If you are UK, or Youtube, based there is a good chance that you know about Derren Brown.
Derren has made several television series that mix Hypnosis, stage magic, cold reading and NLP to some very amusing effect. Well amusing to me anyway.
Here is an example of Derren at work on TV this one showing how easy it can be to trick martial artists...
One of Derren's values is to state clearly that he is using tricks and skills rather than special powers to do some of the amazing things that he does.
His book, tricks of the mind is written in what I would describe as a 21st century Victorian style. I found it quite amusing, but it may not be everyone's taste.
Derren is scathing about mediums, and people who believe in psychic powers (especially his own). He covers his interest in magic tricks, hypnosis, memory, NLP, the nature of belief, and pseudo-science. He has particular disdain for people who use built in human gullibility to take advantage of vulnerable people.
All of this he mixes with anecdotes from his time as Christian with the annoying habit of trying to convert his friends, as well as stories stemming from his TV series and the consequences of his public image.
There is a chapter on mnemonic techniques which I he combined a largely narrative style with a description of the techniques. Reading it I tried out some of what he suggested, and it worked well enough for me to want to read more. It is an area that I have not really looked into, so I had a rapid and fruitful learning curve.
I also enjoyed the chapter on pseudo-science and the nature of beliefs - which is a themes throughout the book. He gives some very clear and lucid examples of how science works, the nature of statistics, and how it is easier to believe something vivid but false, than prosaic but true. Plenty of food for thought for me there.
Another part of the book skims through his brief time with NLP. He points out that NLP has it's ow brand of 'true believer' and that there is an infuriating percentage of NLPers who insist on applying their techniques whether people want them or not. Another theme that runs through the book is the tendency of people to depend on special skills (hypnosis, magic etc) as a substitute for personality and human contact.
Derren describes his experiences and disillusionment on following one of Richard Bandler's trainings (RB was one of the founder's of NLP). He cites the large number of people, the lack of assessment, and the use ofcharisma of to dominate reason.
On the other hand he values NLP enough to include a number of concepts and techniques, notably the phobia cure, swish, some aspects of eye accessing cues and sensory language.
I tend to agree with many of his criticisms of NLP. Still I think it is a shame if he is basing his comments on the one 4 day 400 person training with the field's most controversial figure. There are people offering NLP training with high standards of ethics, tuition and assessment. I would say that, naturally.
If you read the book expecting to learn how Derren does some of the things he does on TV, you will be disappointed. But he does give hints and pointers that you could use to develop skills either to do it yourself, or make some pretty informed guesses as to how he manages it. He also gives some useful information so that you can avoid people doing some of that tricky stuff on you as well.
I liked the books mix of first person narrative, passionate opinion, bizarre humour and examples. I finished with some new ways of looking at the world, some old ways refreshed, and a list of questions I'd ask if I ever met Derren in the pub.
