Recommended Reading
We get a lot of emails asking for tips on how Derren learned to do this or that, how to help improve memory, thinking and personal skills.
Well this is a reminder to all those that want to get in the know that we publish a list of selected reading titles so that you to can become your own personal ninja.
We also accept any recommendations from people – so if you have come across a book that you’ve found to be rather insightful then please let us know by clicking here.
Neuromarketing – using visual cues to influence your purchasing
Turquoise branding have a short article on the mechanics of Neuro-marketing. It is apparently the science of making you buy things and claims that it works on creating imagery that taps in to your subconscious and increasing the likelihood of a purchase. These new theories have been emerging recently and this months cover of New Scientist has embodied this technology to see if the results hold up.
Full article and examples via Turquoise
New Hawking book out in September
British physicist Stephen Hawking has co-authored a book that’s due out in September. Bantam Dell said Monday that “The Grand Design” will be published on Sept. 7.
The publisher said it’s Hawking’s first major new work in nearly a decade. His previous books include “A Brief History of Time.” Hawking’s co-author is another physicist, Leonard Mlodinow. He teaches at California Institute of Technology, and previously wrote “The Drunkard’s Walk.”
In “The Grand Design,” they examine evidence of “a unified theory” that can “describe and explain all the forces of nature.”
Tricks of the trade
We get a lot of emails asking how things are done, what to read, watch, wear and eat – and we’d love to reply to everyone but there simply isn’t the time at the moment.
A note to those who don’t know we have all the recommended stuff here or just click on the recommended links for a more extended list, ideal for the truly hardcore, hopefully the links haven’t died. Anyone who has got through that lot deserves a medal and some new shelves.
We will be updating and adding more stuff when we can – shouldn’t be too long.
Also a reminder that the art store now features ALL of Derren’s prints at every size. More updates coming soon with 2 new releases and it looks like certain sizes will sell out never to be released again.
John Bramblitt – the blind painter
Most artists would be upset if their vision started to go. John Bramblitt was the opposite – he saw it as a challenge and used art as an outlet for his feelings. He paints with his fingers and feels the shapes using “slick paint” – a medium that dries very quickly so he can feel the shapes.
His art is truly incredible, the images are powerful and striking and considering his condition looking at them is quite moving. This small documentary is featured on his site along with his artwork – do check it out.
In Darwin’s Shadow
Relatively few peple are aware that alongside Charles Darwin, another Scientist was busily working with the idea of natural selection. Alfred Russell Wallace not only spent even ore time than Charles Darwin collecting specimens, but pushed Darwin into publishing his Theory of Evolution by writing up his own findings on natural selection.
While Darwin has become a posthumous champion of skeptics, Wallace dabbled in spiritualism and pseudoscience. His ideas of natural selection also differed quite a bit from Darwin’s, as this biography shows.
New Books in Recommended Reading
Lost of an idea for Christmas? Well try our new revamped book list. A Great time to catch up on reading whilst granny harps on about her corns and everyone else over eats. There’s also a mini comp over at the FLAP site and we’ll be sending out postage from the art site for a few days still.
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Awesome new book blog: Free book giveaway
Why Do We Read is a new book blog founded by our good friend Jo Reader. We get quite a few emails asking for reading material and books to help stimulate your brains. Well WDWR is the perfect place to get them. In fact a good chunk of the books we recommend have at some point come from them.
They do concentrate on a lot of the subjects we do here as well – so you’ll see the familiar names like Richard Wiseman and his wonderful books, Carl Sagan and James Randi – plus also a few more including the fabulous Atheist Guide to Xmas featuring our very own Derren Brown. We’ve sent them Derren’s books to read and they have promised us they will be reviewing them soon.
So far it’s small but growing rapidly and they’ve told us that commenters will be picked at random to receive a book each month – so if you’ve read anything on there, leave a short review in a comment and you could win some free stuff. They’re also open to suggestion so if people want new categories researching they’ll do the hard work for you.
You can follow them on @whydoweread and each book reviewed pops up on there. You can send in your reading requests (apparently they have over 450 books waiting to go up) for any subject they cover and we have received news that possibly the most incredible competition you’ve seen in a while is on it’s way to win an extremely expensive magic book worth over £130. Keep your eyes peeled.
Postal strikes cause havoc at Brown Towers
Due to the postal strikes we will be holding back the posting of items.
We have had so many losses, delays and foul ups via her Majesties service that we decided to hold back during the strikes. We have seen delays of 2 months on some items and we are striving to get things to you. At the moment we’re averaging 10-15 days for a 1st class delivery – we expect this to increase.
If you have ordered anything more than 3 weeks ago and not received anything please email us on lostatsea@derrenbrown.co.uk
We are very sorry about this and are hoping it will all go away soon. Please accept our full apologies, please mount all blame on Phillis for everything and not Derren, Coops or Abeo (they are just too lovely).
Anyone entering in to the (now not so) hidden competition should email Lost at Sea for a temporary poster number and an entry form.
Enigma Crew
The Drunkard’s Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives
Just finished reading The Drunkard’s Walk. It’s very science based but is really quite amusing – it deals with the science of probability and randomness. There’s also a mention of winning lotteries and roulette wheel gambling. 
