Four-Minute Yeggs by Ricky Jay

[Dustin Stinett]

Amazon is taking pre-orders for Ricky Jay's new book, Four-Minute Yeggs.

Scheduled for release in February, 2011, it is a series of one-page essays (based on his NPR broadcasts from some years ago) accompanied by images of related ephemera from his collection.

Dustin

[Magic Newswire]

Here's a link to the book. Thanks Dustin! http://amzn.to/bT42ge

[Richard Hatch]

Here's a fuller write up from the publisher's website
(http://store.mcsweeneys.net/index.cfm/f ... eitoun.cfm):

Four-Minute Yeggs by Ricky Jay

$25 retail price

A "yegg," in criminal slang, is a thief, a scoundrel, a safecracker.

Four-Minute Yeggs cracks open the personal vaults of Ricky Jayraconteur, historian, and legendary sleight-of-hand artistexposing a wonderful world of amusing and arcane knowledge. Adapted from his popular NPR series "Jay's Journal," Four-Minute Yeggs features one-page anecdotes of mind-bending performers (limbless jugglers, piano-playing parrots, unkempt Londoners) paired with engravings, mezzotints, and broadsheets from the author's remarkable collection.

This large, full-color book comes with forty-five essays, each accompanied by artifacts from Mr. Jay's storied archives. Designed specifically for four-minute perusing bursts, it will mesmerize grizzled magicians and casual onlookers alike.

[Richard Kaufman]

The title of this book has changed to "Celebrations of Curious Characters" and the cover is now up:
http://www.amazon.com/Celebrations-Curi ... 771&sr=1-1

[John McDonald]

Amazon UK just emailed to say they could not supply after I placed my preorder months ago. Had to order fromm Amazon.com instead. It must be popular!

[Richard Kaufman]

I don't think it has anything to do with popularity.

Ship date appears to be May 15.

[Sophia Feltro]

For those of you in the Los Angeles Area, Ricky Jay will be at USC for the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. I have provided the date and time below, along with links to the event's site for more information. Admission is free although there is a parking fee of $10. Perfect for those who want to get a signed copy of the book and/or simply wishing to hear and see the living legend himself.

General Info Link to the Event

Saturday Panel of Authors with Ricky Jay's Slotted Time & Place

Campus Center Ballroom | Saturday April 30 @ 2:30 PM
Ricky Jay in Conversation with Joe Morgenstern
PANEL CODE: 1093
Interviewer: Mr. Joe Morgenstern
Mr. Ricky Jay

[Richard Kaufman]

I just received a notice from amazon that Ricky's new book, "Celebrations of Curious Characters," has shipped.

[Jim Martin]

Same here - what is it about great book releases in the month of May?

[Richard Kaufman]

Received my copy today. Great book!

[Dustin Stinett]

I received mine the other day and had to return it: It was dinged all to hell, though not via shipping--it was sent that way. Very disappointing. But, that said, Amazon's return system is quite good and my new copy shipped within 24 hours. I'm supposed to have it tomorrow. Looking forward to seeing any differences between the spoken and written words.

Dustin

[Richard Kaufman]

I sometimes get items from amazon that are beat up, but also not due to shipping. They are shrinkwrapped to a piece of cardboard and dinged under that, while the box is undamaged.

[Eric Fry]

The New Yorker interviewed him:

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/b ... y-jay.html

[Alpen]

I ordered it from a site that was selling autographed copies for $40 shipped, unfortunately they're sold out now.

[Tony Tuccillo]

I ordered it from a site that was selling autographed copies for $40 shipped, unfortunately they're sold out now.

Any idea if there will be additional copies available? Care to share the site URL?

Thanks.

[Alpen]

They said that there wouldn't be any more available and that they were all sold out.

[Richard Kaufman]

The New Yorker interview is very good. It's certainly one of the most straightforward set of answers Ricky has given to an interviewer.

[DrDanny]

The book is a terrific read, but I do wish there was a way to hear the original readings. I'm really surprised there wasn't a CD accompanying the book, since even Jay admits in the preface that these were written as spoken-word pieces.

Google turned up reference to a torrent of mp3's but alas, no seeds were found. Pity.

[Richard Kaufman]

There were probably rights issues or payment required that the publisher wouldn't make to secure the right to use the audio in the book. But, my guess is that there's going to be a separate audio book sold of this, and putting a CD of the original tracks into the book would've ruined the market for a separate audio book.

[Jeffrey Korst]

Another interview with Ricky Jay was in the SF Chronicle on Sunday, May 22.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... 1JG5LT.DTL