Reddit reviews Tricks of the Mind

Magician checking in... sooo many easy effects:

For general gags there's stuff like drinks on thumbs (no 10, here), salt-cellar BJ gag, reverse arm-wrestle.

For annoyingly 'knacky' physical bar games there's the napkin behind the back thing, cork penetration, pen twist, coin snatch, this co-ordination thing.

For little gifts there's napkin rose, napkin folds into pair of tits or a cock, money orgami like finger ring etc.

For challenging folk's minds try little brain-teasers and puzzles such as vocab tests, logic puzzles, number puzzles etc. Just search online for these as there's thousands. Go for something quite simple though - it's best if some people can work them out and others can't as it's more fun that way.

For betchas and games then there's the matchstick pickup (last match loses) and other match puzzles, heads and tails bets and odds, and a personal fave of mine removing a bra from under a girl's shirt in under 10s. Loads of others if you have money/pool table/playing cards/dice available.

For really simple bar magic there's the arm twist, ashes on palm, scarf through neck, simple coin/money tricks, cig tricks, stuff with your finger ring should you wear one.

For little mind-reading tricks there's stuff like a lying test using NLP cues (previous link), simple mind-reading and influence stuff, little prediction effects.

For 'super-powers' things then stuff such as spoon-bending, pain control, pulse stopping (just use a wadded up napkin not a ball) as well as the mentalism stuff above. Also simple mental arithmetic tricks like quickly multiplying numbers together, knowing what day of the week any date was on (or here), remembering long lists of random stuff, creating magic squares for any number etc.

That's off the top of my head. Most should be Google-able. Use terms such as 'bar magic', 'simple mentalism', 'bar bets' (or 'betchas'). Optionally include the effect as well.


EDIT: Added a few links. These were just quick Google hits so could be complete shit but look OK at first glance. If you're interested in anything in particular let me know and I'll dig out a better, or more complete, resource.

For general background....

Bar bets, games and little betchas look at Scam School. For more in depth (proper scams, some rudimentary magic / gambling ruses) I love the book How To Cheat At Everything by Simon Lovell. There's also some explanations here. Also the bar bet bits of The Real Hustle (loads on YouTube).

For some simple magic tricks which will work in a party/pub/street environment then Paul Zenon's Street Magic is a good beginning point. He also has a bar bets book but it's so-so.

For some simple mindreading / mental powers / memory things then Derren Brown's Tricks of the Mind is quite accessible.

Also if you're really keen, head over to /r/magic I guess and ask for advice on 'proper' magic resources there.

I loved this one: Tricks of the Mind by Derren Brown

I read 48 Laws of Power few months ago. Very good book, which reminded me The Prince from Niccolò Machiavelli on some sides. I'll keep an eye on Mastery too.
Another very good book I forgot to mention : Tricks of the mind

Horseshit. First, in his TV shows he admits he uses "a combination of psychology, showmanship, 'magic' and misdirection". He up-front admits that he's lying to you, and that there's nothing magical or supernatural about what he does - it's simply all "for show".

Secondly, if you read his book he's actually quite scathing about NLP and the happy-clapping brigade, claiming they're basically self-deluding and idiotic, just as bad as religious people.

Yes, he admits he studied NLP at one point, but no, he doesn't claim it has any magical benefit - at best, he takes a few techniques from it and applies them differently in some of his tricks.

You should really take some time to read up on people before jumping to such strong conclusions about them - temperamentally the guy's actually more like The Amazing Randi than Uri Gellar.

Or does Randi's day-job as a magician also mean he's "not a friend of rationalism"?