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Derren Brown is no different than Uri Gellar.

tapio said:
thanks, mike! Appreciate your answer.

What about the stuff in tricks of the mind where he seems to be telling about his personal life (his religious background, his worries on public appearance, the whole chapter on critical thinking and pseudoscience etc.)? Do you think it's all a scam, a trick to make the book simply seem to be more 'personal', in order to make it more appealing to a larger audience?

I'm just asking because i don't know what half of the book you've read :).
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If I might be permitted I'd like to offer my :twocents: here. Apologies to MikeSun5 for butting in. ;)

I think DB's merely setting the stage for the benefit of the reader and giving us a little background on himself so that we can see he's a relatively sensible, educated chap not given to flights of fancy or outbursts of self-important preaching.

I think he's demonstrating that he's nothing special and that he, just like most other people (including the reader) held beliefs in the past without questioning them too deeply, and that he's gone through a learning process involving both time and effort to get to the beliefs he holds today.

To me it's no different than what happens here on JREF - when people express opinions/beliefs there is an expectation that they'll be able to say _how_ and _why_ they've formed those opinions/beliefs so that others can understand as fully as possible.

In the book DB doesn't have the benefit of two-way dialogue so he put's first things first before going on to share his views.

Seems perfectly fair and equitable to me.
 
Derren likes to use Dual reality principle,a lot of which is being used when people cry stooge. ;)
 
So who's excited about his new upcoming show following The Events?

With Channel 4 aiming to make sciences more accessible to teenagers, October sees the launch of Science of Scams, a web show hosted by Derren Brown. Science of Scams reveals how common paranormal scammers such as psychics, chi masters and ghost hunters are usually aiming specifically to part the would-be believer from their hard-earned money, yet everything observed is provably pure science. Derren and co-host science specialist Kat [Akingbade] explain the mechanics behind telekinesis, ghostly viewings, flying UFOs, martial art brick-breaking using chi force, psychic reading, and more.

Source: Channel4.com
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StanUpshaw said:
If it were to actually air on TV it might do some good, but on the web it'll probably just be preaching to the choir.
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Perhaps not.

The very first thing I saw of Derren Brown was the "live video game" thing. It only took a search when I found his web page, saw the titles of his then two books (before the book TotM came out) and caught more of his act.

I can imagine others who want to "know his secrets", so to speak, would see the upcoming series on the internet. More, in fact, because it's not restricted to television and just Europe. The world would be able to see this.
 
Tapio said:
What about the stuff in Tricks of the Mind where he seems to be telling about his personal life (his religious background, his worries on public appearance, the whole chapter on critical thinking and pseudoscience etc.)? Do you think it's all a scam, a trick to make the book simply seem to be more 'personal', in order to make it more appealing to a larger audience?
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The "half" of the book I read wasn't the first or last half. I skipped around. I borrowed the book from a buddy for a day or two and I was only interested in methods and patter. You know, the fanboy read.

I wouldn't call any part of his book a scam, because he's not selling anything but himself. His critical statments of paranormal stuff are valid, and he's careful not to claim that any unproven woo is real. I think that with the book, he's allowing himself to show his weird sense of humor while still helping perpetuate his mysterious image. He's denounced paranormal claims, yet on TV he does these extraordinary feats to creepy music while he's all dressed in black. I think the book gives the illusion that you're behind the scenes with him, laughing at the audience... when in fact, Derren's laughing at you.

I could be wrong (most are when assuming stuff about magicians), but that's what I think.
 
StanUpshaw said:
If it were to actually air on TV it might do some good, but on the web it'll probably just be preaching to the choir.
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Apparently he's doing 3-part documentary series to be aired on TV about spending a week with people who claim they have paranormal abilities and see what they get up to while Derren questions their abilities as a skeptic.

Since I can't post links, here's a quote from his blog post titled "Documentaries".

Good Afternoon Labia and Genitals.

Just to let you know that yours truly is working on a 3-part documentary series which will hopefully be out and about at the start of next year. What, oh what oh what oh what are the documentaries going to be about, I like to imagine you asking. Well shush your lips up and I shall say.

The idea is to spend a week or so for each one-hour documentary with a person who makes some kind of paranormal claim, and see what they get up to. As a sceptic (as opposed to a cynic), I’m interested in to what extent the evidence for their claims holds up, and thusly and therefore will be asking what are hopefully all the right questions along the way. Doing what I do for a living, my desire for these claims to hold up is accompanied by the fact I would love to be convinced and for the claims to be true. After all, I spend most of my time fabricating those very powers or worlds myself.

So far I’ve made two, and we’re doing one more for now. If you like them, then hopefully there’ll be more again. It’s been a fascinating journey for me, and there have been surprises and things I’ve learnt along the way. There have been very uncomfortable moments and some particularly eye-opening ones. The documentary participants have surprised me, and dealt with questioning that must have seemed at times relentless and pedantic. I certainly don’t have quite the gung-ho scepticism I had: I’ve realised it’s a much more complex and human area than I had imagined.

I shall blog more on the subject when the docs come out. We’re unsure of the title at the moment: ‘Derren Brown meets…’ and ‘The Unexplained’ have been suggested, both of which make me feel a little wobbly.

Hope you’re all happy.
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I know one of the paranormal subjects is a person who claimed he could remote view for murder victims,assuming it makes the edit.
 
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