I’m happier posting my reviews of other people’s books here (see the previous entry) than linking to reviews of my own work, but Tim Peters’ review of Roll the Bones at Card Player was so on-target that I can’t resist. Here’s a sample:
To what seems to be the majority of today’s poker players – the 20-somethings who have cut their teeth online – the phrase “back in the day” might easily refer to Chris Moneymaker, the first online qualifier to win the main event, back in 2003. Or, if they have a keen sense of poker history, they might think “old school” means Stu “The Kid” Ungar, who won his first World Series of Poker main event in 1980. But poker’s real history dates back at least 500 years – and gambling in general “is simply older than history,” writes David G. Schwartz, director of the Center for Gaming Research at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (where else?), in this fascinating new book.
Schwartz has traced the roots of gambling back to the earliest forms of civilization. Here’s an early example: In Mesopotamia, some 7,000 years ago, the small hucklebones of sheep and goats (located just above the heel bone) were used to “cast lots,” an essentially religious practice for divination – predicting the future. “When Mesopotamian fortune-tellers filed down their hucklebones and marked them with insignia, they took the first steps towards modern dice,” he writes – hence the origins of “roll the bones,” an expression used by some old-time craps players. But it wouldn’t be too long before people transformed sortilege (the technical term for telling the future by interpreting thrown objects) into a form of gambling, and eventually people realized they could gamble on just about anything, from “rolling the bones” to sports, from lotteries to card games. “At every juncture of history, it seems, the gambler is nearby.”
In fact, Schwartz makes a pretty strong case that the impulse to gamble is a universal one – and that the desire to prohibit the activity is misguided and doomed to fail. Religious leaders have condemned gambling, but bingo accounts for a meaningful contribution to church coffers. Pharaohs, emperors, and kings all formulated laws against it, typically as they raked in gambling-related fees and taxes – not to mention lottery revenues. And with gambling legalized, in some form or another, in most of the United States, recent efforts to criminalize online betting seem particularly hypocritical. Card Player readers following this recent legislation will appreciate Schwartz’s history of gambling suppression; we can only hope that members of Congress and state legislators read the book.
…
When you sit down to play poker, in a cardroom or online, you’re taking part in a drama that spans human history, and Schwartz has written the definitive account of that history in Roll the Bones.
Card Player Magazine – The Inside Straight (scroll down for review)
I don’t think an author can ask for a better review. It’s great to see people who know and love gambling connect with the book like that.
On a related note, I’ve just scheduled a book event at the Global Gaming Expo. For those of you who don’t know, this is the world’s biggest gaming conference and exhibition. If you are in the business, you should definitely be there.
Here are the event details:
WHAT: Reading from Roll the Bones, followed by discussion and signing
WHERE: Las Vegas Convention Center, Room N110
WHEN: Tuesday, November 14, 1:30 PM
We should have books on hand, but if you’d like to get a copy before, visit your favorite bookseller, either online or in person.
If you can’t make that event but want to get a copy signed, I’ve got good news: the Center for Gaming Research will have an exhibit called “50 Years of Dining on the Las Vegas Strip” next to the registration area. When I’m not walking the floor, in session (I’m speaking on a marketing panel on Weds. at 3:15), or having a cheesesteak down at Las Vegas Subs in the Hilton, that’s where I’ll be.
If you haven’t already done so, you can still register for G2E here.