Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Gambling, sex and violence: with an emphasis on gambling.
I liked this book because it is true. Often times books about successful gambling ventures are annoying to me because it sounds as though the author is bragging and not much more. This book is different because it explains how the main character accomplished his goal. It explains how his hard work paid off and the mistakes he made along the way. It is funny to think that problem for these geniuses was not retaining the data like it would be for the average player, the trouble for them was carrying out the When I finished the book I felt more knowledgable about the casino industry and my own limitations in playing blackjack. If you don't know before you read, you will soon learn that blackjack is a game that can be beaten. Like some of the other reviewers I would like to see this book made into a movie. I would just hope that it maintained the emphasis on gambling rather than dramatize the vice. To stay true to the book they would need some actors of Asian decent to pull it off. I look forward to seeing it.
Rating:  - Bringing down the cliches
I'd never heard of Ben Mezrich before reading this book, but within the first few pages I started to suspect that Ben isn't exactly dealing from a full deck in the writing talent department. You can open this book at any page and find an awkward cliché, or some badly fictionalized account of something that may, or may not, have really happened. I finished reading this book with a growing feeling of endearment for poor old Ben, I imagined him staring out of a window, chewing absentmindedly on the end of a pencil and wondering how he could best describe the ocean in the Bahamas, and then getting all excited as he wrote 'the water was crystal-blue'. Or when a card counter stumbles in on his colleague being 'questioned' by casino security we are asked to believe the dialog was; 'We're gonna play a little game ' I'm gonna ask you some questions and you're gonna tell me what I want to hear.' And what kind of voice did the interrogator have? Why, a brusque voice of course! Perhaps casinos have special 1950's B-movie themed heavies. It's not just the trashy novel style dialogue and sensibilities that are a problem, there's the more fundamental problem that the events are recounted to Ben by 'Kevin Lewis' ' the genius MIT student (we know he's a genius because Ben lets us know quite often, he also lets us know that he's really smart too, because he went o Harvard). But the narrative often includes incidents and events that are taking place while Kevin isn't around. He seems fully clued in on what his friends are up too (even though they've all had a big tiff and have never spoken since). There's even a paragraph describing Kevin hastily leaving a casino alone, but unaware of a gray haired figure watching him. If Kevin didn't know he was being watched, and he was alone ' how the hell did Ben write about it? The money that is being won seems to fluctuate between 'millions', but then Kevin has to play one weekend because he needs to pay his rent. Then there's the research, and the little vignettes we get as Ben interviews various people. I'm entirely baffled as to how any of these people fit into the story, (a security expert, some guy who owns a shooting range, a stripper), they don't seem to have anything to say and Ben seems quite happy to present them up as some sort of Vegas style authenticity. Ben tells us that everyone who works in Vegas earns much more than they could anywhere else, he asks us 'where else could a college dropout who parks cars put his kids through private school?' It's almost as though he quotes entire sentences from some Las Vegas tourist guide. Never mind the well documented poverty and low wages the casinos have brought to Las Vegas.
There are some nice touches to the book though, when Kevin is thrown out of New York, New York in Las Vegas he wonders if a security guys Brooklyn accent is real or part of the Casino's theme.
If you can get a copy of 'The Newtonian Casino' by Thomas Bass then you'll have a much more articulate and exciting read, it's a similar story but involves the invention of a computerized roulette predictor that can fit in a shoe, by some students (possibly MIT again I think!). For a better overview of Vegas I'd recommend 'Dead Cities' by Mike Davis.
Rating: - Cardic meds needed for Mezrich's thrilling ride
As a physician I have my fill of non-fiction with an abundance of journals so when I read for relaxation I want a story that keeps me excited, interested and sleepless until it is finished. Bringing Down the House is such a book and reads like a Clancy or Pollock with a little lower body count, but with no less excitement. Ben Mezrich is superb writer and story teller with the amazing ability to weave the excitement of a Las Vegas casino, the mathmatics of card counting with enjoyable interpersonal dynamics so that this is a consuming story with people you care about. His description of the high roller lifestyle in Vegas takes you to the tables playing sums you watch others wager with the adrenaline rush like you were part of the team. I bought the book in Boston having just missed him at a book signing and had a hardtime finishing the conference. I found myself in the room reading a book I could not put down instead of going out in one of the towns in which the story was set. It was that engrossing. My Christmas list now contains all of his previous writings as this is an author who knows how to tell a story.
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