If you’ve been following Derren Brown lately, you probably heard about his book — the Confessions of a Conjuror.
If you’re thinking about purchasing the book, you might want to have an idea of what it’s about first.
That’s where we come in.
Here, we’ll be giving you a complete Confessions of a Conjuror review.
This way, you can decide whether or not you want to read it.
So let’s begin!
Confessions of a Conjuror Overview
Since Derren was a child, he has been obsessed with magic and illusions. In his book, the Confessions of a Conjuror, he takes you on an adventure through his powerful mind.
Here, you will find out how his mind works and the motivations that made him successful today.
The book includes the fundamentals of dark psychology and the history of magic. It also explains various conjuring tricks that Derren performed as a child in a crowded restaurant.
The book literally takes you from one magic trick to how to poach an egg, discussions about psychology, proper usage of Parmesan cheese, his shoplifting experience as a child, the books he reads on the toilet, and what he hums when he is cleaning his teeth.
The Confessions of a Conjuror is an autobiography written in a brilliant and hilarious way.
About the Author
If you didn’t already know, Derren Brown is a popular, multi-award-winning English mentalist and author.
In 1992, he began his career as a performer on British television. He made his television debut called Mind Control in December 2000. He also starred in TV shows such as Derren Brown: The Experiments and Derren Brown: The Events.
While he was at university, he got interested in hypnosis performed by Martin S. Taylor. From then on, he decided to pursue a career in hypnosis.
He started to work as a conjuror during his undergrad studies and performed magic or conjuring tricks in front of strangers in restaurants and bars.
In the earlier years of his career, he was a stage magician and performed in over 20 countries. However, he, later on, focused on mentalism.
Today, Derren has made a huge influence in the mentalist world. He even authored best-selling books for magicians and the general public, such as A Book of Secrets and A Little Happier.
He doesn’t claim that he possesses psychic abilities or supernatural powers.
Instead, he uses different techniques to achieve illusions in his performances. These tricks include hypnosis, memory techniques, cold reading, and cognitive psychology.
Added to his accomplishments are his paintings. As a child, Derren loved to paint. In his free time, he still paints portraits and occasionally exhibits.
And yes, he is a photographer, too. You can find many of his works available for purchase.
Truly, Derren Brown is a man of many talents.
Confessions of a Conjuror Book Review
As mentioned above, the Confessions of a Conjuror introduces how Derren Brown’s mind operates in a unique and entertaining way.
At the beginning of the book, it teaches you the basics of dark psychology such as how to understand and study people, hypnosis, how to convince someone, and how to manipulate the human mind.
Derren narrates one card trick that he used to perform in a restaurant in Bristol as a child. From there, you will learn more about his life and other issues, such as the principles of dark psychology and wizardry and its origins.
For each step of the conjuring trick, he describes what he is thinking and digresses into different topics which gives the readers a detailed background of his life.
Interestingly, his personal life is woven into the book as well. You’ll learn how he enjoys buying things on Amazon, how he replaces his shoelaces, his complicated system of organizing pens, what he reads on the toilet, and many more.
By the end of each chapter, you will read about influencing and controlling the brain. It also teaches you psychic reading techniques such as numerology, tarot, graphology, fortune-telling, and psychometry.
But, just like any other book, it has some bad points too.
First of all, it has too many annotations. At the end of each chapter, there are about 4-5 additional pages of annotations for you to read.
Another thing. The main point of the book is how the magic trick he was performing in the restaurant changed Derren’s life. However, he keeps talking about so many things that the readers tend to forget what the original point was.
Overall, the book is very interesting, entertaining, and amusing.
Looking at Derren’s writing style and creativity in this book, it’s unlike any other.
Confessions of a Conjuror Pros and Cons
Now, let’s summarize the review by adding some pros and cons.
If you’re interested in reading this book, here are some points to consider:
Pros:
- Very detailed
- Entertaining
- Written in a creative way
- Get to learn about the mysteries of mentalism
- Learn more about Derren Brown as a person
- Comes in paperback, hardcover, or audio (whichever you prefer)
Cons:
- Has too many annotations
- Derren jumps from one subject to another
- Complex use of vocabulary
Conclusion
As you can see, the Confessions of a Conjuror is not your typical autobiography. It comes with a collection of childhood memories, dark ponderings, magic tricks, and comedic observations.
The way Derren Brown explains his younger self performing card tricks in a restaurant while at the same time discussing the history of magic and exposing tricks is truly fascinating.
You will also encounter his childhood memories, his behaviors, and how he lives his everyday life.
Sure, it might not be everyone’s cup of tea. I mean, remember the downsides that we talked about.
But if you’ve been a fan of Derren and want to learn more about dark psychology and magic in a hilarious and entertaining way, then the Confessions of a Conjuror is a must-read.
For sure, this book will charm and delight you!
If you decide it’s a book you’re interested in reading, you can purchase the Confessions of a Conjuror here.