Tricks Of The Mind

One thing any book needs to be to win me over, whatever its subject, is well written. A few years ago I read several articles by Sam Harris on the web, and regardless of his message, his prose delighted me. I wanted to read more of his writing, so I bought a copy of "The End of Faith" and wasn't disappointed. Derren Brown's "Tricks of the Mind" isn't quite in Harris's class, but it is well written, its scope is definitely wider(!) plus there are more jokes. Brown relishes the literary trick (likely beloved of conjurors) of setting up a paragraph clearly pointing in one direction then entirely undermining it in the final sentence. Wry humour and amusing tricks aside, this is a serious book from a master illusionist, mentalist and showman. Brown not only tells how a trick is performed, but goes on to analyse its underlying psychology, explaining not just how it works, but why. Don't expect him to reveal the intricacies of more complicated tricks, but his discussion of the psychology of conjuring is revealing in itself. He includes personal anecdotes throughout the book, though how much of the "real" Derren Brown these truly reveal is impossible to know, considering the man's profession. Later on Brown explains memory systems, with many practical exercises that demonstrate they do actually work. He also covers hypnotism in depth, even inviting the reader to try it out. I've had my suspicions about the true nature of hypnotism, and was pleased to see them confirmed (though I appreciate that's hardly conclusive proof of what I suspected). After a diversion into self-help motivational techniques he moves on to unconscious communication and lie-detection, describing how it is possible for a skilled, practised and perceptive operator to tell whether or not someone is speaking the truth. In the last part of the book he looks at pseudo-science, alternative medicine and scepticism in general, including critical thinking, statistics and probability. From there he moves on to comprehensive and passionate coverage of psychic mediums and cold-reading -- laced, however, with irony and wit that make these serious chapters a pleasure to read. Finally we have a generously annotated reading list, plus references and an alphabetical index. My recommendation? Read it - you'll be entertained as well as informed.

This book is phenomenal and works on several levels. It's an introduction to the kind of mind trickery that Derren specialises in. It introduces basic concepts of magic, teaching a simple disappearing coin trick and a card trick. It teaches a variety of mnemonic techniques, together with practical demonstration exercises, which prove to be extremely effective if you can be bothered to put them to the test. It moves on to discuss subjects such as hypnosis and NLP, the curing of phobias and pain control, placebos, and culminates with cold reading techniques, exposing the tricks of fake mediums and psychics and the dangers of bad thinking and snake oil merchants in general. It is, as I say, an introduction to these subjects, because you surely didn't expect to learn all there is to know about these skills and deep topics from a single paperback, did you? But it's also just about the BEST introduction you could get, exposing the woolly thinking and smoke screens that make a lot of the literature on such things of limited value at best. This book prepares you to think properly and clearly if you wish to study the 'tricks of the mind' further; also, how to train yourself to recognise the tricks levelled against you by others. On another level, it's simply a delightful and hugely entertaining read, just like one of Derren's shows. It's an absolute pleasure to turn the pages and I often laughed out loud. Derren's wit and sarcasm are often very subtle and I'm sure a lot of the most hilarious gags will go right over the heads of many people. I recall one section where he was railing against pretentiousness and then proceeded to explain what pretentious meant for people who might not know. Utter comedy gold, sir. And on a yet further level, if you really stop to think about what you've just read, all of the core principles are actually revealed here very clearly indeed. Just don't expect to find them in bullet points. A charming, conversational, controversial and enormously satisfying read.

You don't have to like Derren Brown to love this book. It's witty, intelligent (much like the man himself) and very well written . It made me chuckle on a number of occasions and even reach for the dictionary a few times - which in itself became quite a pleasant experience; as learning new, frilly, frivolous words was most enjoyable in itself. The man clearly enjoys the English language. The content is both fascinating and practical, and I have certainly managed to learn some incredible 'tricks' from it's pages - although I don't think the term 'tricks' does them justice at all... 'tools' is far more appropriate word. The memory techniques are astounding and having suffered from a terrible memory myself for years, I now amaze myself, as I recite 100 word list of words, backwards and forwards, with ease. It also provides an intriguing view into the man himself; his childhood, upbringing, university years and some of the experiences that have made him who he is today. These stories alone are worth the cover price as some of them are hysterical, and having read them, they perhaps explains a bit about a man who seems himself slightly strange, if not inexplicable. A thoroughly intriguing romp of a write (romp is honestlyt the best word to describe derren's writing style), that I enjoyed reading and learning from immensely. It seems there's no end to this mans talents. If you found this review helpful please give it the thumbs up and if not, please comment on why, so I can improve and do a better job for you next time - Thanks :-).

If you are a fan of his performances. It’s a good read. If you’re keen to learn some tricks it’s very clear on how to do things. Good value for money. Would read again.

My best friend got me this for my Birthday, and I haven't been able to put it down! Though he doesn't give everything away, he does tell you quite a lot of details (at least enough information to get you interested and maybe try a few things for yourself), and I was surprised exactly how much he did give away. I found the book very interesting and informative. I loved the language he used when writing, as he was able to introduce humour and mild-sarcasm, while keeping it serious and simple enough for you to take in. The book does not JUST "give things away" either, he also introduces a combination of his autobiography, personal theories, research done by others, and shows us some of his amazing artworks. I found his theories on religion and hypnotism very interesting, and in most parts he managed to create a balanced argument for both sides. Many of his theories I agree with, though my only criticism is, at times he can seem overly skeptical. I also like the way he gives you a basic understanding of human psychology. This helps you to understand how a lot of the tricks work, which means you don't necessarily have to know EVERY detail anyway. For me, this book has interested me enough to find out more about psychology and the human brain. It has also managed to keep my attention, something which most books rarely manage to do. It takes a lot to keep my attention for very long, and I rarely finish books - bot I have almost finished this one! (and I intend on finishing it)

I do find Brown very entertaining on TV and certainly he's a fascinating 'showman'. He doesn't quite come over as the same person in his book as he does on TV, where he appears quite kind, if not a very commanding or if you like, bossy and pushy person. There is some sort of contradiction in what he claims for the psychic abilities of others and what he often claims to do in his show... Basically Brown is a master in misleading his audience which naturally is what stage conjurers do, unfortunately he witters on at great length about certain subjects he wishes to debunk and with something of the fervour that approaches Stephen Dawkins- not so good. Like Dawkins's stuff I was irritated by Brown's rants of which he purports to have studied at length, but that's very obviously not the case and so I'd most definitely advise taking this guy with a pinch of salt. Brown, like Dawkins rejected 'christianity' at a fairly young age, for good reason, but they both seem to have thrown the baby out with the bath water. Are all psychics fraud- no, through personal and private experience I don't think so, allthough most are, knowingly or not, doing what they claim or think they are doing. Is 'real' magic possible- yes, again through personal and private experience I believe so. The problem is that very few people understand the true nature of our existence and thus why such things really are possible. This is not some airy fairy 'new age' thing but the subject of study and exploration with many of today's scientists. Fact: The universe is not the way most people think it is, and Derren Brown, shame on you for writing such a depressing and inaccurate book.

Brilliant Book! Man's a Genius!

There are a number of different aspects to this book. There is the part about memory and lots of really helpful information about learning things that is useful for anyone - especially me who forgets the keys and other important items. Derren writes about hypnotherapy and exposes the frauds that can be committed by so called spiritual advisors and anyone who professes to tell the future. He also writes about alternative therapies and exposes myths there. The fact that he so easily fools people into believing he has special powers should be evidence enough that trickery has been going on for years by many of those who claim to have mystic abilities. At the end of the book there are some brilliantly funny emails from various 'admirers' of Derren, they have to be read to be believed!!! The surprising thing is how people seem to have made Derren their best friend without even meeting him. Derren is an atheist and makes it perfectly clear throughout the book that there is no mystical goings on in what he does even though some weaker minded people may believe he has special powers. He provides some of the secrets of his performances but they certainly do require a lot of practice anyway so he is well deserving of his success. I couldn't stop reading this book and there are many many very interesting snippets of inside information. A really good read.

Un'appassionate autoanalisi di un cammino iniziatico che ha poryato l'Autore a "pensare fuori dalla scatola" di dogmi perbenisti imposti fin dall'infanzia da una monarchia soffocante sulle classi subalterne . Naturalmente leggere la vita e i trucchi di un eccellente prestigiatore è "magico".

I should do a video review and may, a bit later, but for now wanted say this book was amazing. Epically informative (and FUNNY! -- db's british humor is brilliantly funny! seriously!) I loved the loci palace memory methods. He provides three excellent memory mnemonic mind tools "peg, loci, and link" all work fantastically. Have read many books on memory methods and many of the ones in other books are pony and trivial and ineffective. All three of darrrens' mnemonic devices are extremely effective and powerful. They're the only three that work. If you add any more than tthe link, peg, and loci you'll just be repeating variations of one of those three. So even three mbnemonic methods may be unnecessary, but that part WORKS. His discussin of detecting deceit was fantastic and revealing . I loved how he showed ways to to detect deceit from Two angles: Look for signs of truth-telling, look for signs of deceit! He reveals both of those classifications of signs. I loved his intellectual slaughtering of alternative medicine, spiritualism, psychic BS, and religion and have listened to the full Dawkins God delusion audio and plan to delve into that liberating field by scrutinizing and reading more of dawkins and Hitchens. I learned and practiced the two tricks he taught in the book (which really do work, althoguht they're presented as something somewhat metaphorical. I performed the coin one in the squalor of los angeles, but in a pretty cool place at the house of blues, and was met by a gleeful audidence chick.) One thing I LOVED is his humorous and insulting phrases he calls participants "dunderheads" or merry-Andrew or mooncalf. LOL hysterical righteously. what else His discussion of hypnosis was more biographical. Didn't learn much anything new there, but worthwhile to learn about the greatest showmanship hypnotist EVER's bio of hypnotism. Some of the stories, namely the hypnotism as self-defence were extremely amusing. Part5 he goes into ALL of these tells. An enormous array of tells. how voice tone, hand gestures, even EYE flickerings, and micro-face movements all give away lies (or truth if said aberrations are absent). THAT was truly fascinating. he lists 14 signs of truthfulness in speech, voice, body. after this huge assault of give-aways to lying, and patterns that liars use and how their lies are revealed in changes in their wording, their voice tone, everything. That was IMMENSELY cool. by far the coolest part of the book was the short miniscule sub-chapter on "Muscle-Reading". I consider that derren's greatest trick. And unfortunately there was only a short bit on it. Most uplifting was his outright direct cool scientific dissection of the pendulum and ouija board fraudulence and how that works simply through ideomotor effect. This book is something that i can trust. when there's SOOO much fallacious crap (spiritualism, religion, utterly atrotious mysticism crap that's actually published?! How can that stuff get publihed! Dispecable). out there. This is a book is comforting in that it attacks that. So basically this is one of the few books (along with dawkins and science textbooks) that I can actually trust! lol. Fantastic book. And my review is most certainly highly skewed because of my enormous reverence for DB. Fantastic character, easily hands down the most shocking nad impressive stage performances ever (that likely encompasses all genres. Rock concerts are likely sometimes more "energizing" but certainly not more impressive in a way than DB. let's just say they're on par with entertaining) but he does it one-man show, so even more awe-inspiring. Music is still cool. This is quite rambling. but the bottom-line: fantastic book, informative, GREAT anecdotes for detecting liars in body and voice, debunking fallacies of psychics and mediums crap, being extremely humorous and funny, being british (i like and trust british authors MUCh more and by far, the bulk of the authors I've read have been british from Roald Dahl as a kid to Brown, hitchens, and Dawkins now and Douglas adams too of course), entertaining and massively rich with techniques and tricks to expand your mind, slaughter bad thinking, and learn how some part of one of the greatest magician's EVER works! This is VERY good book. It's informative. I will read it again to master the mnemonic techniques, the deceit-detection, touch up on teh card and coin trick, and read up on again and reabsorb the whole Part5:Unconscious communication bit likely. But I read the book very thoroughl, found it informative because of the above mentioned, humorous and incredibly amusing. A joy to read of the candid inside world to this truly World Class International hypnotist and magician. The BEST part of this! is the striking irony that DB simultaneously aims to mystify and awe with his magic as he does simultaneously aim to debunk all fake psychics and BS spiritualitists. The last part on pseudo-science and bad thinking was great, but I'll leave that up to Dawkins and Hitchens. Derren offered obviously a less intellectual, more entertaining, sexier, more performance-based discussion of the kind of dawkins-hitchens anti-religion discussions. That WHOLE anti-pseudo-science anti-religion, atheism thing is very much my bag. Tricks of the mind is an integral text to that "atheist bag" and found this book extremely valuable.

I wasn't sure what to expect with Derren's book. Would it just be a vague explanation of some of his tricks, or would I really learn something? I'm glad to say that this book really delivers. In each of his chapters he will actually give you the specific details of how execute on the topic he is discussing. Whether it's one of his card tricks or how he does hypnosis, you will get the down and dirty details of how to do it. Even more, he does a great job of explaining how to incorporate real showmanship to get the most out of your performance. And finally, he has a cheeky writing style which is fun to read.

This is a great intro into all sort of things that look like magic and are psychological and pseudoscientifical. Very interesting book!

Si vous aimez le mentalisme, si vous aimez cet homme charismatique qu'est Derren Brown, achetez ce livre! Vous obtiendrez quoi ? Du plaisir, des techniques précises (les parties sur la mémorisation et l'hypnose sont passionnantes), une pensée profonde sur les pseudo sciences (à propose, Derren met une claque monumentale à la PNL, du moins ce qu'elle est devenue, effet garanti!). Je n'ai pas assez d'éloges pour décrire ce livre, ni même son auteur. Intéressé par le mentalisme? Voici la base, à compléter avec le livre de Tony Corinda. Même pas intéressé par le mentalisme ? Vous n'y perdrez rien, l'écriture, l'humour, la pensée de Derren compensent le prix à l'achat. Seul prérequis et pas des moindres: avoir un bon niveau en anglais.