A magnifier for use by people with low vision, comprising: - a hollow housing; - said hollow housing including a top wall having an opening formed therein; - an LCD display mounted in said opening; - said hollow housing including a bottom wall; - a plurality of sidewalls (14a-14d) interconnecting said top wall and said bottom wall; - said bottom wall adapted to rest atop an object to be magnified and to be slideably moved with respect to said object with a low friction interface between said bottom wall and said object; - a light source adapted to emit light; - a light guide adapted to guide light from said light source; - a diffuser mounted in parallel relation to said object; - said diffuser being a fixed distance from said object; - said light guide adapted to guide light from said light source into a horizontal path of travel where said light travels substantially parallel to a rough top surface of said diffuser until said light is bent by and passes through said diffuser a first time in a first downward direction so that said light is adapted to impinge upon said object; - a mirror mounted at a predetermined angle in spaced relation to said object so that light reflected from said object travels through said diffuser a second time in an upward direction opposite to said first downward direction after reflecting from said object and impinges upon said mirror; - a camera lens mounted in light-capturing relation to light reflected by said mirror; - a sensor for receiving light that is captured by said camera lens; - said sensor being in electrical communication with said LCD display so that images focused onto said sensor by said camera lens are displayed on said LCD display, said images being substantially larger than the images on said object; - said bottom wall is transparent; characterized in that - said camera lens is slideably mounted with respect to said mirror so that said camera lens can be positioned in close proximity to said mirror or away from said mirror, or any position therebetween so that the amount of magnification is controlled by the position of the camera. - a hollow housing; - said hollow housing including a top wall having an opening formed therein; - an LCD display mounted in said opening; - said hollow housing including a bottom wall; - a plurality of sidewalls (14a-14d) interconnecting said top wall and said bottom wall; - said bottom wall adapted to rest atop an object to be magnified and to be slideably moved with respect to said object with a low friction interface between said bottom wall and said object; - a light source adapted to emit light; - a light guide adapted to guide light from said light source; - a diffuser mounted in parallel relation to said object; - said diffuser being a fixed distance from said object; - said light guide adapted to guide light from said light source into a horizontal path of travel where said light travels substantially parallel to a rough top surface of said diffuser until said light is bent by and passes through said diffuser a first time in a first downward direction so that said light is adapted to impinge upon said object; - a mirror mounted at a predetermined angle in spaced relation to said object so that light reflected from said object travels through said diffuser a second time in an upward direction opposite to said first downward direction after reflecting from said object and impinges upon said mirror; - a camera lens mounted in light-capturing relation to light reflected by said mirror; - a sensor for receiving light that is captured by said camera lens; - said sensor being in electrical communication with said LCD display so that images focused onto said sensor by said camera lens are displayed on said LCD display, said images being substantially larger than the images on said object; - said bottom wall is transparent; characterized in that - said camera lens is slideably mounted with respect to said mirror so that said camera lens can be positioned in close proximity to said mirror or away from said mirror, or any position therebetween so that the amount of magnification is controlled by the position of the camera.