Pure Effect: Direct Mindreading and Magical Artistry

Product Information

The mage exhales a stream of smoke at the lighter, which suddenly has the named card engraved upon it, in color, on both sides. Even though the theory was better presented, the tone affected in these passages is quite distasteful from time to time. This book itself comes in fine condition, with the original spiral binding and hand signed by Derren himself. Chock full of information for any serious magician or mentalist and definitely worth it if you can get your hands on a copy.

Anyway, more on-topic, if you're interested in NLP/hypnosis/suggestion type stuff, then a lot of Kenton Knepper's work is good (especially Wonder Words), and if you want a more broad base of knowledge, then definitely go for "Trance-formations" and "The Hypnotic Language Patterns of Milton H Erickson" by Richard Bandler and John Grinder. Brown frankly appears to attach little importance—but is in fact a theatrical question, and that the traditional effects and approaches of mentalism, by their very nature, have too long lived their meager lives out somewhere between the desert towns of Dullsville and Endoftheline. I could see a person like Michael not wanting his previously published magic effects republished because, to the extent the general public knew "he was once a magician" it might dilute the mentalist "branded" image he has created and it might have audience members think that everything "mental" it accomplishes is "merely" done with tricks. Derren Brown goes above and beyond simply describing the methodology of stunning illusions but also delves into extremely important areas for the practical magician: captivating an audience, making your routines more organic and natural, and getting as close as one can to "true mind-reading".

In summary then, Pure Effect is a more entertaining read and it may way give you good ideas for creating your own effects whereas Absolute Magic is a bit more heavy going on the theory side but definitely worth a good few reads if you don't want to end up producing a c*** (not the best), cliched performance. If the 'professional' I saw in Vegas had just taken the advice that you should never make your volunteers the brunt of insulting jokes and you should treat them with respect seeing as they've come up on stage to be part of your performance, I might have walked away not feeling ripped off but a bitter old hack. Several of these items were pulled out of the hardcover later editions as Derren thought them too precious. Both participants stand with their arms in the air and at the time of the standing person’s choosing they lower their arm. But, if that's not enough, I've rounded up 20 ways you can exercise and get fit without spending a penny, both outdoors and at home.

I was recently looking at this product and I had read many reviews and in many of the reviews it said for it to be any song you needed an assistant and if you were doing it solo you needed to force the song.There is much more material to be found in Pure Effect, and much of it is far more certain in its outcome. Recently I've been reading books/essays and watching videos from a few contemporary young mentalists, and it was also interesting to see how this book seems to have influenced their approaches. Yes, I also own a second edition copy, it's hard cover and I never heard before about a spiral version of this book! I purchased this book from Denny and Lee about 4 years ago, not really knowing anything about the book.