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Tricks of the Mind | 
 enlarge | Author: Derren Brown
Publisher: Channel 4 Books, a division of Transworld Publishers
Category: Book
List Price: £7.99
Buy New: £3.33
You Save: £4.66 (58%)
New (27) Used (8) from £3.33
Rating:  111 reviews
Sales Rank: 492
Media: Paperback
Edition: New edition
Pages: 416
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 7.7 x 5 x 1.2
ISBN: 1905026358
EAN: 9781905026357
ASIN: 1905026358
Publication Date: October 8, 2007
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews: Read 10 more reviews...
 Eye-opening and very funny November 28, 2007
Andy Smith (Manchester, United Kingdom)
62 out of 67 found this review helpful
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.
Tricks of the Mind May 21, 2007
Mr. S. Sharma (London)
35 out of 39 found this review helpful
Very interesting look into the mind of Derren Brown. Find out how he ended up being one of most unique entertainers there are. He explains a few techniques that you could not only use to baffle people, but also use in everyday life such as memory techniques.
Overall this book was great. Just what you expect with Derren, from the shows, and humour to make this an enjoyable read! Recommended!
Just what you'd expect....brilliant! November 16, 2006
Snapdragon (London)
12 out of 13 found this review helpful
Tricks of the Mind is a really lovely mixture of all things Derren Brown; memory, card and coin tricks, his thoughts on pseudo-science and religion, superstition and body language. It also includes a list of further reading if there are any particular areas that grab you.
I have to say that the memory pages alone are worth the price of the book. I can still remember the list of twenty words he gave as an example (which will come in really useful if I need to talk about monkeys and kiwi fruit!!)
I also enjoyed his rant about Mediums, really illuminating.
The writing style can be a bit verbose, but I enjoyed that. It felt like he was playing with the reader. Thank goodness it included plenty of humour too.
In short, fantastic. Add to that, that when your freinds find out you've read it they think you can read their minds!
Highly recommended
Great!!!! for people who want to know how not what December 28, 2006
C. Moss (U.K.)
12 out of 13 found this review helpful
I was a bit hit and miss whether to buy this book or not but after reading a couple of pages in Waterston's I found it quite interesting and Derren's humor made me laugh so I risked getting it and was glad I did but this book is not for every one as it takes some one who has an interest in psychology and a decent standard in grammar or in my case a very big dictionary), I have read quite a lot of reviews complaining about how the book does not reveal all of his tricks on the show but the book is not a step by step guide in to how each trick is done but rather explaining the methods he uses in these tricks e.g. nlp, hypnosis etc plus the best part is he teaches you how to achieve these thinks I have already won a bit of money using his card trick, he teaches you how to detect lies etc although don't expect to come out as skilled as Derren after reading it. Personally I'm glad he did this I would be disappointed if the book just explained what he did instead of how he did it and as Derren states in the intro the book is aimed at the intellectual reader.
Octopodes
Octopi
Hey Derren was right! You will have to read the book to get that part
A wonderful starting point April 9, 2007
dodobird
10 out of 11 found this review helpful
Derren Brown never ceases to amaze me, and this book gave a good insight into the style of his "brand" of mentalism. He offers at the end a list of further reading, so anyone keen on going further would do well to invest further in other writers' work, as this boko does not cover everything in depth; it is merely a taster, if you will, of what you can achieve with some further reading and investigation. The book itself is compelling and amusing to read, and offers challenging reading to those interested. Unfortunately near to the end it deos become "ranty" as the previous review states, and narrow minded. However, this is merely a section on his SUBJECTIVE opinion of religion on belief systems as a whole, there is no forcing of opinion on the reader, but instead is there for anyone wanting to look at beliefs from a different perspective.
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