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Summary: Non-sense
Review: An interesting story about (fictional?) characters with tons of brains and no common sense whatsoever. Reads like science fiction.
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Summary: THEY DESERVE WHAT THEY GOT !
Review: I have never been to Las Vegas; the last time I was in Atlantic City if there were casinos, I certainly didn't know about them; I have bet and lost a few dollars in slot machines. In other words, I know next to nothing about gambling and absolutely nothing about a gambler stacking the odds in his favor through intelligent, obsessive, dizzyingly difficult planning.Ben Mezrich's BRINGING DOWN THE HOUSE is bound to become a movie: it is non-fiction that reads like one of the most exciting, fascinating novels you could pick up. Briefly (and simplisticly) six M.I.T. "nerd" students set about to win big at the tables in Vegas...and they did...by learning to count the cards in games of Blackjack. Sound simple? Well, the planning and execution that this entails is unbelievably hard, especially for someone like myself who is no good with math and/or numbers and has no patience for details, whatsoever. I don't want to give away too many of Mezrich's surprises, but I promise you that his book is absolutely impossible to put down. When I didn't have a huge grin on my face, my mouth had dropped open in shock. This is a REAL caper adventure...one that I think I'd love to be a part of, but, upon reflection, know that it takes stronger hearts than mine. The guys who opened up their lives to Mezrich deserve everything they got. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
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Summary: Great fun, but a bit too much...
Review: I loved the book! Being a lover of gambling, and blackjack in particular, it was jsut a FUN book. Despite that it is based on true events, I have little doubt that it is written in a very melodramatic way and greatly exaggerated at parts. That's why I gave it a 4 instead of a 5. In terms of entertainment-- it is a MUST! It will bring out all those romanticised thoughts you ever had about gaming ten fold.
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Summary: A lot of fun
Review: This is a great story. I bought the book on Amazon for my brother after reading an excerpt in Wired Magazine and, after dipping into the first chapter, I felt compelled to stay up most of the night to read it straight through, before shipping it off the next day. The basics of the story -- a bunch of smart kids outwit the big bad casinos and walk away with lots of money (before the inevitable occurs) -- have a pretty much universal appeal. Whether or not all of this stuff actually happened as it's portrayed here: Who cares? The explanations of blackjack strategy are lucid and, unlike most of what you read about this kind of stuff, actually pass the mathematical sniff test. But the real fun is in the execution of the strategy: how this group of kids in their twenties worked in teams, 'casing' the blackjack pits to identify situations were the odds were in their favor, and then swooped in for the kill. And out again. All the while adopting various roles and 'personalities' to take advantage of casinos' own techniques to profile bettors (and 'cheaters') to beat the big houses at their own game. The story is well plotted, fast paced, and would make a fine movie.
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Summary: Like Counting to a Plus 20
Review: I highly recommend this book as a very entertaining read. I was in my local book retailer and decided to see if there were any new counting books in the gaming section. I've learned several counting methods and have read a lot about team play. This book jumped out at me, because I'd heard rumblings about an MIT team that had gone public. I read the book in one day. I turned my brother loose on it, and he read it in one day. He handed it off to my wife, and she read it in one day. As you can see, it's not a book that bogs you down much. It doesn't get too technical in regards to the strategy or counting methods they used. If you've read and learned the methods ahead of time, it makes more sense, but even if you haven't, it explains enough to move you along. The author also throws in excitement in the form of the players' run-ins with the casino's, who are not happy to be counted on and taken for thousands at a time. There are also conflicts within the team that make for good reading. This book is by no means a how-to book... it's more of a how-we-did-it book. If you want to emulate their success, good luck. Facial recognition has made it so that no one can do this to the extent that they did. You can make money playing blackjack.. but don't order that Ferrari just yet.
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Summary: an entertaining read for non-gamblers too
Review: Mezrich hits it to you in a Hunter S. Thompson sort of way, weaving his personal experience traveling with the nerd herd in with the glitzy glamor of vegas nightlife. His prose taps in on a cutting-edge style unique to Mezrich. BDTH provides hours of entertainment leaving you salivating for the next chapter just to see what wacky Kevin will do next. The book teaches you how to BEAT THE SYSTEM by giving you a sideline view of how their method succeeded. PLUS, the last chapter actually gives DIRECTIONS HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN TEAM and the methods they used. Bravo to Mezrich for his first endeavor in non-fiction. A must-read with hopefully many more to come...
There's a reason why this book has been on the NY TIMES BESTSELLER LIST for FOUR WEEKS in a row!
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Summary: Those wacky kids!
Review: This is a breezy account of how a group of math geeks legally made off with hundreds of thousands of dollars in profit in a card counting operation that exploited team strategy and casino stereotypes. This is a good yarn for a plane trip or a dull afternoon, although the book could have been much better. Basically, one of the team members spilled his guts to the author and this book is that plus a few stray interviews. The writer manages only the tiniest of glimpses into how the casinos dealt with the teams. There is very little history of the team itself. I feel the author could have worked harder to set the scene and show more evidence of background research. It couldn't have hurt to hear from other voices in the casino universe, especially other blackjack players. Not exactly Bob Woodward level reporting, but there was enough color (amidst a fair amount of purple prose) and more than enough suspense to keep me turning the pages until 1 AM on a school night.
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Summary: Bringing Down the House
Review: This is one of the best non fiction books I have ever read. It is the story of M.I.T. students who were successful card counters and won millions in Vegas. I was interested in the characters in the story and what they had to know and do in order to make their plans work. The fact that the book was non fiction made it even more interesting because some of their encounters were soIt is a compelling book that I had a hard time putting down. I also liked it because it was a nice and easy read... good for a trip or summer when you don't feel like reading a book thats hard to understand.
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Summary: MIT alum suspects the book itself is the hack.
Review: I enjoyed the book. It's an easy read. The story is engaging. But I question its veracity. If you want to read a gambling story that predates this book, search for localroger's "A Casino Odyssey" at kuro5hin.org. He tells a strikingly similar tale. Stikingly similar. If nothing else, the Web publication of localroger's story -- a year before Bringing Down the House came out -- makes me wonder just how much this author has in common with Jayson Blair. I read through all reviews (160 at this writing). I seem to be the first MIT alum to speak up (although "A reader from Cambridge, MA" is probably also familiar with the school.) I was there in the early 80's. There were rumors about undergraduates who earned their tuition counting cards at blackjack tables. I never met one. I did, however, know some of the authors of a bona fide MIT "hack" book: The Unix Hater's Handbook. "Hacking" (loosely translated as a "prank") is a core and longstanding tradition at MIT. Bringing Down the House smells like another hack to me, but I can't be sure. On one hand, several reviewers have pointed out what appear to be exaggerations and inconsistencies. On the other hand, The Tech, official source of MIT news archived on the Web, published an article titled "Card Counting Gig Nets Students Millions," which essentially confirms the author's claims. It includes quotes purportedly from the people potrayed in the book. On the other hand, The Tech itself is not immune from being hacked. On the other hand, I got confirmation from another alum that Micky Rosa is for real. OK, enough with the hands. There are other elements that leave me with questions. One detail that any MIT alum would include in his account is that MIT students aren't called geeks. We're nerds. N-e-r-d nerd. I realize the author isn't an alum, but he shouldn't have missed that -- he doesn't use the word "nerd" ONCE in the whole book. I was also surprised that googling for '"kevin lewis" MIT' doesn't turn up his real name. Are any of the portrayed characters traceable? To maximize my satisfaction of this tale, I would like to have more assurance that it is true. A fiction writer claiming to write his first non-fiction book simply isn't good enough these days. (Thank you, New York Times, for showing me how stupid publishers can be and for utterly destroying my confidence in writers of all sorts. :-)
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Summary: Easy to Read
Review: This is a fun and interesting book. Nothing too heavy. Just a light, easy to read book - which is sometimes the very best thing. In the same easy to read level of entertainment as "Moneyball" (Michael Lewis), "Stranger Than Fiction" (Chuck Palahniuk), or "My Fractured Life" (Rikki Lee Travolta).
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