Tricks of The Mind
Tricks of the Mind
I considered subtitling this “the greatest self-help book that never was” but decided against it 
Anyway, I’ve just finished reading this book, or – more accurately- I have just finished re-reading it because as soon as I finished it I started it again. Maybe this keenness is a subconscious recognition that this is a rather late-arriving review since the book has been out since 2006! Well, what can I say; I’ve been busy with other things…
It’s unlikely that you don’t know who Derren Brown is but, if you don’t, he can be variously described as a magician, illusionist, hypnotist, mind-reader, entertainer and “mentalist”. Much of his material uses various techniques to manipulate the mind to create sometimes truly amazing effects. This book is a compendium of his insights and thoughts on the various tricks the mind can play on us and also how these can be exploited, the subject matter is very varied: it includes techniques to improve the memory, hypnosis, body language, examinations of “bad science” and religion and there’s even a coin and a card trick thrown in for good measure. Although the content is a bit scatter-gunned his obvious mastery of this stuff and funny delivery holds it all together.
Although his first would-be publisher encouraged him to write one, this is most certainly not a “self help” book although there is much here that will interest anyone into personal development. You almost wish that this WERE one as there is a lot of content here that is genuinely useful and, more importantly, Derren makes a lot of accurate and much-needed criticisms of the more overblown and fanciful aspects of the self help industry. For example, here is a small excerpt of his opinion of NLP (in his typically dry delivery)
“…if we remove from the NLP equation the grinning, flaccid course-junkies, delusional flower-fairies and ridiculous tactile businessmen, and some of the taken-as-read wild claims made by NLPers at all levels, there are some sensible enough techniques from that world which are worth knowing about, as long as you don’t become a True Believer.”
Over the next 30 or so pages he gives a very good summary of the main techniques in NLP and offers some very timely observations as to its shortcomings. He mentions something that I have come across myself in the business world – the technique of mirroring body language in an attempt to establish rapport. I’ve had this “practiced” on me in a sales environment – if I sit back in my chair, so does the salesman, if I uncross my legs, so does he etc. Once you know about this technique and are aware when it’s being used deliberately (rather than something that naturally happens when people are getting along) it just seems absurd and the last thing it does it create a rapport between you. This is a point he makes a couple of times – that these techniques need to be blended into who you actually are rather than slavishly followed as an end in themselves. Although he isn’t shy about criticizing some of the more way-out aspects of self help this is not a “negative” book and it adopts a surprisingly common sense approach to the practicalities of self improvement. For instance it was good to read someone pointing out that you have to work on the actual content of problems rather than just manipulating how they make you feel as some of the more rampant NLPers seem to suggest (he puts it better than me but you get the general idea).
Similarly, much of the self help advice around can be boiled down to some very straightforward truths. The fact they are simple does not make them any less valid or important but there are definitely people out there who can’t resist overstating things. Here’s another example:
“If you feel you’re under-motivated, consider this: the word is used only be people who say they don’t have it. People who are ‘motivated’ rarely use such a term to describe themselves. They just get on with the task at hand. ‘Lack of motivation’ is an excuse: its just giving a name to not getting the job done. Forget motivation: just get used to doing the job straight away.”
I think there is a lot of truth in that and, if I’m being honest; I’d have to admit to using the “lack of motivation” excuse myself from time to time. It’s odd how that “unmotivated” idea only appears in certain circumstances though. A long time ago I had a temporary job packing make-up in a factory – I worked on a long packing/assembly line where you had a few seconds to pack your line of six lipsticks (or whatever they were) before the line moved on. If you couldn’t keep up the whole line had to stop and everyone stood idle and disapproving whilst you got back up to speed. It was an awful job that few people would want to do but I don’t remember anyone saying to the supervisor that they just didn’t feel MOTIVATED to do it today. Perhaps this is a card we play only when we feel we can get away with it?
Subjects that he is skeptical about (and occasionally quite scathing about too) are religion and psychics so if you have strong beliefs about those and don’t like to be challenged perhaps you’d better skip those chapters. I personally found the chapter on psychics particularly interesting and his own ability to “cold read” people is astonishing. Me and my wife watched his “An Evening of Wonders” DVD and she was amazed – she said (several times) that “he MUST be psychic – there’s just no WAY he could know that stuff!” Anyway, he’s definitely not psychic but he does tell you a lot about the skills involved in appearing to be so and also some of the more distasteful depths people will sink to in order to produce this effect.
At one end of the “self help” spectrum there is a lot of sensible, practical and insightful advice to make life better: at the other there is all manner of delusion, space cadets and snake oil salesmen. This book is hugely enjoyable read by a real master of his craft and (whether he likes it or not) a great contribution to the sensible end of the spectrum. Oh, and there’s a lot about magic in it too!
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