Derren Brown's New Book For Magicians

It’s fair to say Derren Brown is not only one of our generation’s most respected psychological illusionists, but he has also transcended beyond what many prestigious magicians achieve to become a national icon.

Currently, at the top of his game, he is fresh from completing his critically acclaimed show, Showman, which ran for three years on tour and in London’s West End and was recently broadcasted on Channel 4; he is also working on a brand-new stage show, Unbelievable, which is set to blow people’s minds later this year. Clearly, this is an exhilarating time for all Derren Brown fans. But for us magicians, there’s one more super-exciting project to look forward to…

Derren has a new book on the way titled ‘Notes From A Fellow Traveller’, and it’s aimed at magicians and mentalists, a.k.a. us lot! Okay, I’ll level with you; there’s very little revealed about this book. You’re reading a whole article based on a mere tweet. Even so, what Derren does hint at is enough to keep us on our toes.

The book was written whilst touring Showman and is a journal about his thoughts and feelings on all things performance, with the tagline ‘Mentalism, meaning and thirty years of mistakes’. Whilst it’s not clear whether or not there’ll be any discussion on methods, anyone who saw Showman can imagine how valuable an insight into staging something so theatrical and personal can be. Whether or not you are a performer yourself, as magicians and mentalists, we’re so lucky to embrace theory such as this from someone of Derren’s status.

This isn’t Derren’s first foray into publishing. Throughout his career, he has released numerous books to the general public on a wide range of topics, from the art of conjuring itself to psychology and self-help. His most recent work, A Book of Secrets: Finding Comfort in a Complex World, was a Sunday Times best-seller about how we can harness feelings of anger and anxiety to grow as people. His first book for the general public was 2006’s Tricks of The Mind which was a peek behind the curtain on the secrets of Britain’s top mentalist, mixed with his thoughts on psychics, mediums and other pseudosciences.

This isn’t even the first time Derren has exclusively published for magicians (assuming his latest tome is exclusively for magic folk, that is). Long before he was famous, Absolute Magic and Pure Effect were both written with magicians in mind. Full of detailed secrets and methods, both books are now very hard to come by; you’d be lucky to find one on eBay for anything less than £200. Derren actually took the books off the market as non-magicians would arrive at his shows with copies for him to sign, understandably making him feel uneasy. The downside of this is we’ve been missing out on Derren’s incredible magical knowledge.

It looks like that’s all about to change.

UPDATE