Customer Reviews

Tricks of the Mind

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I originally ordered this from amazon.co.uk and was willing the pay the international shipping fee, so obviously my excitement for this book was quite large. This is a pretty chunky book, and yes, very very dense with useful information.

What you will find: you will quickly discover that Derren's wit and intellect are quite large, he covers a large range of topics from modern religion, hypnosis, memory tricks, a long discussion on scientific process, and he's damned clever in all aspects.

What you won't find: a step by step, principle by principle explanation of how he does what he does on the show. In short, if you are thinking of buying the book so you too can hypnotize people into seeing their own death in a car crash, you will be sorely dissappointed. Also an interesting point: he makes a clear distinction between what he does and what NLP (Neuro Linquistic Programming) is, and his view of NLP as a whole will surprise you.

I give it 4 stars because although a fantastic book, Derren's writing possess what seems to be a uniquely English problem: they spend 4 sentences explaining themselves with elaborate sentences where one to-the-point sentence would have done well. Perhaps it was just me and my American get-to-the-point way of looking at things, but a chapter or two were nearly enough to make you skip ahead to the more interesting topics.

Overall, a fun read, and do try the memory tricks, you will be blown away with what you can already achieve.

If you've never seen Darren Brown's television show, treat yourself and check it out. It is rare that a magician or a hypnotist or a self proclaimed hustler can entertain a person with any substantial intellect. Yet put these three performance artists together, add a sense of moral integrity, intellectual honesty, and a sense of mischeif, what you will get is Darren Brown.

The book is an absolute must-read if you find yourself easily taken in by claims of the paranormal or magic. Your eyes will be opened to the amazing things that can be done by a skilled performer. And thanks to his modesty and integrity, he's perfectly willing to admit to you, the befuddled butt of his sometimes twisted humor, that what he's doing is performance art, and in no way magical in the slightest degree.

What has been said of another freethinker I admire, Christopher Hitchens, I will reiterate in reference to Darren Brown. 'He is utterly incapable of being boring.'

If you've seen Derren Brown in action and it fascinates you as it does me, then this is the book for you, it gives you the principles and techniques to put into practice yourself, and be able to do some of the things he does on the show, from magic tricks to insane memory recollection, and much more, then Derren ends the book with his views on various topics out there, such as the paranormal, religion and so on, this really is a great book, its great to see such a performer share the tricks of his trade for once, thanks Derren!!.

I don't know why but apparently after reading this book I went to the computer and gave Derren a 5 star review. While I don't remember writing this review, I do however feel refreshed and rested.

Seriously, I greatly enjoyed Brown's book and was very pleased with the small insights from his personal life that he revealed to us.

While the book was able to give minor glimpses into the inner working of `mind control' it did not go deep enough to get the neophyte into serious trouble. And I believe that is why it was a `top of the wave' type of book. The actual trickery and techniques that Brown uses takes years of training and development and I also suspect a strong dose of natural talent for this sort of thing. Just as important, if he gave away his methods, he wouldn't have much of an act left.

I am perfectly okay with both reasons. I didn't buy the book hoping to become the next Kreskin or Brown just as I didn't read Lonesome Dove to become a gunslinger. The book fully met its goal by exposing a little more of the fascinating, mysterious character of Derren Brown.

I hope you find this review helpful.

Michael L. Gooch

Derren Brown is a TV and stage performer - he is a showman who taps into human psychology to create the most amazing stunts and illusions.

In this book he explores magic, perception, and the psychology that allows magicians and others to do what they do to trick us, perplex us and manipulate us (in good and bad ways).

I absolutely loved reading this book. First of all, because Derren writes with an easy to read style even when dealing with complex and detailed concepts. Secondly, he explores each area he covers in great depth. For example, in Part Two - Magic - he fully explains how to make a coin "disappear" - a basic magic trick - but then goes on to show how to finesse the trick and why it works.

To quote from that section
"...magic...is about entering into a relationship with a person whereby you can lead him, economically and deftly, to experience an event as magical. That experience has something to do with a rather child-like feeling of astonishment, but also contains an adult intellectual conundrum. It exists only in the head of the spectator; and though your skills may have led him there, it is not the same as those skills. It inhabits an experience the spectator has..."

The book covers memory systems; hypnosis and suggestibility (with the surprising suggestion that there is possibly no such thing as a trance "state"); unconscious communication, and anti-science, pseudo-science and bad thinking (including the work of mediums and psychics).

If you love to find out more about how we tick, if you are interested in exploring your beliefs, or if you just love magic as I do - you will love this book. Highly recommended.

I would highly suggest this book to anyone fascinated with Derren brown, the entire thing feels very personal like your sitting across from him drinking tea or something. However, much like a conversation, and he admits it in his "Final thoughts", the book lacks any sense of direction, it goes everywhere and nowhere at the same time. It almost felt like reading parts of many books, or even (with some editing) a collection of essays. This, while being interesting in it's own way, left me feeling that i hadn't got what i wanted or what i was looking for. I think that many people will feel this way after reading the book, like there's something missing. If your looking for tricks and how to do them, there isn't enough, if you want to learn performance tips, there isn't enough etc etc I was especially disappointed when later on during the cold reading and hypnosis bits, while delving very deeply into his thoughts on the subjects, there was nearly no teaching of methods or skills or how to do any of it, only extended essays about Derren Brown's feelings and comments on people who practiced them. Long story short there were parts where i couldn't put it down, in fact most of it was very interesting and fun to read, but i was inevitably left feeling that it was lacking in some way.

I would tell anyone who really enjoys Derren's work to buy it and read it it's short and it's worth it, but i would warn people who are only somewhat curious / just looking for anything to read.

KIndle users: my star rate doesn't reflect this in anyway because i was judging the book and not the format/ editing but be extra warned, the kindle version is formatted / edited absurdly badly. Throughout the entire book "that" was spelled "mat", lists were out of order, many pages of pictures that clearly were meant for other parts of the book were stuck between paragraphs, and parts of the book were word for word repeated at different locations. I was somewhat astonished that i had to pay for such a badly formatted copy - if it had been free this wouldn't have been a problem. However because you do have to pay for it take into consideration that you will pause a couple time to reread a sentence because of spelling or because it sounds so familiar.


Derrin brown fans enjoy it it's a treasure - all others beware

Derren Brown is an amazingly interesting and intelligent person. While this book has a lot of great and fascinating material it almost feels like a jumbled collage of ideas, tricks, and philosophy. Many of the greatest parts of the book are when Derren talks philosophy. The book is also littered with British style humor. There isn't really a sense of a natural progression of ideas and each topic seems to jump around. The reading level is high which is a good thing. Derren stresses at the beginning of the book that he won't dumb down his language to appeal to the layman. I appreciated this. He doesn't really bring anything new to the table other than insight to his beliefs but if you are even the slightest bit of fan of Darren Brown, you should read this book. If you haven't read Richard Dawkin's material before it will definately get you thinking. Just don't expect very many techniques on magic, memory, mind control, NLP, or a literary masterpiece. Smartly so, Derren keeps most of his "tricks of the mind" to himself.

I originally heard about him when I studied in England. I was hooked on his specials and decided to order his book. The book does give you some clues as to how he does his tricks, and if you can read between the lines then you can get a better idea as to how he does his tricks. The first half of the book talks about his life, some memory tricks, some basic tricks etc.

As you continue reading the book, it changes topics and starts discussing how some individuals pretend or trick themselves into thinking they are psychic or have other supernatural powers. If you do not have an open mind about spirituality or religion then this chapter may upset you, but if you can keep an open mind then you will find these chapters to be very interesting. The ending of the book made me realize how entertaining and creepy life can be when you are in the spotlight.

Overall, I highly recommend this book :). If you are looking for a book that teaches you step-by-step how to manipulate people's minds then you will probably be a bit disappointed. If you are looking for a book that explains the basics of how he does a few of his tricks, and gives you some insight into his life and the way our minds can be fooled, then you will enjoy this book.

This book is a good read, I'm about two thirds the way through, although I like Derren Brown, and enjoy his humor tremendously, I would have to say that I disagree with some of his views. That said, he is entitled to his point of view, and it does not detract from the enjoyment of his book, in fact he provides plenty of food for thought.

Loved this book! I read it in three days. Brown offers simple instruction to get you started in magic, hypnosis and memory, but also offers insight into the way the brain works to make these feats possible. The book starts and closes out with messages about the paranormal and God. Brown is a firm unbeliever, and his scientific take on claims of the paranormal is refreshing and charming. Buy it!