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A dazzling tour through the world of singular entertainers, con men, and unusual phenomena.
For the past four years, the multitalented Ricky Jay (sleight-of-hand artist, author, actor, film consultant, and scholar of the unusual) has published a unique and beautifully designed quarterly called Jay's Journal of Anomalies. Already a coveted collector's item, the complete set is gathered here for the first time. A brilliant excursion into the history of bizarre entertainments, the journal covered such subjects as dogs stealing acts from other dogs, an anthropological hoax involving the only survivors of a caste of ancient Aztec priests, and the ultimate diet: ingesting only air.
In a delectably deadpan and winning style, Jay conveys his admiration and affection for the offbeat that characterized his bestselling Learned Pigs and Fireproof Women. He explains how wags since the sixteenth century have cheated at bowling; he explores the ancient relationship between conjuring and dentistry; and he chronicles the exploits of ceiling walkers and human flies. Crammed full of illustrations drawn from the author's massive personal archive, Jay's Journal of Anomalies will baffle, instruct, and, above all, delight.

"These are divertimenti, crafted by a master and perfectly pitched in luxuriant bombast...After all the brouhaha and braggadocio, it is language--lush, shimmering, abundant language--that floats the boat in which Jay stands on his head, juggling swords, dancing on his thumbs, pulling nickels from behind our ears and rabbits out of invisible hats. His imagination'reads' like one well-wrought run-on sentence in which the accumulation of detail and devise circles back on the reader like a great roundabout performance...Readers for whom free-range conversation, unencumbered imagination, the making of faces and 'The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals' are not, well, frowned upon, will find in Jay's remarkable journal an excess that is its own reward and, in this difficult season, a welcome balm."

Thomas Lynch, Los Angeles Times Book Review, 11/11/2001

"Jay brings...wit and raucously mannered prose to every page. The words lope off the page, roping readers with charm, enthusiasm and the implicit showman promise that, hey, if you stick around, you'll glimpse something you've never seen before. Jaw-droppers appear everywhere....With apologies to Tom Waits and Charlie Watts, "Jay's Journal of Anomalies, " proves that Ricky Jay is the coolest person currently walking the planet. He's talented, charming and shrewd; not a confidence man out for the quick fin at your expense, but rather the craftsman crafting, learning and laughing knowingly on the way to his next engagement. "

Mark Luce, San Francisco Chronicle Book Review, 12/02/2001

Jay's Journal of Anomalies: Conjurers, Cheats, Hustlers, Hoaxsters, Pranksters, Jokesters, Imposters, Pretenders, Sideshow Showmen, Armless Calligraphers, Mechanical Marvels, pop: Search Results