When I was originally asked to review Mr. David Huxley’s book “How To Win Women With Tarot Cards”, my first thought was that this must be a joke. Surely there must be an easier way to make friends with women at parties. Having read the book, I am now convinced that there is not.

If you’ve ever been to a party where someone is reading Tarot cards, you know that the line starts before the reader arrives. For some reason, people, especially women, like to have their cards read to them. Huxley attributes this to a desire to share confidences and gain information about our lives. I think it’s more a matter of colorful cards and a secret belief in magic. In any case, there is no doubt that people, particularly those between the ages of 18 and 30, like to have their cards read to them.

But does it really make sense for a guy to use this as a way to meet women?

An average tarot reading at a party takes between fifteen minutes and half an hour. During that time, the reader asks someone, usually a woman, to shuffle the cards and discuss quite personal details of her past, present, and future. That sort of thing is likely to result in instant intimacy. As each card falls, the reader explains the importance of its meaning and position, and the person being read to usually struggles to see how this information might apply to them.

Having attended more than my fair share of parties, I have to say that having letters read to me, or watching others read theirs, is more interesting than having normal small talk. There are so many interesting ways to answer the question “What do you do? Where do you work? Do you have any hobbies?” Even if you are a romance writer.

It’s much more interesting to discuss whether or not magic is real, what the future holds, what the cards mean, and how chance can reveal the secrets of the universe.

One thing I really like about David’s book is that he realizes that the goal is to put on an interesting show. He gives a short introduction to personality profiling, hypnosis and NLP, and reveals how he can use these tricks to create a more interesting and entertaining Tarot reading.

The book is short, only 42 pages, but I think it provides the best introduction to Tarot I have ever read. For someone looking for a new way to break the ice at parties, this is probably ideal. His overview of the major arcana gives some easy-to-remember definitions, and the coverage of the minor arcana is adequate. Tarot cards are shipped with comprehensive summaries of each card.

The only thing I think people won’t like about this book is that it’s pretty clear that Huxley isn’t sure that Tarot cards are magical. He seems to attribute his “success” to human participation in shuffling and sorting the cards, and people working together to read them. I think some Tarot card purists would find it irritating.