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Ricky Jay

Dice: Deception, Fate, and Rotten Luck Hardcover – October 1, 2002

by Ricky Jay (Author), Rosamond Wolff Purcell (Author)

29 ratings

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Plato said God invented dice. This we learn from one of Ricky Jay's fascinating essays in a delightful small volume that takes us from the earliest forms (astragalithe heel bones of hoofed quadrupeds, four of whose six sides were used for gaming) to the myriad types of "loading" and other means of cheating with dice in the modern era. Along the way we discover that Augustus, Caligula, and Nero were all inveterate players, that Queen Elizabeth issued a search and seizure order against the manufacture of false dice in 1598, and that dice made from celluloid, invented in 1869, remained stable for decades, and thenin a flashbegan to decompose. These are the dice of Rosamond Purcell's luminous and seductive photographs, images which transform entropy to an art form. Jay and Purcell give us a dual meditation on dice that will educate us and amuse us at the same time. 13 color photographs.

Print length

64 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Quantuck Lane Pr & the Mill rd
Publication date

October 1, 2002
Dimensions

8 x 0.5 x 8.25 inches
ISBN-10

0971454817
ISBN-13

978-0971454811
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Ricky Jay knows his dice. A sleight-of-hand-performer who is appearing on Broadway in On the Stem, a one-man show directed by David Mamet (in whose movies Jay has appeared frequently), Jay here presents a light, digressive history of dice, from "astragali" (or "heel bones," as mentioned in an Indian epic poem) to how they are loaded for cheating. Dipping into everything from Viking allegory to the 1820 writings of the Rev. Charles Caleb Colton (an eventual ruined gambler and suicide), Jay's anecdotes are colorful but meandering: a description of a 1501 Florentine gambler named Antonio Rinaldeschi eases into a recollection of the outcry at the Brooklyn Museum over Chris Ofili's dung-festooned Holy Virgin Mary. Chapters such as "Dice and Death" and "The Palengenesis of Craps" are complemented by Rosamond Wolff Purcell's 13 color photographs of beautifully decayed dice (when dice age, they can be chipped and crusted, appearing to be made of salt or ice). These portraits of chance's end reveal visually what Jay tells us verbally: dice are as inherently complex and frail as people.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Jay's writing is exactly what one would expect from the extremely erudite, witty and decent author of Learned Pigs & Fireproof Women and Jay's Journal of Anomalies. There is an explanation of the etymology of "craps, " and there are various tales of armless dicers, ingenious hustlers, and Scandinavian kings of the Middle Ages who diced for islands. Dice turn out to be rich subjects for Purcell's photography. She presents them as, in a way, monumental ruins on a Stonehenge-type of scale relative to the book. Their forms are enriched by their disintegration and are bathed in light that their varying translucence seems to contain for a moment before releasing it to the lens ... The book itself is, like a die, a modest object, small for a book of photography and, with a short text, casually organized."

Publisher : Quantuck Lane Pr & the Mill rd; 1st edition (October 1, 2002)
Language : English
Hardcover : 64 pages
ISBN-10 : 0971454817
ISBN-13 : 978-0971454811
Item Weight : 13.1 ounces
Dimensions : 8 x 0.5 x 8.25 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,301,904 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #67 in Craps
- #1,708 in Photo Essays (Books)
- #4,210 in Industrial Manufacturing Systems

Customer Reviews:
29 ratings

Customer reviews

5 star		63%
4 star		21%
3 star		10%
2 star 0% (0%)		0%
1 star		6%

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Top reviews from the United States

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G.S.

Ricky Jay was the Coolest Historian of Magic

Reviewed in the United States on January 10, 2020

Verified Purchase

Ricky Jay always found the really interesting stuff behind magic. This is a perfect example of cool stories in a short story version. Pictures in book are more cool than informative but I love it. The book is packed with interesting facts in history that pertain to the field of magic even if they were not for the purposes of magic at the time, think deception.

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robble_robble

whenever i pull this out on the bus everybody looks at me like i'm nuts, but they can't stop looking at the pictures.

Reviewed in the United States on July 12, 2017

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Ricky Jay is amazing.

2 people found this helpful

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mormovies

dice fascination

Reviewed in the United States on June 8, 2013

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A beautiful photography book artfully displaying master magician Ricky Jay's unique dice collection. Jay provides sparse but intriguing tidbits about dice history and culture.

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Jordan Reiter

Great photos and interesting history

Reviewed in the United States on March 27, 2015

Verified Purchase

Although brief, this is a very thorough treatment of the history of dice. The photos of decaying dice are very colorful and fascinating

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David R. Jeane

Four Stars

Reviewed in the United States on October 30, 2017

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ok read

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Terri

you'll like the photos

Reviewed in the United States on February 25, 2015

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Not what I expected, but if you are into decaying dice, you'll like the photos.

One person found this helpful

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Aaron "Smokey" Arnold

A must for those interested in Ricky Jay and his insights

Reviewed in the United States on May 26, 2011

Verified Purchase

Ricky Jay once again finds an odd way to make an unexpected topic fascinating. His sense of humor adds to his expertise in the matter, with exquisite photos taken of otherwise simple images, beautifully captured by Rosamund Purcell.

2 people found this helpful

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Lynne Beckett

Wonderful

Reviewed in the United States on March 8, 2013

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Another Ricky Jay book. Content is interesting & written in a very entertaining manner by a very fasinating magic man.

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Paul Green

Absolutely A Delight.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 4, 2018

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What a wonderful little book this is. The cover image is striking, quite a hit to the eyes! I was happy to discover that the book was filled with more of these incredible photographs. Celluloid die in varying states of decay, are actually a brilliant subject for photography!
Now, like most, I bought this NOT for dice photography but the wit and intellect of my favourite storyteller, conjurer, performer etc etc etc, Ricky Jay!
Let me say, I was and I wasn't disappointed.
I wasn't disappointed by his writing. As per usual, Jay does not disappoint. He meanders through the fascinating history of the dice with impassioned fervour. Never dull or uninteresting, his way with words always inspires me.
I was disappointed because of one thing mainly. The Book contains white space, with scant writing on pages where i feel -or perhaps simply wish- there should have been more. Overall there's not a LOT of written word in this book, but im not saying there isnt enough either, just that there definitely could have been more.

Emanuele Breveglieri

Bello, se cercate notizie curiose e particolari sul dado è un testo da consultare.

Reviewed in Italy on November 4, 2017

Verified Purchase

Una "storia del dado" che si fa' guidare più dalle suggestioni proprie dell'autore, piuttosto che da un rigoroso schema storico. Un ottimo compendio per chi già mastica dell'argomento.

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