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Confessions of a Conjuror
The inside of Derren Brown's head is a strange and mysterious place. Now you can climb inside and wander around. Find out just how Derren's mind works, see what motivates him and discover what made him the weird and wonderful person he is today.
Obsessed with magic and illusions since childhood, Derren's life to date has been an extraordinary journey and here, in Confessions of a Conjuror , he allows us all to join him on a magical mystery tour - to the centre of his brain... Taking as his starting point the various stages of a conjuring trick he's performing in a crowded restaurant, Derren's endlessly engaging narrative wanders through subjects from all points of the compass, from the history of magic and the fundamentals of psychology to the joys of internet shopping and the proper use of Parmesan cheese. Brilliant, hilarious and entirely unlike anything else you have ever read before, Confessions of a Conjuror is also a complete and utter joy.
Obsessed with magic and illusions since childhood, Derren's life to date has been an extraordinary journey and here, in Confessions of a Conjuror , he allows us all to join him on a magical mystery tour - to the centre of his brain... Taking as his starting point the various stages of a conjuring trick he's performing in a crowded restaurant, Derren's endlessly engaging narrative wanders through subjects from all points of the compass, from the history of magic and the fundamentals of psychology to the joys of internet shopping and the proper use of Parmesan cheese. Brilliant, hilarious and entirely unlike anything else you have ever read before, Confessions of a Conjuror is also a complete and utter joy.
336 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2010
159 people are currently reading
1749 people want to read
About the author
Derren Brown
25 books797 followersDerren Brown is an English mentalist, illusionist, and author. He has produced several shows the stage and television and is the winner of two Laurence Olivier Awards for Best Entertainment. He has also written books for magicians as well as the general public.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 175 reviews
February 14, 2011
The first thing to say about this 'memoir' is that Derren Brown has a writing style like no other celebrity, or possibly anyone since the days of Dickens and Melville. His rococo prosification would not be unbefitting of a lawyer in a 19th century novel. I only hope it's not catching.
His recollections of a performance of a card trick to an audience in a Bristol restaurant some years ago (before he found fame) form the scaffolding onto which he hangs various digressions - psychological and philosophical flights of fancy. In fact this book is one long meandering, but fascinatingly peculiar, reverie.
His astonishingly anal attention to detail as he observes individual audience members - noting the significance of every glance, nuance and gesture and describing events in super slow-motion, is extraordinary. Like Sherlock Holmes deducing everything in bullet-time.
It's not just the audience who are under the microscope though, he becomes more and more self-analytical:
"Sometimes as I squatted, performing this task in a scruffy coat, surrounded by my shopping bags and glancing shoppers, I wondered what really separates the mentally peculiar from the merely particular," he muses.
The task was buying earplugs - which apparently requires a good feel so as to ascertain that the density of the foam is of the desired sufficiency. This is a man so finickety he makes Niles Crane (from the sitcom Frasier) seem like a bit of rough. If I had been told this was a book written by a high functioning autistic, or someone with some similar syndrome, or perhaps a patient of Oliver Sacks, I would have been no more surprised.
"Some of these rituals do seem to knock tentatively at the looming fortified door of the asylum," he admits at one point. No shit, Derren! Well, I say no shit, but he does then go on to discuss methods of bottom-wiping...
Along the way he does briefly reveal some of the tricks of the trade - conjuring that is, not bottom-wiping. Not only the mechanics of forcing and palming cards but, more interestingly, the psychology of misdirection, the manipulation of the audience's imagination and the whole theatricality of performing magic.
Fabulously odd.
His recollections of a performance of a card trick to an audience in a Bristol restaurant some years ago (before he found fame) form the scaffolding onto which he hangs various digressions - psychological and philosophical flights of fancy. In fact this book is one long meandering, but fascinatingly peculiar, reverie.
His astonishingly anal attention to detail as he observes individual audience members - noting the significance of every glance, nuance and gesture and describing events in super slow-motion, is extraordinary. Like Sherlock Holmes deducing everything in bullet-time.
It's not just the audience who are under the microscope though, he becomes more and more self-analytical:
"Sometimes as I squatted, performing this task in a scruffy coat, surrounded by my shopping bags and glancing shoppers, I wondered what really separates the mentally peculiar from the merely particular," he muses.
The task was buying earplugs - which apparently requires a good feel so as to ascertain that the density of the foam is of the desired sufficiency. This is a man so finickety he makes Niles Crane (from the sitcom Frasier) seem like a bit of rough. If I had been told this was a book written by a high functioning autistic, or someone with some similar syndrome, or perhaps a patient of Oliver Sacks, I would have been no more surprised.
"Some of these rituals do seem to knock tentatively at the looming fortified door of the asylum," he admits at one point. No shit, Derren! Well, I say no shit, but he does then go on to discuss methods of bottom-wiping...
Along the way he does briefly reveal some of the tricks of the trade - conjuring that is, not bottom-wiping. Not only the mechanics of forcing and palming cards but, more interestingly, the psychology of misdirection, the manipulation of the audience's imagination and the whole theatricality of performing magic.
Fabulously odd.
April 6, 2012
"Then I woke up. Then I died."
Some thoughts that crossed my mind while reading this:
"Derren's really waffling on about nothing here. Is this padding or is it priming the reader for something?"
"Derren has a quite strong form of OCD, even if he keeps saying he doesn't really have a problem."
"His OCD-type behaviour is probably what makes him such a great magician/artist/showman/etc."
"Blimey, he's so pompous! / He's clearly bragging but pretending he's casually mentioning something."
"I could learn a lot from Derren."
"Haha, I've done that myself."
"WTF, the man is unhinged."
As a reader I was interested in reading about his life, so wasn't disappointed by any lack of "how to do tricks" as others were. As an autobiography, it's quite haphazardly told in a stream of consciousness with no semblance of chronology. I didn't really mind that though. After reading, Derren seems more human/fallible/flawed now, which is perfect. I suspected his brilliance at what he does stemmed from life-long dedication to the art, and while there's a bit of that, he also came across as having a normal (for a posh person) upbringing with usual insecurities and temptations of childhood, particularly being an only child for his first 9 years. He needs to give himself a break once in a while, especially when he misplaces a pen. Blimey!
Some thoughts that crossed my mind while reading this:
"Derren's really waffling on about nothing here. Is this padding or is it priming the reader for something?"
"Derren has a quite strong form of OCD, even if he keeps saying he doesn't really have a problem."
"His OCD-type behaviour is probably what makes him such a great magician/artist/showman/etc."
"Blimey, he's so pompous! / He's clearly bragging but pretending he's casually mentioning something."
"I could learn a lot from Derren."
"Haha, I've done that myself."
"WTF, the man is unhinged."
As a reader I was interested in reading about his life, so wasn't disappointed by any lack of "how to do tricks" as others were. As an autobiography, it's quite haphazardly told in a stream of consciousness with no semblance of chronology. I didn't really mind that though. After reading, Derren seems more human/fallible/flawed now, which is perfect. I suspected his brilliance at what he does stemmed from life-long dedication to the art, and while there's a bit of that, he also came across as having a normal (for a posh person) upbringing with usual insecurities and temptations of childhood, particularly being an only child for his first 9 years. He needs to give himself a break once in a while, especially when he misplaces a pen. Blimey!
January 20, 2011
I'm a big Derren Brown fan. I watch him on TV, I've seen him live, I've read stuff he's written and even – fleetingly – met him. So I was pleased to find a copy of this book under the Christmas tree.
Proust starts with a madeleine. Brown starts with a pack of cards. But both use this as a jumping off point for a stream of introspection that takes them through their lives. We learn of Derren's childhood, how he got into magic, where he lives, what his favourite playing cards are, even the books he keeps in his loo. We learn even more intimate details too, sometimes bordering on Too Much Information. And we get his opinions on everything from the existence of God to the importance of kindness in daily life.
Derren Brown being, I think, a genuinely kind man (or so a friend who's met him less fleetingly than me assures me) and intelligent and reasonably well-informed, I enjoyed reading his views. But I read them in the same way as I listen to the views of a friend on the great issues of the day. If I wasn't already predisposed to like him and pay him some attention, I'd probably just find him boring and opinionated.
As the book goes on, it rambles more and more until the footnotes are longer than the text. (No, really, by the end there are pages with more footnote than text.) It becomes steadily more self-indulgent. The weirdest thing is that at the end he thanks his editor. You have to ask: if this is what it looks like after editing, what on earth was it like before?
So is it worth reading? Well, I enjoyed it, even if some of the last few chapters began to seem a little wearing. But, as I said, I'm a big fan. If you don't like Derren Brown, I imagine this book will drive you mad. So 4* if you're a fan, 1* if you're not. He's got a lot of fans and, like I say, he's a nice man. So let's settle for 3* overall.
Proust starts with a madeleine. Brown starts with a pack of cards. But both use this as a jumping off point for a stream of introspection that takes them through their lives. We learn of Derren's childhood, how he got into magic, where he lives, what his favourite playing cards are, even the books he keeps in his loo. We learn even more intimate details too, sometimes bordering on Too Much Information. And we get his opinions on everything from the existence of God to the importance of kindness in daily life.
Derren Brown being, I think, a genuinely kind man (or so a friend who's met him less fleetingly than me assures me) and intelligent and reasonably well-informed, I enjoyed reading his views. But I read them in the same way as I listen to the views of a friend on the great issues of the day. If I wasn't already predisposed to like him and pay him some attention, I'd probably just find him boring and opinionated.
As the book goes on, it rambles more and more until the footnotes are longer than the text. (No, really, by the end there are pages with more footnote than text.) It becomes steadily more self-indulgent. The weirdest thing is that at the end he thanks his editor. You have to ask: if this is what it looks like after editing, what on earth was it like before?
So is it worth reading? Well, I enjoyed it, even if some of the last few chapters began to seem a little wearing. But, as I said, I'm a big fan. If you don't like Derren Brown, I imagine this book will drive you mad. So 4* if you're a fan, 1* if you're not. He's got a lot of fans and, like I say, he's a nice man. So let's settle for 3* overall.
August 4, 2016
Reads like a 300 page mind spill with very little chronology or navigation... Not sure if that was the intention but I lost interest after two thirds of the book. There's only so long I can read about obsessive-compulsive thoughts on pens, bathroom songs, and smooth kitchen surfaces....
January 6, 2011
I kind of struggled with this book when I started. The whole thing seemed very disjointed, and he would flit from topic to topic with baffling segues. The language as well hit me as a bit over the top, wordy in a Dickensian way.
But all that changed as I continued to read the book and I realised I was expecting the wrong thing from it. It is a hard book to define, "memoirs" only begins to cover it, but once I stopped trying to pigeonhole it, it became a much better read for me. I was very impressed with how Derren Brown was willing to bear all on the page, discussing things such as his propensity for nose-picking (or "having a little tidy-up" as he euphemistically called it). And my initial misgivings about the language he was using faded away when I got into the rhythm of the book, and I actually enjoyed looking up and learning some of the more esoteric words. But the main reason I enjoyed the book was looking at the world through his eyes, he finds interest in the things most people would overlook.
While this wasn't exactly a page-turner for me, I know there will be a lot of things I think back to and I'll be trying to look at the world in a slightly different way because of it.
But all that changed as I continued to read the book and I realised I was expecting the wrong thing from it. It is a hard book to define, "memoirs" only begins to cover it, but once I stopped trying to pigeonhole it, it became a much better read for me. I was very impressed with how Derren Brown was willing to bear all on the page, discussing things such as his propensity for nose-picking (or "having a little tidy-up" as he euphemistically called it). And my initial misgivings about the language he was using faded away when I got into the rhythm of the book, and I actually enjoyed looking up and learning some of the more esoteric words. But the main reason I enjoyed the book was looking at the world through his eyes, he finds interest in the things most people would overlook.
While this wasn't exactly a page-turner for me, I know there will be a lot of things I think back to and I'll be trying to look at the world in a slightly different way because of it.
April 30, 2011
really tried here, the man is a brilliant performer, but he shouldn't write. the language is fine, the observations acute, but after an hour's reading had no idea what he was on about. just bad.
January 5, 2020
2.5?
Here's the thing. I love Derren Brown. I love his shows, his performances, his personality. I've seen him live twice and met him once (he's also a lovely guy) but this book is not it.
I previously read Tricks of the Mind many moons ago (in 2009) and found it fascinating.
Confessions of a Conjuror, however, was over written, dull, tedious, interesting and fun in parts, but over all a bit of a slog to get through.
First of all, the whole book chronicles one (1) card trick to a group of people in a party, but splits off and diverges into random ramblings about many interesting aspects of Derren's life growing up, but also about many totally irrelevant, couldn't-care-less-about anecdotes that I wouldn't even bore a family member with on a late Sunday evening.
For example -
A whole page telling us how he cuts his fingernails with clippers.
Also, if that weren't boring enough, a lot of these 'anecdotes' were written in the term of 'footnotes' - I use the term footnotes lightly, because some of them took up 5 half pages! So you'd read the main piece of writing, see the asterix, go to the bottom, and read through 5 - 6 three quarter pages explaining Brown's lift preferences (yes. I mean that simple, non descript act of going in a lift to reach higher floors) then have to flip back those 5 pages to continue to read the main part, that has been squashed up at the top, with 7 or 8 lines on each of those 5 pages. I dread to think how any Kindle readers would get through this book!
Every single thing in the book is over explained to an excruciating degree. To the placement of fingers on a deck of cards and each individual nano second of movement (which I guess could be almost ok, seems as it's describing a trick - but it's definitely over explained even for that) to every non event that Derren thinks is important enough to mention (the lift, the nail clipping, I can't even think of any others because they were such non events)
That being said.
There were a few fun and interesting anecdotes. I quite enjoyed the main arc of the magic trick, even if it was over explained in parts, it was a nice insight into the trick and the thought process of Derren and probably most conjurors or magicians. (I also watched a few clips from Penn and Teller Fool Us while in the middle of the book, and clocked some obvious slight of hand - whether this would have been obvious to me if I hadn't read the book, I couldn't say, but it was interesting that my brain saw it straight away)
The efficiency and ease of losing pens, childhood stories, some nice background info on old tricks (I especially love sharing the one about the magician who used children from the audience to attest to there being no string holding up his floating woman - years later one of the now adults said the guy whispered in his ear to not mention the very obvious string or he'd fucking kill him!) and Derren's sexuality being used to make headlines were all very enjoyable to read about, so it's not all bad.
Unfortunately the mundane out weigh the interesting in this book.
Cut out the footnotes (most of the time they could have just been mentioned in the story and it would have flowed better anyway) slash the explanations of most of the topics by half, and you'd probably have a pretty interesting and enjoyable read.
Here's the thing. I love Derren Brown. I love his shows, his performances, his personality. I've seen him live twice and met him once (he's also a lovely guy) but this book is not it.
I previously read Tricks of the Mind many moons ago (in 2009) and found it fascinating.
Confessions of a Conjuror, however, was over written, dull, tedious, interesting and fun in parts, but over all a bit of a slog to get through.
First of all, the whole book chronicles one (1) card trick to a group of people in a party, but splits off and diverges into random ramblings about many interesting aspects of Derren's life growing up, but also about many totally irrelevant, couldn't-care-less-about anecdotes that I wouldn't even bore a family member with on a late Sunday evening.
For example -
A whole page telling us how he cuts his fingernails with clippers.
Also, if that weren't boring enough, a lot of these 'anecdotes' were written in the term of 'footnotes' - I use the term footnotes lightly, because some of them took up 5 half pages! So you'd read the main piece of writing, see the asterix, go to the bottom, and read through 5 - 6 three quarter pages explaining Brown's lift preferences (yes. I mean that simple, non descript act of going in a lift to reach higher floors) then have to flip back those 5 pages to continue to read the main part, that has been squashed up at the top, with 7 or 8 lines on each of those 5 pages. I dread to think how any Kindle readers would get through this book!
Every single thing in the book is over explained to an excruciating degree. To the placement of fingers on a deck of cards and each individual nano second of movement (which I guess could be almost ok, seems as it's describing a trick - but it's definitely over explained even for that) to every non event that Derren thinks is important enough to mention (the lift, the nail clipping, I can't even think of any others because they were such non events)
That being said.
There were a few fun and interesting anecdotes. I quite enjoyed the main arc of the magic trick, even if it was over explained in parts, it was a nice insight into the trick and the thought process of Derren and probably most conjurors or magicians. (I also watched a few clips from Penn and Teller Fool Us while in the middle of the book, and clocked some obvious slight of hand - whether this would have been obvious to me if I hadn't read the book, I couldn't say, but it was interesting that my brain saw it straight away)
The efficiency and ease of losing pens, childhood stories, some nice background info on old tricks (I especially love sharing the one about the magician who used children from the audience to attest to there being no string holding up his floating woman - years later one of the now adults said the guy whispered in his ear to not mention the very obvious string or he'd fucking kill him!) and Derren's sexuality being used to make headlines were all very enjoyable to read about, so it's not all bad.
Unfortunately the mundane out weigh the interesting in this book.
Cut out the footnotes (most of the time they could have just been mentioned in the story and it would have flowed better anyway) slash the explanations of most of the topics by half, and you'd probably have a pretty interesting and enjoyable read.
May 1, 2011
I’ve used YouTube clips of this guy in class. This one -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btP_vy... - and I think it went down quite well, really. One of the things I think it is important for a teacher to teach is that there are lots of people in the world who are trying to manipulate you and that learning to be aware of that fact is probably the most important thing anyone can teach you. The clip above demonstrates that need beautifully.
I was very interested to read about this guy’s feelings of ‘self-loathing’. The idea that essentially his job is to fool people or to trick them can’t really make him feel particularly wonderful about himself. However, he has many very interesting things to say about the psychology of magic tricks – the idea that much of magic is in the eye of the observer and that no magic trick is as great as we lie to ourselves afterwards it was in reconstructing it for friends.
I also really loved his descriptions of ‘alpha-male’ behaviour – the difficulty of his job in approaching people at random and essentially making fools of them really would have to be done on the basis of being ‘well-judged’. This book is a long articulation (at least it is framed as a long articulation) of a magic trick performed to a group of three people, one of whom is just such an alpha-male. Why women reward such behaviour by breeding with such people remains a mystery to me, but, I guess, such must be the pull of biology over culture.
I don’t normally read biographies. Part of the reason is that people tend to feel they need to tell me things I’m not all that interested in hearing. In this case it was the stuff about his nose pickings – not sure what the point in telling us that was. Not that I really mind, it is not prudishness, rather boredom and a lack of interest. He was much more interesting with his homilies and ethical asides – even though I could tell these would probably annoy other readers to the point of distraction. The only things that really annoyed me in the book were the numbered lists – but mostly because my brain works so completely differently to anything like a numbered list of reasons for anything that I found this completely alien.
It is hardly surprising that this guy suffered from compulsive ticks as a kid – anyone who spends their life perfecting card tricks and such would need that to be quite a large part of their character, I would imagine. As I said, I quite liked his home-spun philosophy – essentially, be nice to one another (hard to argue with that). I was also amused that he was yet another magician atheist, sceptic. Maybe fundamentalists are right to worry about magic after all.
This was okay – not brilliant, not deeply philosophical – and even occasionally quite funny. The story about The Sun ‘outing’ him as homosexual was very amusingly told. (Now, Murdoch is someone who has a lot to answer for).
This was fun, if somewhat longwinded in places.
I was very interested to read about this guy’s feelings of ‘self-loathing’. The idea that essentially his job is to fool people or to trick them can’t really make him feel particularly wonderful about himself. However, he has many very interesting things to say about the psychology of magic tricks – the idea that much of magic is in the eye of the observer and that no magic trick is as great as we lie to ourselves afterwards it was in reconstructing it for friends.
I also really loved his descriptions of ‘alpha-male’ behaviour – the difficulty of his job in approaching people at random and essentially making fools of them really would have to be done on the basis of being ‘well-judged’. This book is a long articulation (at least it is framed as a long articulation) of a magic trick performed to a group of three people, one of whom is just such an alpha-male. Why women reward such behaviour by breeding with such people remains a mystery to me, but, I guess, such must be the pull of biology over culture.
I don’t normally read biographies. Part of the reason is that people tend to feel they need to tell me things I’m not all that interested in hearing. In this case it was the stuff about his nose pickings – not sure what the point in telling us that was. Not that I really mind, it is not prudishness, rather boredom and a lack of interest. He was much more interesting with his homilies and ethical asides – even though I could tell these would probably annoy other readers to the point of distraction. The only things that really annoyed me in the book were the numbered lists – but mostly because my brain works so completely differently to anything like a numbered list of reasons for anything that I found this completely alien.
It is hardly surprising that this guy suffered from compulsive ticks as a kid – anyone who spends their life perfecting card tricks and such would need that to be quite a large part of their character, I would imagine. As I said, I quite liked his home-spun philosophy – essentially, be nice to one another (hard to argue with that). I was also amused that he was yet another magician atheist, sceptic. Maybe fundamentalists are right to worry about magic after all.
This was okay – not brilliant, not deeply philosophical – and even occasionally quite funny. The story about The Sun ‘outing’ him as homosexual was very amusingly told. (Now, Murdoch is someone who has a lot to answer for).
This was fun, if somewhat longwinded in places.
March 23, 2015
Derren Brown is one of my favorite people, so of course I highly enjoyed this book - it is actually one of my favorites. What's so great about this book is the way it's constructed because it is not a conventional kind of autobiography. Derren Brown performs magnificent mental tricks and illusions, so he's very aware of himself and very self-analytical in the way he tells his story. I found that aspect to be very relatable, and I think others who identify with being socially awkward, introspective and curious can also relate to his story. The way he illuminates his own psyche with examples, and the thought processes of why some people can act a certain way, gives the reader the tools to try and understand their own quirks. This book is a strange balance of personal stories, psychology, history, humor, and minutia. Derren's way of interweaving his philosophical thoughts with, let's say, his nervous tics, his petty shoplifting as a child, his method of cooking the perfect eggs benedict, his list of perfect books to read while on the toilet and his interest in art and music is fascinating to me and especially enjoyable because he expresses himself with such humor and self-deprecation.
To further separate this story from traditional memoirs, Derren frames the whole of his narrative by describing a performance of one of his card tricks to a group of strangers. In the way he describes what's going on in his mind at each step as he performs it, he digresses into many different threads of thought which gives the background of his experiences growing up, his interest in magic, and the way his mind thinks. After reading this book, I get such a sense of understanding - not just of what kind of person Derren Brown is, but also of his joy of life which is what I usually feel whenever I see one of Derren's more inspiring television performances. That and a sense of awe.
I think this is a book that all fans of Derren Brown will enjoy, but there is an added level of thought-provoking self-analysis that could appeal to any reader unfamiliar with Derren's work. I highly recommend the audiobook as well which is read by the author, although there are a few footnote digressions in the book that don't make it to the audio.
To further separate this story from traditional memoirs, Derren frames the whole of his narrative by describing a performance of one of his card tricks to a group of strangers. In the way he describes what's going on in his mind at each step as he performs it, he digresses into many different threads of thought which gives the background of his experiences growing up, his interest in magic, and the way his mind thinks. After reading this book, I get such a sense of understanding - not just of what kind of person Derren Brown is, but also of his joy of life which is what I usually feel whenever I see one of Derren's more inspiring television performances. That and a sense of awe.
I think this is a book that all fans of Derren Brown will enjoy, but there is an added level of thought-provoking self-analysis that could appeal to any reader unfamiliar with Derren's work. I highly recommend the audiobook as well which is read by the author, although there are a few footnote digressions in the book that don't make it to the audio.
March 18, 2011
I picked this up pretty much at random from the library - I'm not a big fan of autobiography and, since I don't watch a lot of TV, I actually know @DerrenBrown more from twitter (waiting to see how quickly that dates this...)
Far from the usual "One glorious day, the world was immeasurably improved by my birth, little suspecting at the time that I would achieve world domination [or not] for 5 minutes [if that]", followed by lots of baby photos of a teenage X-Factor runner up who can't really tell you much more than that they went to school and now sing a bit*, Brown completely eschews a chronological approach to autobiography. He entwines personal anecdotes, psychological insights and instructions for preparing a perfect poached egg within a dissection of the anatomy of a card trick in the retelling of a particular performance and combined with discussion of magic in general.
Fascinating, wide-ranging and amusing (commuters who suffer from embarrassing giggle-outbursts on buses and trains, beware!) - I really enjoyed this.
---
* Admittedly, I perhaps falsely malign a genre don't read much of based mainly on shiny 'celebrity' biographies on display in supermarkets.
Far from the usual "One glorious day, the world was immeasurably improved by my birth, little suspecting at the time that I would achieve world domination [or not] for 5 minutes [if that]", followed by lots of baby photos of a teenage X-Factor runner up who can't really tell you much more than that they went to school and now sing a bit*, Brown completely eschews a chronological approach to autobiography. He entwines personal anecdotes, psychological insights and instructions for preparing a perfect poached egg within a dissection of the anatomy of a card trick in the retelling of a particular performance and combined with discussion of magic in general.
Fascinating, wide-ranging and amusing (commuters who suffer from embarrassing giggle-outbursts on buses and trains, beware!) - I really enjoyed this.
---
* Admittedly, I perhaps falsely malign a genre don't read much of based mainly on shiny 'celebrity' biographies on display in supermarkets.
September 20, 2011
Derren, I love your work, but this book is only getting 3 stars from me, sorry.
It's structure is interesting: it centres round a card trick played in his early career in a restaurant. However it veers off in amillion different directions, with the narrative returning to the trick now and again, for some sort of linear structure.
The asides are often interesting, give a good insight into Derren Brown's apparoach to life and people, but often seem too random and haphazard.
My real gripe, and the reason this gets 3, not 4 stars, is the use of footnotes. They simply began to itrritate me. The book goes off on a tangent, which tehn includes a footnote, off on another tangent, which can spread across two or three other pages.
That said, there are some insightful and though provoking ideas in here. If you're already a fan of his you'll enjoy it, if not, well I guess you won't be reading the book anyway....
It's structure is interesting: it centres round a card trick played in his early career in a restaurant. However it veers off in amillion different directions, with the narrative returning to the trick now and again, for some sort of linear structure.
The asides are often interesting, give a good insight into Derren Brown's apparoach to life and people, but often seem too random and haphazard.
My real gripe, and the reason this gets 3, not 4 stars, is the use of footnotes. They simply began to itrritate me. The book goes off on a tangent, which tehn includes a footnote, off on another tangent, which can spread across two or three other pages.
That said, there are some insightful and though provoking ideas in here. If you're already a fan of his you'll enjoy it, if not, well I guess you won't be reading the book anyway....
January 23, 2011
Contains a few good nuggets of insight into the mind of Derren Brown but there are far too many digressions into seemingly pointless rambles; monster munch anyone! whilst I'm sure many of them served a cathartic purpose for the author in ways the ordinary reader can have no way of knowing, for me they served no purpose and added nothing to my enjoyment.
August 29, 2012
A real laugh! In some places, I laughed uncontrollably in a way I haven't for years! I just so get Derren's view in the world!
July 24, 2017
As much I greatly enjoyed this book, I do feel like I have to deduct a star due to the absurd amount and lengths of the footnotes (as I started to call them, legnotes).
January 26, 2020
I love Derren Brown; I have such admiration for this man. This book should be made compulsory reading for everyone, especially teenagers.
The one criticism I have I shall get out of the way pronto. (Though doubtless, in the unlikely event that Derren does ever read this, he would say that he had focused on this paragraph and this one only. Sorry!)
This is a book of three recurring themes:
1) Magic: magic anecdotes, details of his magic career, the history of magic, and how magic ties in with human perception
2) His Philosophy on Life; Derren’s approach to morals, values, and the stories we tell ourselves;
3) His Comments on the World in General., such as the best way to boil an egg or opinions of Parmesan cheese. A bit like one of Jeremy Clarkson’s books, though just a bit more intelligently written.
It was this third section which was less captivating. It was brilliant, funny, and very interesting in small, but some of the time it did run on a bit. My captivation did go through phases of waning about halfway to two thirds of the way through book, though it did return later.
However, that is the first, last, and only bad word I shall offer about this book. I’m probably unduly biased anyway; the reason this book took me so long was because I was reading it during a very work-heavy week, probably leading to later frustration when I was only getting around to reading it after having left it for a few days.
The rest of this review is unreservedly positive.
Derren is an intelligent, hilarious, insightful, wise, self-deprecating, honest, and incredibly human human being. His outlook on life is one that should be adopted by all of us in our daily lives; almost everything he says has such a profound impact on the reader. Derren Brown can inform people how to find happiness without aspiring to very reductive beliefs such as relentlessly blind optimism or telling ourselves fantastical stories; he can provoke the reader into questioning the validity of the stories we tell ourselves, in order to be kinder to people, be kinder to ourselves, and to have some wider perspective.
And, above all, he stresses the point that one of the things which ultimately makes life worth living is bringing other people joy.
Humans are story-making creatures. We are exposed to unlimited information day in day out; there are an infinite number of things we could consider in life, and therefore we edit, select, and delete in order to form a story which helps us make sense of things.
And most of us get it wrong. (This book really reminded me of Sturgeon’s Law, the revered line of wise philosophy: “ninety percent of everything is crap.”)
Sturgeon’s Law is one explanation for why we get our perceptions wrong, but Derren offers an explanation perhaps a little more forgiving. We can’t possibly get it right all the time because there are an infinite number of things to consider - there will almost always be something we are not aware of. We alter our stories in order to fit our skewed, preconceived beliefs; we alter our stories depending on who we’re talking to - we are story-making creatures.
(He claims that this is a massive advantage for magicians, as they can exploit this human instinct by making their spectators concentrate on certain things, so they will naturally delete any other secretly significant details and be more flabbergasted when the trick is done.)
Derren’s underlying message is that happiness is really found by having that fundamental awareness that our stories aren’t always accurate, having the freedom to laugh at the negatives in life, worrying less about what others think of us (because they seldom do), and being able to both work hard and find enjoyment in all areas of our lives.
Even that doesn’t do it justice - the levels of ingenuity this book are phenomenal. It is a bitesized representation of the whole of life. Bravo.
The one criticism I have I shall get out of the way pronto. (Though doubtless, in the unlikely event that Derren does ever read this, he would say that he had focused on this paragraph and this one only. Sorry!)
This is a book of three recurring themes:
1) Magic: magic anecdotes, details of his magic career, the history of magic, and how magic ties in with human perception
2) His Philosophy on Life; Derren’s approach to morals, values, and the stories we tell ourselves;
3) His Comments on the World in General., such as the best way to boil an egg or opinions of Parmesan cheese. A bit like one of Jeremy Clarkson’s books, though just a bit more intelligently written.
It was this third section which was less captivating. It was brilliant, funny, and very interesting in small, but some of the time it did run on a bit. My captivation did go through phases of waning about halfway to two thirds of the way through book, though it did return later.
However, that is the first, last, and only bad word I shall offer about this book. I’m probably unduly biased anyway; the reason this book took me so long was because I was reading it during a very work-heavy week, probably leading to later frustration when I was only getting around to reading it after having left it for a few days.
The rest of this review is unreservedly positive.
Derren is an intelligent, hilarious, insightful, wise, self-deprecating, honest, and incredibly human human being. His outlook on life is one that should be adopted by all of us in our daily lives; almost everything he says has such a profound impact on the reader. Derren Brown can inform people how to find happiness without aspiring to very reductive beliefs such as relentlessly blind optimism or telling ourselves fantastical stories; he can provoke the reader into questioning the validity of the stories we tell ourselves, in order to be kinder to people, be kinder to ourselves, and to have some wider perspective.
And, above all, he stresses the point that one of the things which ultimately makes life worth living is bringing other people joy.
Humans are story-making creatures. We are exposed to unlimited information day in day out; there are an infinite number of things we could consider in life, and therefore we edit, select, and delete in order to form a story which helps us make sense of things.
And most of us get it wrong. (This book really reminded me of Sturgeon’s Law, the revered line of wise philosophy: “ninety percent of everything is crap.”)
Sturgeon’s Law is one explanation for why we get our perceptions wrong, but Derren offers an explanation perhaps a little more forgiving. We can’t possibly get it right all the time because there are an infinite number of things to consider - there will almost always be something we are not aware of. We alter our stories in order to fit our skewed, preconceived beliefs; we alter our stories depending on who we’re talking to - we are story-making creatures.
(He claims that this is a massive advantage for magicians, as they can exploit this human instinct by making their spectators concentrate on certain things, so they will naturally delete any other secretly significant details and be more flabbergasted when the trick is done.)
Derren’s underlying message is that happiness is really found by having that fundamental awareness that our stories aren’t always accurate, having the freedom to laugh at the negatives in life, worrying less about what others think of us (because they seldom do), and being able to both work hard and find enjoyment in all areas of our lives.
Even that doesn’t do it justice - the levels of ingenuity this book are phenomenal. It is a bitesized representation of the whole of life. Bravo.
September 2, 2025
Quite funny and informative in places.
August 31, 2025
I liked the bit where he mocked the only card force I ever learned
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 5, 2022
3.5 stars. This memoir’s not written in a straight forward, chronological way, so it takes a few chapters to find its feet while the reader works out what’s happening. We move back and forth between a night in Derren’s early career when he was working as a table magician and an assortment of memories from his childhood and later. I’m not sure that approach worked for me, but I found the stories from his life interesting and Derren’s personality came through strongly in the writing.
September 14, 2019
Such an intriguing read. Brown's writing style is as if you're just chatting with him around a dinner table. Its easy and open and never feels like its forced. He follows the tangents in his head which, if you're a bit like minded, is quite refreshing and fun to follow.
An interesting and beautifully constructed insight into a magicians trick and a legend's mind.
An interesting and beautifully constructed insight into a magicians trick and a legend's mind.
September 21, 2018
I love Derren Brown, I think he is a terrific showman, a talented artist, conjurer and hypnotist, and (if it is possible to judge solely from TV appearances and interviews) a very kind and caring human being.
All that being so, I was really looking forward to this book and to finding out more about the man behind the TV personality, or maybe some insight into what he enjoys about his career, or how he feels about possessing such unique skills, the problems and perks.
If nothing else, I could listen to Derren talk for hours without growing bored of his voice. Perhaps it is that soothing quality that makes him such an able hypnotist, but whatever it is, I was happy to listen to him narrate his own audiobook.
The content is mostly Derren's musings on a wide variety of topics, from the use of a handkerchief to the satisfaction of closing a drawer with a snap. I found myself nodding along and agreeing with a lot of his opinions and observations (especially the one that kindness is the most valuable trait a person can possess), however I was not hugely entertained. It was more like listening to a friend thinking aloud while you're on a long car journey together. A pleasant experience, but I don't need to have the same conversation again in the future.
Books I give 3 stars to, I would probably read again. This was a pleasant one-off for me. 2.5 stars.
All that being so, I was really looking forward to this book and to finding out more about the man behind the TV personality, or maybe some insight into what he enjoys about his career, or how he feels about possessing such unique skills, the problems and perks.
If nothing else, I could listen to Derren talk for hours without growing bored of his voice. Perhaps it is that soothing quality that makes him such an able hypnotist, but whatever it is, I was happy to listen to him narrate his own audiobook.
The content is mostly Derren's musings on a wide variety of topics, from the use of a handkerchief to the satisfaction of closing a drawer with a snap. I found myself nodding along and agreeing with a lot of his opinions and observations (especially the one that kindness is the most valuable trait a person can possess), however I was not hugely entertained. It was more like listening to a friend thinking aloud while you're on a long car journey together. A pleasant experience, but I don't need to have the same conversation again in the future.
Books I give 3 stars to, I would probably read again. This was a pleasant one-off for me. 2.5 stars.
March 9, 2011
Confessions of a Conjuror is part autobiography, part self-help manual and part musings of a modern day Sherlock. Set around the performance of one magic trick, Brown's constant meanderings and hilarious anecdotes serve to paint a side picture of his life and his very particular nuances.
While I would have liked to know much more his progressions as an illusionist, painter and collector, Brown sadly keeps these as guarded as the secrets of his trickery but nonetheless beguiles us with very telling tales of his compulsions (among which is that of making lists and adding footnotes which Brown takes to a whole new level when illustrating aspects of his life).
Certainly a memorable and surprising read which not only highlighted the oddities of Derren Brown but human nature in general.
While I would have liked to know much more his progressions as an illusionist, painter and collector, Brown sadly keeps these as guarded as the secrets of his trickery but nonetheless beguiles us with very telling tales of his compulsions (among which is that of making lists and adding footnotes which Brown takes to a whole new level when illustrating aspects of his life).
Certainly a memorable and surprising read which not only highlighted the oddities of Derren Brown but human nature in general.
September 10, 2017
Derren articulates what is at the core of who he is through vignettes and reflections through the discussion of his early life as a close up table magician. Fairly ingeniously and effortlessly, he his serves up an ethnographic study of what it's like to be him through observations and touchingly honest confessions, which works far better for me to understand him than any dull chronology of what happened to his grandma when he was 5 years old... (don't get me started on Eddie Izzard's ghostwritten self indulgent bore fest).
In fact he covers almost his entire chronological development of his career and his motivation in one sentence - which was great!
In short, he's done something clever. Because he's Derren Brown and that's what he does.
He's also at times a self confessed 'arse', which is heartening and gives hope to us all.
In fact he covers almost his entire chronological development of his career and his motivation in one sentence - which was great!
In short, he's done something clever. Because he's Derren Brown and that's what he does.
He's also at times a self confessed 'arse', which is heartening and gives hope to us all.
May 27, 2017
I liked this book a lot more than I expected to. It is closer to Knausgaard than Paul Daniels.
He wanders around his neurosis and obsessions in an entertaining manner. There is a magic trick to tie it all together but that is not the most interesting part of the book. the digressions on massive embarrassment are.
Start on chapter three. It is close to self help but if that doesn't grab you the rest of the book probably wont. But if it does you'll finish the book in a day
He wanders around his neurosis and obsessions in an entertaining manner. There is a magic trick to tie it all together but that is not the most interesting part of the book. the digressions on massive embarrassment are.
Start on chapter three. It is close to self help but if that doesn't grab you the rest of the book probably wont. But if it does you'll finish the book in a day
May 10, 2015
This reminded me a lot of Nicholson Baker's "The Mezzanine" and even covered several of the same little observations (shoelaces, earplugs, stairs, Oop!). But it's definitely its own book and a fun read. He's a good writer, both solid and entertaining, and I liked the story and the delivery.
May 23, 2012
I've found Derrens books very hard to read, they aren't written in a style I like, I love his TV shows, but his books left me dissapointed :(
December 10, 2016
An overwritten but interesting series of memoir fragments
February 17, 2017
good autobio
September 10, 2017
An incredible thought provoking, amusing and different autobiography
August 29, 2019
This is brilliant. From the opening pages, he uses language to full effect. An accurate use of so-called 'big' words, words which satisfyingly fill your mouth and add to the rhythm of the sentences. Who else would call his actions 'fatuous peacockery'?
From the start, he declares that it is the minutiae of life which reveals the person which he puts into practice to reveal himself and we are granted a dip into his thought processes.
He relates his anxiety about losing his pens and dots them around his flat but still cannot find one when he needs it before dashing out of the door. I can relate to his 'slight' OCD and his curiosity about what would happen if chose to crash his car. In fact, I can relate to many of his observations.
Those observations of people and situations are illuminating, and he has the imagination to dive into another world whether it be the thoughts of the inebriated man at the bar or his own past.
A card trick is the lynchpin of the dialogue and throughout an action, a conversation, a look, or a thought jogs a memory and flashes him to his childhood, his youth, his career in no particular order, and they each give him reasons to flash in another direction - very like Proust's Madeleine scenario.
His understanding of feelings and motivations e.g. when stepping into a lift while someone inside steps out only to realise it is the wrong floor, and reactions of both parties are identifiable and amusing.
He makes astute observations along the way and I was charmed by his wit, his lack of grandeur and his honesty. No name dropping for Mr Brown.
Reviews here are mixed. The book is an atypical memoir and no 'dumbing' down of language. The structure is in chapter form with footnotes some of which cover more than a page and, I suspect, might be off-putting.
But if you admire the man's skills and enjoy language and memoir then I recommend this book.
From the start, he declares that it is the minutiae of life which reveals the person which he puts into practice to reveal himself and we are granted a dip into his thought processes.
He relates his anxiety about losing his pens and dots them around his flat but still cannot find one when he needs it before dashing out of the door. I can relate to his 'slight' OCD and his curiosity about what would happen if chose to crash his car. In fact, I can relate to many of his observations.
Those observations of people and situations are illuminating, and he has the imagination to dive into another world whether it be the thoughts of the inebriated man at the bar or his own past.
A card trick is the lynchpin of the dialogue and throughout an action, a conversation, a look, or a thought jogs a memory and flashes him to his childhood, his youth, his career in no particular order, and they each give him reasons to flash in another direction - very like Proust's Madeleine scenario.
His understanding of feelings and motivations e.g. when stepping into a lift while someone inside steps out only to realise it is the wrong floor, and reactions of both parties are identifiable and amusing.
He makes astute observations along the way and I was charmed by his wit, his lack of grandeur and his honesty. No name dropping for Mr Brown.
Reviews here are mixed. The book is an atypical memoir and no 'dumbing' down of language. The structure is in chapter form with footnotes some of which cover more than a page and, I suspect, might be off-putting.
But if you admire the man's skills and enjoy language and memoir then I recommend this book.
January 1, 2021
Cute. I was not a fan of Derren Brown before reading this but it was a quick, funny read and nice to hear the thoughts of someone who is very much like myself (quirky, curious, neurotic and impulsive to the point of being borderline OCD, needs to seemingly learn everything the hard way through trial and error instead of listening to convention) but who has used their eccentricities, blurting, and anti-authoritarian nature to support their career instead of being limited by them or pathologizing them. It makes him feel more human and demystifies magic a bit, which is why I was hoping it would go more into how the tricks are done and how he diverts people's attention from the sleight-of-hand, though he does demonstrate this a bit in the vignette which runs throughout the book of a particular performance he did for three tourists while working in a restaurant and describes in vivid, painstaking detail. My main criticism is it's a little disorganized and can't seem to decide whether it is a magician's confessional, a slice-of-life memoir, or a self-help / psychological advice book. I see he has published other titles and maybe they fill in these gaps. Possibly with better editing it would have been a 5.
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