Derren Brown does Photoreading

[Marc Greve]

Thought the photoreaders of the forums might find this clip interesting, or inspiring.

YouTube - Derren Brown Photographic Memory

I'm not sure if there's some greater point to Derren Brown showcasing his ability or if he debunks it afterwards, but I couldn't find a more inclusive clip.

I'm not even half-way through my photoreading program yet, but I'd like to hear a couple comments on this, perhaps from people who've seen that episode in its entirety.

[moviestar]

Remember that Derren Brown is an illusionist. He didn't memorize the whole dictionary. I bet he just memorized a few pages. He did a mind trick to get the person open on the page he wants to. For a clue on how he does it listen and watch the numbers that appear. When the clip starts there is a picture of the library clock tower pointing at 10 o'clock. Then he talks with the person that there are about 16 million books in the library. What page does he open the book at? 1016.

[Shaden]

Derren Brown is certainly an illusionist. I prefer someone like David Blaine who shows the power of mind over matter without resorting to the trickery and illusionable technics of the average magician. Plus he can levitate

[worldmegan]

There's an interview here where he talks about having used photoreading itself (in here it is typed "photo-reading", with a hyphen, for you apple-Find folks) but also various other techniques that tilted the scales in his favor. He does not, as far as I can see, say it's a sham -- only that people seeing him do that should not expect to do exactly the same thing just because they take a photoreading course.

Jamy Ian Swiss / For fans & magicians / Derren Brown Conversation

Thought y'all might find this handy. ^_^

Megan M.

[Brutha]

The thing he does in that video is definitly not photoreading.

[worldmegan]

Why do you say that? It looks very similar to me.

[Swannie]

Again, not photo reading, but check this Derren Brown program out:

Part 1: YouTube - Derren Brown Trick Or Treat Series 2 Episode 1 - Part 1
Part 2: YouTube - Derren Brown Trick Or Treat Series 2 Episode 1 - Part 2
Part 3: YouTube - Derren Brown Trick Or Treat Series 2 Episode 1 - Part 3

Bit of an over the top intro, but it was the intro to the series :-)

I have to say, Derren Brown has done a fair bit to help me along my path. From reading his book "Trick of the Mind" on his ideas on suggestion. To some of the great clips on YouTube. I especially like the Kung Fu "chi punch".

However the biggest thing is Derren's sensitivity, and his ability to teach that to other people. It is this sensitivity that I believe "genuine" psychics have, and we can all develop further.

[worldmegan]

Originally Posted by worldmegan

Why do you say that? It looks very similar to me.

Er, I'm not saying I think what he's doing in its entirety is photoreading -- just that it looks like he's using photoreading as a piece of his entire technique, which obviously includes some other tricksy things. I realized that my comment was a little ambiguous. ^_^

[Cantona]

Thanks for posting this. I ordered a couple of Derren Brown books from the library a while back. I should check if they're in yet!

[Brutha]

Why do you say that? It looks very similar to me.

It supposed to look similarly. That's what making illusions is about.

If you know nothing about how those tricks work in principle it is very unlikely that you get the right interpretion in your mind.
You don't learn something about how things work by watching what Derren does.

He does not, as far as I can see, say it's a sham -- only that people seeing him do that should not expect to do exactly the same thing just because they take a photoreading course.

You should be more careful in reading. He says in the article that there no way to archieve that result through photoreading.
He says that photoreading has some viable useage.
He doesn't say that you can do the things he does through photoreading.

Some photoreading effects of that kind get archieved the way moviestar described. He pick number and try to force them. That no foolproof method but you can have ten trials and show the one that worked on TV.

It could also work through clever useage of cameras.

[worldmegan]

Originally Posted by Brutha

He says in the article that there no way to archieve that result through photoreading.
He says that photoreading has some viable useage.
He doesn't say that you can do the things he does through photoreading.

Ha! You're right, I totally extrapolated from the article. I already know that Darren Brown is a pretty sneaky dude, but sometimes it's hard to keep in mind the real heights of sneaky. I see what you're saying. Thank you for explaining further! :}

[Power]

I agree, he's an illusionist.
If he makes it in the Guinness World Records, then I'll believe it