I didn't used to like Derren Brown. Having only seen odd bits from his TV shows, I found him annoyingly smug, scarily manipulative and a little bit disturbing, so I avoided his work. Yet, perhaps due to Brown using his perceptive abilities to figure out my disdain for him through the telly when I caught a bit of one of his programmes, and placing subtle mental cues throughout my everyday life in a ploy to persuade me to like him, I found myself watching the televised version of his last stage show, Svengali, in early 2012. Despite the fact that the show didn't engage me enough to view it in its entirety, the wicked illusionist's spell had been truly cast on me and I watched as many as I could of the curiously well-timed run of Brown's previous shows that all the '4' channels (C4, E4, etc) helpfully broadcast across the following months. It started with the 2012 Fear and Faith two-parter; the second including a shocking scenario where Brown used suggestion to apparently give an atheist scientist an experience of 'unconditional love' that she attributed to God, in an effort to show how the mind can be manipulated into such beliefs. As a Christian, this was disturbing and fascinating in equal measure.
I was dubious about Brown's disclaimer that his intention was not to debunk Christianity itself but to show how such experiences of faith can be manipulated within the mind of even an apparent sceptic, how all our minds have the capacity, the need, even, to believe in the supernatural, which certain religious leaders sometimes exploit, intentionally or otherwise. Yet, The fact that Brown's work often deals with exposing the tricks behind belief in the supernatural and paranormal is what drew me to him, as well as making his earlier, edgier work more fun to watch. Brown had explored this theme of psychology and belief in a different way with his earlier documentaries, 2005's Messiah (which I disliked the first time I saw a bit but appreciated on the second) and 2011's Miracles For Sale.
Part One of Brown's 2006 book, Tricks of the Mind, entitled Disillusionment, begins with the bold claim that 'the Bible is not history'. Brown then goes on to explain this statement, as well as what lead him to accept it, including a short history of his own Christian belief, which he left behind when he started getting into magic, a process that lead him to question some of the ideas behind his faith and eventually reject it. Brown cites Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion as a major influence and this section ends up reading like an almighty plug for that book. Brown's tome sometimes feels like he is trying and struggling to match Dawkins' tome in terms of word count (although Dawkins beats him by 16 pages - including bibliography and index). Tricks doesn't need to be as long as it is. As entertainingly intricate as Brown's prose is, goodwill wears thin when, nearing the book's end, one reaches the umpteenth page on his diatribe against alternative medicines. It's interesting but could easily have been shortened. Thankfully, it becomes more sprightly once Brown gets onto psychics and mediums.
More fascinating areas are covered earlier in the book, which deals more with the easier-to-learn tricks such as mnemonics (I struggled with the Peg System, though, particularly for recalling numbers), as well as the sections on hypnosis and suggestibility and unconscious communication. A winning aspect of Tricks is its author's humour - sly jokes creep up on you when you aren't expecting it. A small early segment called A Card Trick had me laughing out loud. Here, Brown describes how to perform a 'sucker trick' (e.g. one that makes a fool of the spectator), employing as many archaic synonyms for 'idiot' as he can. 'Punchinello' and 'Tom-noddy' are two favourites that I will employ. They are certainly easier to learn for a 'merry-Andrew' like me than the actual card trick. Even if it may make me look 'as clever as Jesus'.
For Brown, this book is clearly another opportunity to dazzle us with his cleverness, tempered with the recollection of embarrassing and/or amusing episodes from his past and self-deprecating jokes. As with the card trick, we are also shown how to impress others with trickery, as well as how not to fall for others' attempts to trick us, be it through simple face-to-face lying or larger deceptions like alternative medicine or psychic readings. The magic man clearly has a lot on his mind and spills it all out here. Additionally, he makes no bones about how magic itself is not real and, at its heart, is just a clever means of showing off, yet he gives clear direction for anyone wanting to follow in his foot steps (albeit with admirable cautions for anyone seriously considering becoming a hypnotist - as Brown himself started out as). For me, learning memory and card tricks are enough to be getting on with, as my intellect doesn't match Brown's. Still, I really enjoyed the fascinating insights he provides into his own mind, the world of magic, the psychology of belief and how these are all mental illusions. In Derren Brown's mind, at least.
Clearly, the Brown magic (not nice enough to be white magic, not nasty enough to be black) continued to work on me through this book. The old Devil has got me attending his new live show Infamous this week. What new trickery awaits all who dare venture there?
(Image credit http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/products/derren+brown/tricks+of+the+mind/5724894/)
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