"This program fuses magic, suggestion, psychology, misdirection and showmanship..."

That's the classic intro of Derren Brown's television shows, and it's also a good summary what his new book Tricks of the Mind is about. In this 300+ page hardcover book Derren explains at length what 'magic', 'suggestion', 'psychology', 'misdirection', and 'showmanship' mean to him, and how he discovered those meanings.

The most important thing to remember about this book is that it is not written for the community of magicians and mentalists. The publisher requested an Oprah-friendly self-improvement book for a broad audience. There are still traces of the original brief in the book, but Derren took the opportunity to share some very deeply held ideas and principles with the world at large. And a lot of these ideas are controversial and off-putting to a great many people - I'm not expecting this in the Oprah book club any time soon.

He explains that his journey into mentalism started by first questioning and later renouncing his faith. His critical views on religion will inevitably alienate people. He is equally outspoken about new agers, the self-help industry, homeopathy, and NLP. Those who have the open-mindedness to consider the explanations behind his worldview, will find them articulate, well-argued, and often very funny (he has no problem poking fun at himself and his own delusions.)

If you want to learn the methods behind his miracles, this is not the book to read. However, you will learn much about the methods he doesn't use. There has been a lot of bunk about his ability to read body language and use suggestion... in fact, I think a lot of lay people will be surprised to learn from this book that he started as a magician and essentially still considers himself one. It's revealed matter-of-factly in the first few chapters and will definitely startle a lot of the 'Derren is a true Jedi Master' zealots out there, including the NLP practioners who have been trying to use him as a poster boy for their courses.

One of the high points in the book is a small chapter explaining a simple vanishing coin trick (the only effect revealed... minor exposure of a straightforward lapping move.) Derren uses this example of a simple coin trick to elegantly and succinctly explain almost every single principle of the conjuring art... misdirection, presentation, timing, off-beat, sleight, clean-up, reset, convincers, subtleties... it's all explained right there, in layman's terms, in just a few pages. This is a brilliant chapter and something you can give to people who think that magic is just silly tricks and knowing a few secrets - it's one of the best descriptions of the -art- and the -beauty- of conjuring.

Great portions of the book are dedicated to mnemonics, suggestion, and communication skills. These are very good introductions to these topics, although they will offer little new information to serious performers. Some chapters read as The Idiot's Guide to Memory and Suggestion. But if you want the straight story about these techniques, without distracting anecdotes and vague descriptions, these chapters are a very good introduction. They are practical, do justice to the depth of the topics, and give you some good exercises to work with. Also, the reading list in the back of the book contains excellent suggestions for further study, many of them titles you may not have heard of even if you’ve been studying these techniques for a while.

The last third of the book is dedicated to critical thinking skills, and the way we fool ourselves with 'thinking traps', circular belief systems, and logical fallacies.

All of the techniques and thinking strategies Derren explains in the book have played a part in making him the performer that he is... that's why it doesn't read as filler even if you're already 'in the know'. He's not just trying to teach you something, he is sincerely explaining what value he got out of these things and how he uses them.

There are tidbits here about preparations for his live shows and specials (especially The Heist), and some anecdotes from his life on the road. But ultimately, the book is not really about Derren Brown himself.

Recently, his work Absolute Magic went out of print. This book has a special place in my collection, along with Ortiz' Strong Magic... it's one of the best essays on showmanship and presentation in magic.

In Absolute Magic, Derren is essentially saying to magicians: your mind, imagination, personality and attitude are incredible tools and you should use them more effectively and more often.

In Tricks of the Mind, Derren is repeating the exact same message... to a lay audience.

Great review, Malchat. I'd love to get a copy of his Pure Effect, but they're out of print now. Maybe I'll go for Tricks of the Mind.

Yep...great review. Thanks Malchat.

Mark.

And where is this available?
Thanks
Gene

I bought mine at http://www.Amazon.co.UK (half price, no less, but with shipping to the US it pretty muched evened out).

I've also seen it on ebay.

Nice review, Malchat!

If anyone is interested, I posted the contents here: http://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/viewt......start=30

Thanx for the nice review Malchat. I recently bought this from Amazon.co.uk and they dropped it in my box two days ago. I am looking forward to this afternoon, because then I can read it. With your nice review it looks even more promissing.

I just finished the book and frankly - it is not the best book I have read in this year.

Tricks of the Mind is a mixed bag - very much a collection of mind power related methods. Everything is touched upon, lightly, without too much depth. It seems to be important to Mr. Brown to cover as much ground as possible, on the expense of depth and content.

In total, the book was easy to read, perhaps a little bit too easy. A popular science type of book, if I may use the comparison.

I gave the book to my friend, a layman. It will be interesting to hear his comment.


Andy

Don't forget this book is intended for laymen. Don't expect the depth of many magic books, particularly Derren's previous books.

Thanks for the review. Even if I don't learn anything new from it, Derren is one of the wittiest, most engaging writers I've read (you're spot on about Absolute Magic; it's the book I always pull out and reread any time I don't have anything new), so I'm sure I'll pick up Tricks of the Mind anyway.

I also have a great deal of respect for Derren's increased preoccupation with skepticism. "Seance" and "Messiah" were two amazing hours of television, and he always manages to deliver his message subtly and respectfully, a step up from what Penn and Teller have been doing with their time lately.

I recently found this in the used books section of my local bookstore in paperback. It's quite wonderful. The little essay on the coin vanish is a terrific lesson in conjuring. The writing is witty and arch, exhaustingly so, at times, but always entertaining.

I don't know if it was ever printed in the US, but I see a few copies are presently available on Amazon for a song.

After having read Absolute Magic and Pure Effect, I found Tricks of the Mind to be a let-down, but that is because (as was previously mentioned) it is written for a lay audience. I would recommend it for the curious and the beginner magician, and for those who enjoy Brown's wicked and witty writing style.

Yea, bearing in mind that it's a layman book, it's a fun, interesting read. Check it out. He also has a newer layperson book called confessions of a conjuror that I've heard great things about.