Columnist Susan Snyder: Rose’s book a real con festival

Tuesday, April 26, 2005 | 8:12 a.m.

One of Las Vegas' scariest places is inside Jim Rose's head.

It's also one of the funniest, judging by the antics and tricks Rose describes in his new book, "Snake Oil: Life's Calculations, Misdirections and Manipulations."

"The contents of this book are dangerous," an opening disclaimer says. "Misuse of the material can cheapen an art form or at the very least make you look stupid."

Yeah, hypnotizing a guinea pig or a chicken can make you look pretty stupid. (Rose tells you how on pages 4 and 5. Find the book on www.amazon.com.)

If you know of Rose at all, you know him as the creator and performer of the "Jim Rose Circus," a show in which he leads audiences on a raucous ride through illusion and delusion. Popular in Europe (he travels there in May for a four-month tour), Rose has been featured on MTV and an episode of "The Simpsons."

His is the art of the con. And "Snake Oil" is the tell-all book about how to con others and avoid it yourself.

"I've always been intrigued by hustlers, shysters and hucksters," Rose said. "People say, 'That guy's got street smarts,' but nobody can ever define it for me clearly."

Rose tries. From sleights of hand to walking on hot coals to being buried alive (and surviving), he takes readers on a mind-bending journey. Numbers games, carnival games, street scams -- if people can be fooled by it, it's in Rose's book.

His roots as a con artist run deep. Rose, 48, recalled a childhood game in which kids cut a hole in the top of a cigar box and tried to drop marbles into it from a standing position.

"I discovered if you cut the hole from the inside-out, it made a little bump so you couldn't drop them in there," Rose said. "Then I would give the other kids 5-to-1" odds that they couldn't make it.

He's still playing the odds. When he's not on the road, Rose plays poker at home in Las Vegas.

He avoids becoming too regular at any one place and prefers playing against tourists. The Palms and new poker rooms at the Rio and Aladdin are among his favorites. His current hot spot is a well-known casino I promised not to name.

Why? Those who play there don't know how bad they are, Rose said.

"They're just horrible players," he said. "The nicest thing I could say about anybody at that table the other night was, 'Hey, nice tooth.' The whole table had less teeth than a walrus."

The Wall Street Journal featured Rose recently, as did a chapter of "Deviant's Advantage," a book about creating mass markets. He wasn't aware of the latter until the phone started ringing.

"All of a sudden I'm getting all these calls from blue-chip companies to come and do seminars for a lot of money," Rose said. "I suppose it's because I have the ability to take something as stupid as my show and my existence and make it a brand."

He laughs at the idea of executives from major U.S. corporations seeking advice from a professional con man.

"I'm the guy who comes into town and says, 'I'm going to con you,' and they still pay money," he said.

Rose said he has tried nearly everything he described in the book.

"But," he added, "I wouldn't be doing justice to the history of snake oil if I didn't embellish liberally."