Ricky Jay (1948–2018)

Ricky Jay has such an established reputation as a smooth customer quick with the tossed off patter and legendary prestidigitation, that you feel like you are enjoying his book more than you are. It's a nice trick. There is value to this compendium of historical entertainment oddities. Otherwise lost to the footlight footnotes, Ricky Jay affectionately brings to renewed life those who entertained and fascinated the world mostly prior to 1900 by being mind readers, fireproof, brilliant pigs, show more flying horses, escape artists, enterartists, all knowing and able swallow stones or acids or swords. They were headliners in their heyday but were they around today given modern tastes they would likely be relegated to the sideshow. Much of this book feels like a trip to the side show. Marvelous as many of these stories are, there just isn't enough known about most of these folks to bring them to life for more than mere moments. They flicker briefly then burn out which also happens to the reader if you read too much at one sitting. The book itself became a sideshow to whatever else I was reading. I enjoyed it a chapter ir two at a time and that's how I'd suggest reading it. There are many things here that I will not forget but just like the dead magician who's scull collapsed when the mortician tried to comb his hair...the book is a little thin on top and on the inside too. show less

What a fun and informative book! It is a look at a world with which I am completely unfamiliar, and it's fascinating. Ricky Jay explores unusual performers from the past few hundred years of (primarily) Western history, including magicians, mediums, animal performers, and those who in less politically correct times would have been called "freaks." Jay does a nice job of profiling the performers without giving away trade secrets. His personal collection of advertisements and photographs show more provides the illustrations for the book, and they are wonderful. I recommend this book for anyone looking for something a bit "different." It provides historical and cultural information you may not easily find elsewhere. The best surprise was how well-written the book was. I expected that, being an entertainer himself, Jay's talents may not have extended to writing. Fortunately, he is very literate and erudite, and makes his subject entertaining, interesting, and easy to understand. Lots of fun! show less

You can open this book at almost any page and be drawn immediately into the odd and unusual lives of entertainers from the medieval era to the twentieth century. As you read, you find yourself thinking that this person must surely be the most original personality in the book--until you turn the page. Ricky Jay clearly loves his subject, and has a writing style that's just as entertaining as his topic.

Actor and performer Ricky Jay brings a dry wit and passionate scholarship to this overview of historical exhibition freaks, oddball performers, and unusual talents. Jay focuses on the chief talents, originators, and masters of the obscure, amazing, and even disturbing. Card-picking quadrupeds, fire eaters, memory masters, trick divers, and more populate this singular work of history which led to a TV special.