By Abbygail Zwane

For those who have never heard of Gilan Gork, let me give you a brief background: Gilan Gork is a mentalist. He has the ability to do extraordinary mental feats including telepathy, clairvoyance, divination, precognition, psychokinesis and mind control. As a professional mentalist, he can read your thoughts and predict what you will do or say before you're even aware of it. While I’ve never been to his shows, I’ve seen him on television, and what he is able to do is remarkable.

So when Persuasion Games landed on my desk I was delighted. What was I going to learn from this extraordinary human? In the first few pages, Gork assured me that we are playing mind games all the time. We are trying to persuade others to do or say things and similarly, others are doing the same to us. This concept is a bit unnerving, I have to confess. But it kept me reading.

Gork explains, unpacks and reveals. He references and quotes psychologists, social scientists and experimenters in human nature. He teaches you how to be more influential – as a boss, in business negotiations and with people. There are pictures, tricks and quizzes that kept me on my toes while I was reading. I am proud to say that I managed to get one right while the others provided a number of “a-ha” moments. I also learned about fixed response patterns and heuristics, which is when the mind takes a short cut to understanding something – almost like joining the dots to see the pattern – and how this is not always a good thing.

He also demonstrates how a change in perspective can tell a whole other story than what was originally perceived, bringing the reader to the art of illusion. When it comes to magic and illusion, Gork phrases it beautifully; “Just as there is a comparison between visual and cognitive illusions, [in this chapter] I also touched briefly on the comparison between stage magic which relies on sleight of hand and mentalism which relies on sleight of mind. I briefly mentioned a favourite principle of mine: hiding things in plain sight. The basic idea is that I may not be able to make something invisible to your eyes, but I can make it invisible to your mind.”

The book is full of anecdotes and as I was reading I felt as though I had Gork sitting with me in my small kitchen. The tone is professional but accessible, chatty but always tidy. As I was reading, at night in my kitchen I kept wondering where this book would fit and who it would benefit. It’s self-help in the sense of psychology and mind games, but it is also a very canny and astute handbook for business.

If you’re into psychology and how people think and react, this book is for you. If you’re a businessman in search of a different kind of business book, this book is for you. If you’re a leader in search of fresh ways of persuading your flock, this book is for you. Me: I’m going to try my hand at the art of persuasion.

Persuasion Games is available from Exclusive Books and Amazon.com

For more information, visit www.gilangork.com. Alternatively, connect with him on Facebook, on Twitter, on Instagram or on Youtube.