Rating: 
Summary: A Real Page Turner!
Review: To be honest, I didn't know if the subject matter of this book would hold my interest. I knew nothing about hedge funds and am not a financier. But I was a big fan of Mezrich's last book, Bringing Down the House, so I thought I'd give this one a try. I'm glad I did: this is even better than BDTH. It's got a sympathetic main character and I found his story fascinating. I also learned a lot about hedge funds, and about Japanese culture. This book has the cinematic quality of a thriller novel--but it's all true! I'm sure someone will make a movie of this, and I can't wait to see it when they do. I highly recommend this book to anyone.
Rating:
Summary: Worth the READ
Review: Unlike a few of the reviews I read, I really liked this book. Perhaps the other reviewers are too close to the subject (or perhaps see themselves in the pages...hmm) or lack the ability to get engrossed in a book. This book is a fast read because it keeps you interested from beginning to end and it peaks your interest into learning more about the subject. I actually purchased this book as a present and the recipient thought it was a terrific book! That's what made me read it. And I have to say... he's not an easy guy to please... especially when it comes to literature. It's worth the time and the money.
Rating: 
Summary: fell asleep around page 75... zzzzzzzzzzzz
Review: You are the best football player under 6 feet in your 600 student division III high school in Podunk, NJ (grades 7- 12). You might even be the best 5'7 and 155 lb linebacker in all of Hazard County, NJ and your SAT scores miraculously are almost double the NCAA minimum score for playing division I football. Seeing your alcoholic step dad beating up on your momma and your friends knocking up one another is wearing thin. What do you do with yourself after your senior year, young man? It is simple. You go play football at Princeton where you are "recruited" with a "full ride." Okay, so the "full ride" really entails copious financial aid and academic scholarships from mysterious sources... so be it.At college you realize that everyone in the Ivy League is super cool, heroic and prone to pick up and leave for Japan on a moment's notice to run with Japanese gangsters and frolic in sex trade antics. Those nerds over at MIT have found a way to beat the casino while being real cheap and comping everything. Don't worry about detection. The Yakuza and casino employees didn't go to the Ivy League or MIT so they are idiots. Everything can be cracked; the world is your oyster. If you don't want to stare at a computer screen all day and live in a closet in Japan or if you don't like the distractions at Las Vegas, don't worry. You are entitled to another job involving international intrigue and seas of loot. Hedge fund quants have good personalities and can pick up chicks even in foreign countries where they come across as arrogant. Made for daytime television script... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...
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