Jamy Ian Swiss Book Reviews
For eighteen years (June 1994 - January 2013), Jamy Ian Swiss wrote thoughtful, opinionated, long-form reviews of magic books for Genii magazine. Jamy's reviews contain insights deeper than just product recommendations, and so we have worked to assemble the entire series (almost 450 magic book reviews) in one complete and fully searchable archive.
Also, from October 2016 through January 2020, Jamy wrote reviews for the Lyons Den at the Magicana website.
Read Jamy's essay, Critical Thinking on his tenure as a book reviewer, or search for, or choose a review below:
| Book |
|---|
| The Trapdoor, Volume 3 (1994-1998) Steve Beam |
| Welcome to the Fabulous Wayne Dobson & Friends Wayne Dobson |
| The Thought Reader Craze: Victorian Science at the Enchanted Boundary Barry H. Wiley |
| Magic Words Gerald Kolpan |
| Making the Cut: A Peek into the Magic of Ryan Schlutz Ryan Schlutz |
| Noteworthy: a Magical Lecture David Gabbay |
| Cryptical Envelopment: Five Gentle Frauds for the Close-Up Performer John Hostler |
| Fooling Houdini Alex Stone |
| Avant-cards: Tom Gagnon Wesley James |
| The Impostress Princess Expanded Peter W. Tappan |
| Al Koran: The Unique Years Martin Breese |
| The Davenport story: Volume Three Fergus Roy |
| Mr. Mysto's Wizard Academy: Simple Magic & Stunts John Carney |
| Magic: Page by Page Patrick Page |
| Maelstrom Tom Stone |
| Hold'Em Magic Tom Frame |
| The Nazi Séance: The Strange Story of the Jewish Psychic in Hitler's Circle Arthur J. Magida |
| Urban Illusions: Then Cutting Edge Illusions & Presentations J.C. Sum |
| Jinx Companion Craig Conley, Gordon Meyer & Fredrick Turner |
| Silent Magic: Biographies of Deaf Magicians in the United States Dr. Simon J. Carmel |
| Magical Mathematics: The Mathematical Ideas That Animate Great Magic Tricks Persi Diaconis and Ronald Lewis Graham |
| Al Schneider Magic Al Schneider |
| Kodell: Do Something Different Jack Kodell |
| Devious Standards Jamy Ian Swiss (reviewed by Eric Mead) |
| Tales of Enchantment Walt Anthony |
| ACAAB: Any Card At Any Birthday Boris Wild |
| Look No Hands Wayne Dobson |
| Handcrafted Card Magic Volume 2 Denis Behr |
| Elements: the Lecture, the Book Lance Pierce |
| Patrick Page: The Pageboy Speaks… Again Patrick Page |
| Semi-Automatic Card Tricks VIII Steve Beam |
| Owen Clark: A Genius Forgotten Christopher Brinson |
| Del Ray: America's Foremost John Moehring |
| The Last Greatest Magician in the World Jim Steinmeyer |
| Secret Agenda Roberto Giobbi |
| Confessions of a Conjuror Derren Brown |
| Tales from the Uncanny Scot Ron Wilson |
| Encyclopedia of Impromptu Card Forces Lewis Jones |
| Gift Magic: Performances that Leave People with a Souvenir Lawrence Hass |
| Secrets of Improvisational Magic Justin Higham |
