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 |
|---|
| Bill Goldman's Magic Bar & Grill Bill Goldman |
| The Ultimate Endless Chain Routine Chuck Smith |
| Variations Revisited Earl Nelson |
| Frank Simon's Versatile Card Magic—The DVD Earl Nelson |
| Versatile Card Magic Revisited Frank Simon |
| Ruse, Artifice, and Subterfuge at the Card Table S. W. Erdnase |
| The Magic of Robert-Houdin: an Artist's Life Christian Fechner |
| Modern Enchantments Simon During |
| Communicating with Magic: The Speaker's Guide to Magic, the Magician's Guide to Speaking Dr. Earl L. Reum & Lindsay E. Smith |
| Chanin: The Man with the Magic Hands Jack Chanin & David E. Haversat |
| The Book of Secrets: Lessons for Progressive Conjuring John Carney |
| Sexy Magic James Hodges |
| Encyclopedia of Playing Card Flourishes Gerald P. Cestkowski |
| Stanley Collins: Conjurer, Collector, and Iconoclast Edwin A. Dawes |
| Semi-Automatic Card Tricks: Volume 4 Steve Beam |
| The Card Classics of Ken Krenzel Harry Lorayne |
| The Paper Engine Aaron Fisher & John Lovick |
| Best of Friends: Volume 1 Harry Lorayne |
| Once Upon a Time Punx |
| The Blackstone Book of Magic & Illusion Harry Blackstone |
| Marked for Lifts Tips, Tricks and Tactics for Any Marked Deck Kirk Charles |
| Germain The Wizard Stuart Cramer |
| Michael Close in Review Michael Close |
| Devices of Wonder Barbara Maria Stafford and Frances Terpak |
| Houdini Clinton Cox |
| Puzzler's Tribute David Wolfe & Tom Rodgers |
| St. George's Hall: Behind the Scenes at England's Home of Mystery Anne Davenport & John Salisse |
| Jay's Journal of Anomalies Ricky Jay |
| Apocalypse 11-15 (January 1988 through December 1992) Harry Lorayne |
| Second to None: A Manuscript on the Art of Second Dealing Simon Lovell |
| The Lost Notebooks of John Northern Hilliard John Northern Hilliard |
| The Silence of Chung Ling Soo Todd Karr |
| Absolute Magic Derren Brown |
| Bob White Presents: It's A Matter of Style Jason Womack |
| Under the Southern Cross Brian McCullagh |
| Don England's Paradox Kevin Kelly |
| Chan Canasta: Afterthoughts & Chan Canasta: A Remarkable Man: Volume 2 David Britland |
| The Chicago Surprise Whit Haydn |
| Notes on Three-Card Monte Whit Haydn |
| DesTROYers: The Superlative Magic of Troy Hooser Joshua Jay |
