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I picked this up yesterday and have just finished reading its 327 pages - it is an absolute joy. Only £8.99 on Amazon. You can't go wrong!

The book is built around a framing device of an ultra-detailed walkthrough of a card trick performed by a young Derren in a restaurant many years ago. Entwined around this are a large number of digressions, ponderings and revelations - many of them enlightening, all of them entertaining. At its very best this book will change your attitude to not just magic but life itself! (Or at least how you view the provision of Parmesan cheese and the length of an interviewee's trousers)

There is also a very good chance that you will recognise yourself, or at least some of the other forum members, in these very pages.

Anyone with qualms about exposure may be unhappy about some parts of this book. It's not that Derren (very briefly) describes moves such as the pass, top change, classic force, etc but rather that, in a book which will clearly be read far beyond the circle of working magicians, he describes those areas that are crucial to a good performance but have so far remained untouched by the "masked magician" and the YouTube "xxx trick revealed" dabblers. By this I mean he very clearly explains the mechanisms, benefits and utilisation of positive and negative space, time misdirection, subtleties of audience management and so on. This is where a truely "magical" performance is created - not by a fancy sleight - and Derren simultaneously provides a masterclass for aspiring magi and what some may consider to be a rather too well described route into where the magic really lies for the layperson.

Find out why Derren loves Robert Dyas. His sock of choice and, errr, bin bag of choice (size H Brabantia in case you were wondering). And why his father was Oliver Reed for approximately seven years. This book is simultaneously enthralling and completely bonkers. Reading it is like spending an afternoon listening to a dear friend woffle on (and on and on) but somehow keeping your attention and throwing in moments of sheer delight and endlessly quotable nuggets of everyday wisdom.

Be kind to people.

im waiting to get the audio book. i figure hearing him tell the stories will be entertaining.

daleshrimpton wrote:im waiting to get the audio book. i figure hearing him tell the stories will be entertaining.

I'm might be wrong but I'm pretty sure you can download the audio book in MP3 form now from Audible rather than waiting until the 28th for the CD version.

na, I am waiting for the cd. I am in no hurry.

I actually thought the wisom expounded in this book with regard to performing far outweighed anything in 'Absolute Magic'.

SpareJoker wrote:I actually thought the wisom expounded in this book with regard to performing far outweighed anything in 'Absolute Magic'.

Anyone else have any thoughts on this? I wasn't intending on rushing out to buy this, for some reason I felt it was going to be another Tricks of the Mind.

Absolute Magic is a book I'd very much like to own/read for Brown's thoughts on performance but I'm not paying eBay prices. It's that kind of thing I really need to digest more of now rather than new effects and sleights, so might give this a shot.

Van_der_Belt wrote:

SpareJoker wrote:I actually thought the wisom expounded in this book with regard to performing far outweighed anything in 'Absolute Magic'.

Anyone else have any thoughts on this? I wasn't intending on rushing out to buy this, for some reason I felt it was going to be another Tricks of the Mind.

Absolute Magic is a book I'd very much like to own/read for Brown's thoughts on performance but I'm not paying eBay prices. It's that kind of thing I really need to digest more of now rather than new effects and sleights, so might give this a shot.

If that's what you are after then "Confessions..." is perfect. And it is nothing like Tricks of the Mind, so don't worry about that.

I've already been banned from buying it by the family. Expecting it for XBirthday (25th/26th Dec, doesn't matter which)...

My wife asked me if I'd like it for Christmas. I nodded politely and forced a smile. I was actually rather hoping for a Ipad. No wonder 2011 will be the year of the separation.

themagicwand wrote:My wife asked me if I'd like it for Christmas. I nodded politely and forced a smile. I was actually rather hoping for a Ipad. No wonder 2011 will be the year of the separation.

That made me chuckle.

Van_der_Belt wrote:Absolute Magic is a book I'd very much like to own/read for Brown's thoughts on performance but I'm not paying eBay prices. It's that kind of thing I really need to digest more of now rather than new effects and sleights, so might give this a shot.

Don't believe the hype ("Nya Na Na Na") - I thought Absolute Magic was absolute bolllocks.

Let me save you £200- 300. The 'big' secret, the 'one' thing that Mr B credits his magical excellence to - is....

"When you perform magic, it must be really good." That's it.

Just about the only concrete example used is 'Ring Flight'. The rest, whilst empassioned, was more heat than light.

The routine he deconstructs in 'Confessions' is his 'Three Card Routine' from 'Devils Picturebook'.

I'd reccomend 'Strong Magic' and 'Designing Miracles' (Darwin Ortiz) over Absolute Bolllocks any day. The Ortiz books are packed with practical examples that illustrate the authors' ideas (not to mention both can be bought for well less than the price of Absolute Magic).

I finished this book this morning and i found it really hard going.

At first i was suprised at how much Derren reveals about card technique, but I'm not writing this with outrage at that, rather i found the book to just....well, waffle.

The foot notes.....oh GOD the foot notes. Sometimes extending over three pages. At times i felt like i was reading an adventure game book as i flitted back and forth, desperately trying to find my place again.

The thing is, the content of the foot notes is of no more importance to the story than the text it just dragged you away from. So why not just include it as part of the page?

Whilst i have no problems with non-linear biographies (Experience by Martin Amis being a good example), this just felt completely random and in need of a damn good edit.
The several pages dedicated to things such as the perfect Eggs Benedict or how much of a pain certain hotel beds are didn't come across as entertaining to me, more a pleading sensation of 'Just get on with it Derren'.

There were moments, such as where he describes his 'World of the Father' that i could relate to and found quite affecting but these were precious few and far between.

Ultimately the book is a series of banal events and thoughts described using long and clever words, presumably in an attempt to hold both the reader's interest, and Derren's.

I didn't expect any revelations concerning effects or techniques, but it certainly would have been nice to hear of his excitement at getting the TV break, his working relationship with Andy Nyman (never mentioned if memory serves), the first time he hypnotised someone (again hypnosis is only briefly mentioned), and why he carries on doing what he's doing. I would have liked to have read about touching moments where his magic or mentalism genuinely affected somebody.

There is none of this. You're left with a rather vapid outing, peppered with words that may or may not have you reaching for a dictionary. I'd never heard of a Mycophobe before, but it's definition is about the only thing i took from this book.

I think I'm going to really push for the iPad.

themagicwand wrote:I think I'm going to really push for the iPad.

I would.

Grimshaw wrote:I finished this book this morning and i found it really hard going.

+1