Good but gave in to the wokies on the home stretch

Huge fan of Derren Brown here, been to see him live, bought and read all of his books, watched all of his TV shows / specials.

I listened to this before Boot Camp For The Brain, probably should have heard that first really, which I am most definitely going to get stuck into next - despite my criticisms below.

Going to start with the positives.

Derren is a brilliant presenter, he delivers this exceptionally well keeping you interested from start to finish with plenty of humour tucked in for good measure and the pacing of the whole thing is just perfect. The production of the podcast is outstanding too. The producer, composer and sound designer deserve credit for a job very well done. I found the information on offer interesting and helpful as I'm sure many others will too. As has been mentioned in some other reviews, I felt it could have gone a bit deeper into some of the techniques and coping strategies, but that in no way negates the value of what is presented here.

Now the bad stuff (sadly).

Episode 7. Why Derren or the production crew thought a chapter entitled "A Good Life" should focus on a young vegan, anti-capitalist, social justice warrior and climate change cult member with a double-barrelled surname is beyond me. For starters - a twenty-something socialist who believes the world is evil? - What incredible lengths must the production team have gone to to locate one of those... not. But more importantly why the need to bring the "woke" political nonsense into it? Ironically, these are the very people that would probably benefit from the help of a podcast like this to break them out of the cycle of fear they've been bred into, yet in this series they are presented as people attempting to achieve "A Good Life" - not very responsible really is it. This was a disappointing turn of events for me on what was, up until this point, another shining example of Derren's immense talents as an entertainer and a communicator, not to mention a thoroughly enjoyable podcast.

I'm very aware of what was discussed during one of the conversations regarding audience criticism so I want to end this on a positive note as this podcast and Derren deserve a good review.

Despite my dislike of the shoehorned politics my star rating is high as this is one polished audio production that is not just entertaining and rewarding but also an absolute joy to listen to. My suggestion, if you want to get the most out of this skip the far left propaganda in episode 7 - unless a whiny well-to-do twenty-something saying how everything is "f*cked" over and over again is your thing.

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4 people found this helpful

Excellent insights with humour

Another superb performance by Derren Brown who is becoming one of my favourite authors. I thoroughly enjoyed the entire podcast and how he draws upon psychology, philosophy, spirituality,anecdotes and clever humour.

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2 people found this helpful

Easy and enjoyable listen

I didn’t know what to expect as have not heard Derren outside of one of his television shows but i thoroughly enjoyed listening to this.

Well balanced mix of advice, thought provoking suggestions and humour made this easy listening and not too serious - done in two sessions.

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Witty and Elucidating

This audio book was insightful and edifying in some parts, even made me chuckle. Thank you 😊

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Stoicism & other thoughts

Have you read Happy, by Derren Brown? If not, then it's a must after listening to this!
Filled with a cornucopia of facts, thoughts, and a few thrills along the way, it is an enchanting Audible experience. If only I could shout 'Encore! Encore!' to summon more from Derren and his beautiful calfs (subjectively stated) then I would 😁

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Valuable reminder to life.

I have been a long time fan of the mind works of Derren brown. It was so nice to hear that Derren has actually made something that can help anyone to live a better life, with simple reminders.

Very well produced as well.

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This is Brilliant!

This is well worth a listen; Darren brings his debonair style to the genre of self help with total success. I’ve listened to hundreds of self help books and I really enjoyed this. He can hold his own amongst my favourites like Louise L Hay, Thich Nhat Hanh and Eckhart Tolle. Giving an overview of advice with input from other authors, it is both enlightening and entertaining. I have always watched Derren Brown with fascination and admiration of both his amazing skills, and his ethics, and I’m so glad he is doing these Audibles. And I just love his sense of humour.

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1 person found this helpful

loved it. derren brown is a master of podcasting

i was a fan of his previous one about the brain. love this one even more.
so well articulated by the ever charismatic Derren Brown. his ability to mix factual information with thought provoking life questions and that topped with sarcastic humor is gold.
i am left with wanting more

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1 person found this helpful

very enjoyable

I find Derren very fun to listen to and this was a perfect mixture of information and great delivery.

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Nothing particularly new - but good

I really like Derren Brown and have listened to both of his Boot Camps. I am not in the field of brain science or psychology but even to me, little of this was new info. Didn’t stop it being entertaining though and a useful reminder in some cases. Love his humour too

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