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In which the celebrated TV showman and 'mentalist' reveals (some of) the tricks of his trade, plus a selection of tips and mind hacks that anyone would find useful.

Along the way he gives us a whistle-stop tour of magic, memory techniques (an excellent introduction), hypnosis (with a bit about NLP), unconscious communication and 'cold reading, and pseudo-science and sloppy thinking.

Naturally, being an NLP trainer, it was the bit about NLP I turned to first. Derren attended a large course on which Richard Bandler was one of the trainers (with 'four hundred or so delegates, some of whom were clearly either unbalanced or self-delusory') which he found 'highly evangelical'. He says it was a four-day course so it can't have been Paul McKenna's (unless Derren developed amnesia for some of the days) as this lasts for seven, as far as I know. Nevertheless, he likes NLP enough to include some nifty NLP self-help techniques (subtle mirroring and various submodality interventions including the phobia cure, mapping across and a couple of variations on the swish pattern for motivation and confidence) with step-by-step instructions.

By the way, if you only read one bit of the book, make it the 'Confusion and Self-Defence' section at the end of the hypnosis chapter - not only is it very funny, it could save your life some day.

The underlying attitude running through the book is one of skepticism - particularly about professional psychics and mediums. Given his background - an evangelical Christian in his teens, becoming disillusioned with it as he got into stage hypnotism and magic - it's not surprising that he's a skeptic. Having first-hand experience of how a circular belief system leads to an insistence on one particular interpretation of 'reality' while discounting all others, plus a professional's command of the tools and tricks of mental deception, will do that to you.

The final section of the book, on 'anti-science, pseudo-science, and bad thinking' is excellent - a skewering of alternative medicine, cold-reading tricks used by charlatans, and the 'thinking traps' that seem to be almost hard-wired into our thought processes, leading us to see patterns where there are none in coincidences and making some people a magnet for scamsters.

The writing style is delightful - self-deprecating and very funny. I hadn't actually seen that many of Derren's TV shows (no, I'm not on first-name terms with him, but reading this book will make you feel like he's your mate) but I'm now a confirmed fan.

Buy this book if a) you're interested in the techniques he uses in his stage and TV shows, b) you want to improve your memory and confidence, c) you want to get better at thinking or d) you want a good laugh.

Buy it here:
More reviews of it in this earlier thread.

I enjoyed Derren's book. I think a healthy skepticism is... well, healthy - as long as it doesn't get confused with closed mindedness. His attitude to NLP was, at least, one of open-minded skepticism rather than outright dismissal. Obviously, I don't agree with the notion that the reader should "definitely not do a course". It's nice to read a book that reads with humour.

Best regards

I do think he contradicted himself a lot, especially with mirroring.
He spent several pages critising it, then the next few telling us how ot do it and how effective it is.
I think he needs to make up his mind!

Could it be possible that he as written, the book like that on purpose? consider the type of guy your reading, a highly skilled and well versed hypnotist, a magician , and a mentalist.

J

yes, i had some suspicions that he was trying not to "give away to much" to the mainstream, and to preserve his mysterious reputation
Remeber his book is not really aimed at NLpers, more his many fans, most of which arn't NLpers.
So yes, i think he is being very careful and trying to hold on to his reputation.

Hi Stephen,

Which page does he say 'definitely not do a course' on? I'm not saying it isn't there, just that my quick re-scan of the book didn't find it.

Best wishes,
Andy Smith

Hi Andy,

Page 373. Actually, as I look now I see I misquoted it. (I was recalling from memory). What he actually says is, "I would avoid much of the later literature by other authors and also avoid the courses."

Best regards.

Ah, tucked away in the 'further reading' section. I was looking earlier on in the book where he talks about the course he was on.

Well, he can't be right about everything...

...including the bit about the Bandler training being a four day one. A friend of mine did a seven day Practitioner course with Bandler McKenna Breen and Derren Brown was one of his fellow participants. Unless of course, DB left after four days.

...or unless he had amnesia for three of the days...

Be Well,

Michael Perez

Some of his suggested reading Is good too.
I'm sure a lot of people enter the NLP world via Derren and this book.

I haven't read this book, although I did go to see him a few months ago in Leicester Sq and his show was fantastic.

I spoke to some of the other people there (during intermission) and of the 10 odd people I spoke to none had prior training in Hypnosis or NLP.

One interesting fact I noticed, as I was attempting to keep up with him, so was another guy sitting infront of me scratching out notes through the whole show.

I must admit I like the way his show flows and have found watching him quite useful for creative ideas in making my trainings more entertaining.

I have found him to be the master at stating the obvious.

Nadia.

The book is good and a fun read, and coves a lot of ground from NLP, to Psychic phenomena, Mental tips, etc.

It could have been very serious and pretentious, thankfully it isn't at all.

Is Derren Brown that good in his field, the best??? And regarded as such by his peers???? mmmm. I would put him up there with David Blaine he may be the most well known in the field or certainly one of them, but he is far (very , very far!) from being anywhere near the best!

David Blaine incidentally is a rank amateur compared to say Lance Burton (look him up on Youtube, etc). Even David Copperfield minus the big illusions is far better.

Max Maven from USA is in my opinion as good as probably far better tham Derren, but he is not nearly as well known. Maven looks like the Devil by the way (or The Master from old Doctor Who series!) which may have prevented him from having that likeabilty factor to become a household name. But for those into 'Magic' and in the know, they all know Max Maven.

What I admire strongly about Brown & Blaine is that they absorbed soaked up like a sponge all the knowldege or influences from their predecessors to become maybe not the best technically but to become very well known and bring what they do more into the public conciousness.

Before Blaine , Magic was top hats, big wands, assistants (like Debbie McGhee - yikes!), doves, etc > Blaine made it 'hip & cool' again youngsters wanted to be like him, his TV shows aired primetime when other Magicians couldn't get arrested on TV!

Same with Brown he brought Mentalism to the masses, there had not been any big acts in the field in the UK for instance in literally decades! People want to read & learn how Derren does it, his insights, to read his book, watch his DVD's & marvel at what he does. That in itself is remarkable. Derren is a trailblazer taking his art or field into uncartered territory - to the masses.

I'd recommended Brown's book to anyone & it is cheap too! Cheap to buy the paperback still in HMV sale I think.

By the way, Deren Brown had other books before he was famous, that are meant to be very good also, you can snap them up here at a BARGAIN price :

only £319.00!!!!


only £290.00!!!


Both can be yours for a mere £509.00.

Maybe some here have these books, if so hang onto them or put them in safe storage.

Max Maven clips for anyone thing who? :


SEE I TOLD YOU HE LOOKS LIKE SATAN OR 'THE MASTER' (from old Doctor Who TV)!

Great documentary (in 6 parts incl. Derren Brown, Max Maven, etc) on the History of Mentalism, for anyone that has never seen it :

* Both Derren Brown books can be yours for a mere £609. (Sorry , said £509 but what's an extra £100 for a couple of books?).

Amazing! I've got both of those books and had no idea they were worth that much. Word of warning, though...they are written for magicians and they are NOT NLP books. If you're interested in magic then they are excellent (though probably not worth the price they are asking).

Does anyone have any idea how much The Devil's Picture Book video is worth?

The copy of Absolute Magic is apparently a signed first edition, which might go some way to explaining the price tag!

Stuart ,

I offer you £5 (for both not each!) + postage for copies of both your Derren Brown books, if interested please message me?

As for first edition of one there probably only was one edition & it wasn't in print that long, but even if there were diff. editions you could take your copies to a Derren Briwn appearance & get them autographed now.

'The Devils Picture Book' video? Tell us more about it, have not heard of it. This was produced before he hit the bigtime also & more on Magic, etc?

Yes, it's an instructional video on card magic, which Derren is very good at (it's how he payed the rent for a while). He shows the trick with a live audience and then takes you through, step by step. Towards the end he does a couple of card tricks without cards using a lot of suggestion and a number of language techniques that would not be alien to many of us here. I bought it about five years ago, I think, and he only sold them when he had enough orders to make it financially worth his while running a few copies off. I don't think he's selling them any more.

£5! surely you can do better than that? As a confirmed magic nerd, I'm afraid they're not actually for sale.

Just had a look on his site and you can still get the video. It's also available on DVD.

I just read the book

I'd say he was having a serious dig at NLP without trying to get flak from NLP practitioners.

Of course he uses mirroring, leading and so on. Those are basic hypnotism actions. They're not NLP as such, so I don't think you could say he was a fan because he uses hypnosis on people.

He said that some people say he does NLP. He stated categorically that he doesn't do NLP and he never ever said that he does NLP.

On the one hand he was really scathing about NLP. He said he was so glad he didn't become a practitioner. He gave an example of the eye accessing method and the phobia cure. He left it well and truly hanging saying there was an interesting result but no result really. He left the question open as to the efficacy of NLP.

But the real cracker was the long section on pseudoscience and bad thinking. He was describing NLP. Its a direct association without it being a direct attack on practitioners.

He is a skeptic, and I can accept that he has the scientific skepticism view. Its not my view.

He's basically an anti-NLP hypnotist.

Rich