The Sourcebook of Magic: a
comprehensive guide to NLP patterns.
2nd Ed.
AUTHOR: L Michael Hall
PUBLISHER: Crown House Publishing
ISBN: 1904424252
REVIEWED BY: Paul Jones
For those of you who missed the 1st edition of this excellent
book, there is now a second chance to pick up this modern
classic. The premise of the work is that many NLP books are
available that contain, within extensive “padding”, only a few
patterns, some books just one or two. Hall achieves his goal of
separating the wheat from the chaff admirably with all the
objectivity of a Haynes car manual, leaving this pragmatic work
refreshingly academic yet accessible. Like a cookbook it is
reference driven allowing the practitioner access to these
powerful patterns without the contingency of having to wade into
battle against the author’s literary aspirations.
What are these patterns?
Most of these patterns are primarily action orientated, simple
exercises to be run through step by step with regard to specific
ends. The other few are, more fundamentally, explanations of
NLP assumptions, such as the principle of well formed outcomes.
Hall begins by introducing the reader to an overview of NLP and
levels-of-processing that is indispensable, as within the
instructions to the patterns he falls back on a few technical
concepts without further explanation, such as “test and future
pace”.
Then we come to the patterns themselves. Organised roughly
according to their level of processing, the book allows you to
easily select a pattern for your goal. Included patterns are;
collapsing anchors, resolving internal conflict, chaining states,
becoming intentionally compelled, responding to criticism, healthy
eating, spinning icons… The second edition adds to the first;
some simplification of the procedures and a little more detail as to
the cognitive / behavioural mechanisms used in the patterns, and
a deserved revision of the introduction. In the first (and second)
edition, Hall asserts that there may be as many as 200 distinct
patterns and surely some that haven’t been invented (or that
should be discovered?) yet. So I was expecting some new
patterns in the 2nd ed., but it’s the original 77. I don’t know how I
would start to define the distinction of a unique pattern (as
opposed to a variant) anyway. I find it unlikely that at a
computational, cognitive level there are 200 modes of action, so
it’s safe to assume that all of the building blocks are here for you.
Hall hints that, a list of patterns touted as “exhaustive”, would
promote dogma and stagnate inventive development, through his legitimate assertion that all the patterns are largely prototypical
and are easily extended and adapted. Without being overly
complex, this book is dense.
REVIEWED BY: Paul Jones
Magazine
For Hypnosis and 