Growing up, I had a little obsession with magic. Making flowers appear with the wave of a hand, sawing an assistant in half, pulling a rabbit out of a hat—anytime a magician popped up on TV, I was riveted. Well, the animal acts generally made me uncomfortable, but the rest of it—bending the rules of reality—was fascinating. More than anything, I wanted to know how they did what they did. Not so much the secrets behind their illusions, but how they were crafted and how magicians can captivate an audience almost entirely through mild deception.

I was kind of a literal kid.

Well, performing wasn’t in the cards, but thankfully there are magicians out there like Joshua Jay providing a glimpse behind the magic curtain (handkerchief?).

In his newest book, How Magicians Think, Jay presents fifty-two essays examining everything from his favorite magicians how an illusion is workshopped to even a brief history of the artform. They’re generally brief pieces, and this brevity keeps the book from every getting stale. If anything, there are plenty of times I found myself curious about Jay’s further thoughts on a few topics. But like any good showman, he knows how to leave an audience wanting more. Fortunately, through thoughtful analysis and the occasional amusing anecdote, he delivers.

For those wanting to know exactly how to perform the big tricks themselves, no such luck here. Jay is big on reiterating the cloistered nature of magicians. So much so, about the only time he has a negative word to say is when discussing a magician who sold secrets for a quick television paycheck. In a world where most information is just a few keystrokes away, it’s somehow both quaint and refreshing that Jay and magicians like him continue to swear themselves to secrecy.

Ultimately, that’s what keeps this book entertaining. If you still want to sit back and believe in the magic—even just a little—Jay offers the possibility of a deeper appreciation for illusions and the people who work tirelessly to perfect them.

This is a really fun and engaging book. It is a series of essays, answering questions about being a magician and magic in general. I love watching magic shows and reading about how the history and skill required to perform various tricks, gave me an even greater respect for their skill. What I really appreciated about this book, was that the author gave very little away about how a trick is actually performed, but instead discussed how they go about developing tricks. It’s a fascinating read for anyone interested or curious about magicians and the magic community.

Utterly absorbing. This book took me ages to read because I had to keep going to look up videos of the magicians and tricks described by the author. It has reignited one of my first passions and helped me share it down to my kids, who are now pulling quarters out of each others' ears and asking Grandma to "pick a card, any card". Five stars!

The title should be “how this one magician thinks” but it does deliver on that premise. It is presented as questions people want to ask magicians, then the author’s answer to them. I was most interested in the magicians code of not giving away the secrets of their “tricks”, and the section on Houdini. Some questions did not interest me, so I skipped them.

Joshua Jay's "How Magicians Think" will not tell you how a rabbit is produced from a hat or how to saw a lady in half. It will not reveal how Shin Lim does his tricks. It will, however, leave you with a deeper appreciation for the craft and care that magicians such as Jay put into their art. Divided into 52 short essays, Jay works to answer questions like how tricks are designed, what David Copperfield's personal museum/archive/library is like, and why there aren't as many female or black magicians as there should be. There's also a few chapters dedicated to Houdini and why he simultaneously was and was not the greatest magician ever.

I enjoyed the discussions of process and practice more than anything else in this book, as it allowed for magic to be equated to a virtuoso musician practicing their pieces before a performance. I know I for one will keep my ears open should Juan Tamariz visit New York and finally pay a visit to Tannen's with added appreciation after this book

Unfortunately I was unable to open the download of this book on the netgalley app so am unable to give a review.

Disappointing as the premise sounded interesting.

I have just finished reading How Magicians Think Misdirection, Deception, and Why Magic Matters by Joshua Jay. Thanks to the Workman Publishing Company and Netgalley for letting me review this book.

The reason I chose this book is because I'm a big fan of magic, I cannot perform any tricks but I enjoy reading about the history. This book is very well written and comprises of several short essays. I'm a fan of Penn & Teller and Mr. Jay quotes Teller, along with various other magicians and it's really enjoyable to read. Mr. Jay is himself a magician with a clear love of the craft and it is interesting to read his essays. The book looks into how the magician performs their craft, takes us behind the curtain and examines the methods behind the tricks while not revealing the tricks. This book will not teach you how to perform magic (although there are tips in it) but it is a very interesting look at the psychology and history behind tricks and the magicians behind them. Very much recommended.

This was not what I expected (this is a series of essay instead of narrative non-fiction), but an interesting read from a clearly knowledgeable source.

This is a wonderful book. It contains 52 essays answering common questions about magic. Mr. Jay is not only an esteemed performer, but a brilliant thinker about all matters magical. He also runs a terrific on line magic store. I learned a lot from reading the book. My hobby is magic, and there are tremendous insights found in the book. My favorite insight is the story that Mr. Jay tells about what is written on the crumpled piece of paper that he keeps in his pocket and reads right before he commences a show. This advice, which is found in another chapter, is invaluable and is a piece of advice that I have used throughout my life as a teacher/public speaker. There are also very interesting bits of history including one chapter which tells the story of a woman giving birth to rabbits. I did not know this chapter of history. There are chapters that deal with the famous magicians of today, and the discussion of Mr. Copperfield and Mr. Blaine have many revelations that are likely unknown to most of us. I read the book cover to cover and I suggest you do the same, although many chapters are free standing. What you walk away from after completing the book is that magic is a fantastic art form which can rise to the highest level of enhancing your life. On the base of my computer stand is a rock, with one word painted on it. That word is "wonder". Magic is full of wonder. And Mr. Jay's book helps illuminate the wonder to be found in magic.

A great read that improved my understanding of why magic

The book did what it set out to do, explain how magicians think, but not in terms of tricks, but in terms of acts. This collection of essays eloquently and articulately showed me how magicians build their acts, how much they practice and how hard they work. Initially I was hoping that at least some tricks would be explained, but I actually got more out of the book because it didn’t explain the tricks. The book taught me to appreciate how well magicians do their performances and gave me permission to forgo the question of how the trick worked and instead just marvel at the amazing skills of the magicians. Thank you to Netgalley and Workman Publishing Company for the advance reader copy.