Don't Get Taken: Bunco & Bunkum Exposed How to Protect Yourself

By Robert A. Steiner

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0962347302
• ISBN13: 9780962347306
• Release Date: January 1989
• Publisher: Wide-A-Wake Books
• Length: 206 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.5" x 0.5" x 5.5"

Customer Reviews

A primer on dangerous scams!

Part I of Steiner's book is called "You Can Be Taken." No matter who we are or how smart we think we are, we are vulnerable to the snares of the con man. Why? It's not because we're greedy or stupid. It's because we are trusting. We trust people we think are sincere and being sincere is certainly a quality of trustworthy people. However, as Steiner points out, if what the person is selling is nonsense, it doesn't matter that she's sincere. As Steiner says: "If you consult an astrologer to make life decisions, you are giving up control over your own life. You are living your life based upon mystical nonsense. That is true whether the practicing astrologer whom you consult is a fraud or a sincere true believer"(6). Steiner's book is a how-to manual in protection from cons and scams. He begins with the warning that anybody can be taken, including you. If you fail to learn lesson number one, don't bother reading the rest of the book. He describes how he uses cold reading to fool people into thinking he's psychic. Cold reading is the name given to a set of techniques used by psychics, astrologers, palm readers, numerologists, "or any of numerous other mystical practitioners of nonsense" (21). The reader "starts cold, with no information" about his or her client. "The reader begins with generalities which are applicable to large segments of the population. He or she pays careful attention to reactions: words, body language, skin color, breathing patterns, dilation or contraction of the pupils of the eye, and more. The subject of the reading will usually convey important information to the reader: sometimes in words, and sometimes in bodily reactions to the reading." "From observation, the reader will feed back to the subject what the latter wants to hear. That is the overwhelming guiding principle of the mystics: Tell 'em what they want to hear. That will keep them coming back for more." In addition to cold reading, Steiner explains that psychics are often quite sensitive and perceptive people. They pick up on subtle clues. This surprises most people and leads many of them to attribute this sensitivity to being psychic. Thus, the sensitive, perceptive person gets a lot of feedback from others about their psychic abilities. "Hearing that enough, the person begins to believe that he or she is indeed psychic" (29). Steiner doesn't think most psychics are frauds. He thinks the majority are sincere but wrong, and that none of them truly help the police solve crimes, despite what the media and the public might think. In fact, both the media and the public provide the same kind of after-the-fact finding of meaning that dominates cold readings when they give psychics credit for assisting the police. The alleged psychic detective supposedly helps the police locate the body of a murder victim. The psychic senses the body will be found near running water and, shock of shocks, the body is found by the edge of a river. Steiner was once in Iowa where this happ

Don't call that Psychic

Anybody that calls Psychics or subscribes to money pyramids should read this book before throwing away their money.