Max Maven (born Philip Goldstein in 1950) is an American magician and mentalist. He is best known for a performance where he gives the impression that he can 'read spectators' minds', an illusion caused by using advanced psychological principles and methods.

Though not as well-known as the more famous stage magicians, Maven is respected within the magician industry for being a prolific author, and innovating many of the magical and mentalist effects that are used by other magicians. He has been a consultant for such names as David Copperfield, Penn & Teller, Siegfried & Roy and Doug Henning.

He occasionally plays a magician character (or even himself) on various television series, such as, "Magic", "The Art of Magic" and "Houdini: Unlocking His Secrets," "Something Strange with Max Maven", "Fresh Prince of Bel Air", and "The MAXimum Dimension".

Maven is a frequent contributor to industry journals such as Genii, The Linking Ring, and MUM, and he has been the featured magician at the annual conventions of both the Society of American Magicians and the International Brotherhood of Magicians.

His name has been legally changed to Max Maven, but he still uses "Phil Goldstein" as a pen name for technical writings.

Selected works

• Max Maven's Book of Fortunetelling, 1992, Prentice Hall General. ISBN 0135641217
• Max Maven's Mindgames (video)
• The Art of Magic (book co-written with James Randi)
• VideoMind - Phases 1-3: Mentalism (3 volume DVD)

References

• Official Max Maven site
• IMDB list
• Interview with Max Maven

1950 births | American magicians | Living people | マックス・メイビン