60 Seconds With . . . Max Maven

Max Maven doesn’t claim to be psychic -- just a mind reader. In his cerebral act, “Thinking in Person: An Evening of Knowing and Not Knowing,” running Fridays at the Steve Allen Theater, the magician and mentalist performs confounding feats including describing audience members’ past trips abroad, predicting the outcome of a game of musical chairs and duplicating a drawing that’s been sketched by a patron while Maven’s eyes have been covered. HOW DO YOU READ MINDS?

I use a variety of psychological principles, a lot of nonverbal communication skills, in both directions -- I’m reading people, but also steering people. Hopefully the end result is mysterious and spooky.

WHOSE MINDS ARE EASIER TO READ, MEN’S OR WOMEN’S?

You can’t make a flat-out statement about that. There are certain routines that I do where I’ll more often choose a woman or more often choose a man, having to do with certain social behavior issues. But it’s more the individual rather than a statement about an entire gender.

HOW ABOUT SOMEONE WHO RESISTS MANIPULATION?

Let’s say I’ve got a fork and a spoon on the table and I’m going to try to influence you to pick up the fork. I’ll give you subtle cueing and nonverbal steering to get you to pick up the fork. If you’re in an agreeable mood, you pick up the fork. But if you’re in an adversarial mood, I might give you the psychological steering to pick up the spoon, and you, not necessarily consciously, would think, “Oh, he wants me to pick up the spoon, so I’ll pick up the fork.”

ARE YOU EVER TEMPTED TO USE YOUR POWERS FOR EVIL?

Ha! No, I feel my job is to not only create mystery for my audience, but also to bring it to their attention. Mystery is a really important and valuable component of human existence, but we tend to assimilate things with blinding speed. You know that expression “Take time to stop and smell the flowers”? I would say, take time to stop and realize just how weird those flowers are.

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-- Pauline.O’ Connor@latimes.com