# Suggestions for books about fortune tellers?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestions-for-books-about-fortune-tellers/572862>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [February 28, 2011, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestions-for-books-about-fortune-tellers/572862 "2011-02-28T00:42:27Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\
**Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestions-for-books-about-fortune-tellers/572862/1 "2011-02-28T00:42:27Z")

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I’ve been asked to ask y’all if there are any good books, fiction or non-fiction, about the experiences of fortune-tellers. The kind where the heroine has her palm read on a whim and son-of-a-gun, the old gypsy’s prediction came true! Or a charlatan fortune teller sets up shop and discovers she suddenly can see the auras of the marks who come in. Or, “I was a tea-leaf reader at the Posh Hotel Tearoom for 20 years”, or “My girlfriend took a job at the Ren Faire fortune-telling booth”. Whatever. Thx.

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**Author:** ![SpectBrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a87d85/32.png) [@SpectBrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpectBrain)\
**Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestions-for-books-about-fortune-tellers/572862/2 "2011-02-28T03:53:46Z")

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You might like “Cons Scams and Grifts” by Joe Gores. the plot centers on a gypsy tribe.

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**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\
**Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestions-for-books-about-fortune-tellers/572862/3 "2011-02-28T13:53:31Z")

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For a hard SF version, there’s Robert Heinlein’s “Life-Line” (his first published story, and still a great one).

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**Author:** ![Turble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Turble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turble)\
**Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestions-for-books-about-fortune-tellers/572862/4 "2011-02-28T18:12:28Z")

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[Full Facts Book of Cold Reading](http://www.thecoldreadingbook.com/)

This is the straight dope on the subject.

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**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\
**Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestions-for-books-about-fortune-tellers/572862/5 "2011-02-28T18:22:50Z")

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> [@Turble](#):
>
> [Full Facts Book of Cold Reading](http://www.thecoldreadingbook.com/)
> 
> This is the straight dope on the subject.

He’s also one of our own. I also have been wanting to get this book for a couple of years now, I just went and did so.

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**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\
**Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestions-for-books-about-fortune-tellers/572862/6 "2011-03-01T03:11:18Z")

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thanks.