When it comes to hypnosis, what comes to mind is TV show performances, e.g. a client suddenly starts laughing or becomes deprived of physical motion just upon a hand clap by the hypnotist. I thought it has mothing to do with me. But by reading this book, I realized hypnosis could affect us in everyday situations, as shown in Uday’s case, it could affect one’s leg movements through words spoken by someone without intending to.

Then it might be a sort of hypnosis that we spontaneously have a feeling of fear or disgust toward Uday Hussein, just by hearing his name. Is it just a biased belief? The author based on his real experience depicted Uday as an intelligent and thoughtful person on one hand but dominating and commanding character on the other. It must be a big challenge to meet a person such as Uday, but the author carried off relying on many years of experience and confidence by the seat-of-the-pants.

What impressed me most is the miracles of the Sufi Mosque. The author saw surprising arts by Sufi people, who stabbed a knife on the head but having no pain, for instance. As it was shocking even to Larry, a long experienced hypnotist, I imagine that the visual scene must have been stunning. I was very interested in such arts, although I am no way going to try such a frightening experiment even if I were able to fall into trance.

After 9.11, I saw many reports or news in the world, but what they said was completely different from the description of “Iraq” written in this book. Although it is very difficult to be non-judgmental at all, the story is so valuable as it can be written only by the author Larry, who actually visited Iraq and had personal interaction with Uday Hussein.