the writings of the ancient Greeks. Mentalists demonstrate highly developed mental or intuitive abilities. Thats certainly true for me. I wield my mind like a precision tool to read minds, influence thoughts, make predictions, and make objects move or bend without touching them (like the spoon and nails in my pocket). I could guess the name of your first love, first teacher, the name of your unborn child, your birth sign, the number youre thinking about. I can transfer feelings using the power of positive energy from one person to another. And I can guess your next question: But please, Lior, how do you do that?