Reviews of other people’s books
I originally reviewed this for the Nevada Historical Society Quarterly. Written three years before Positively Fifth Street, this book pioneered the literary take on the World Series of Poker genre.
Book review: The Hand I Played Read More »
book reviewsI read Elif Shafak’s The Flea Palace almost four years ago. I haven’t re-read it since, and don’t own a copy. But it’s still one of my favorite books, and I can still vividly recall much of the writing. Here’s what I had to say about it when I first reviewed it: I saw this
Book review: The Flea Palace Read More »
book reviewsMy reposting of reviews continues. This one is a real gem. If you don’t believe me, look at the cover: Click through to look at the big version of that if you don’t believe me, but yes, that is JFK and, yes, he does figure into the plot. Is he the BP on the count
Book review: The Blackjack Hijack Read More »
book reviewsJames Swain. Loaded Dice. New York: Ballantine Books, 2004. 310 pp, $22.95 (hardcover) When I started this site back in 2005, I posted many reviews as static pages. Now, instead of reformatting them all, I’m reposting them as posts. If you’re a longtime reader, enjoy the nostalgia, and if you’ve just found this site, it’s
Book review: Loaded Dice Read More »
book reviewsTom Breitling with Cal Fussman. Double or Nothing: How Two Friends Risked It All to Buy One of Las Vegas’ Legendary Casinos. New York: Collins, 2008. 256 pp. In honor of tomorrow’s Vegas Gang uber-podcast, which will feature Tom Breitling, I am at long last posting my review of his new casino tell-all. Enjoy! Until
Book Review: Double or Nothing Read More »
book reviewsChristina Binkley. Winner Takes All: Steve Wynn, Kirk Kerkorian, Gary Loveman, and the Race to Own Las Vegas. New York: Hyperion, 2008. 304 pages, hardcover. Over the last decade, the Las Vegas Strip has become increasingly consolidated. Once, there were a host of casino owners: Aztar, Bally Gaming, Boyd Gaming, Circus Circus Enterprises, Grand Casinos
Book Review: Winner Takes All Read More »
book reviews, life in vegasBruce Begout. Translated by Liz Heron. Zeropolis: The Experience of Las Vegas. London: Reaktion Books, 2003. Softcover, 126 pp, lots of pictures. They used to say that Las Vegas is where show business careers go to die. Reading this book, I think that we can now say that it’s where philosophers go to make no
Book review: Zeropolis Read More »
book reviewsGeoff Schumacher. Howard Hughes: Power, Paranoia, and Palace Intrigue. Las Vegas: Stephens Press, 2008. Hardcover, 292 pp. More than four dozens books about Howard Hughes have been published since the 1960s. It would seem that there’s little more we can learn about his life. Why, then, should you bother to read another book about Hughes?
Book review: Howard Hughes: Power, Paranoia, and Palace Intrigue Read More »
book reviewsJohn McPherson. Beating the Odds: The Complete Dictionary of Gambling and Games of Chance. Docklands, Victoria: Geoff Slattery Publishing, 2007. 708 pp. This is a very handy and very comprehensive dictionary of gambling. It is expansive rather than focused, with entries covering games including all of the traditional casino favorites as well as backgammon, mah
Book review: Beating the Odds Read More »
book reviewsDennis N. Griffin. Policing Las Vegas: A History of Law Enforcement in Southern Nevada. Las Vegas: Huntington Press, 2005. 214 pp. This book bills itself as a history of law enforcement in Southern Nevada and is very comprehensive, but ultimately feels more like a collection of anecdotes, facts, and personalities than a cohesive narrative. Griffin
Book Review: Policing Las Vegas Read More »
book reviewsSteve Friess. Gay Vegas: A Guide to the Other Side of Sin City. Las Vegas: Huntington Press, 2007. 211 pp. In honor of Steve’s author event at UNLV today, I figured I’d finally post my review of his book Gay Vegas. There are many, many guidebooks to Las Vegas. Some are good; some are insanely
Book Review: Gay Vegas Read More »
book reviews, life in vegasPhilip K. Dick. The Collected Stories of Philip K. Dick, Volume 1: The Short Happy Life of the Brown Oxford. New York: Kensington Publishing, 1987. 404 pp. Philip K. Dick, in my estimation, was one of the most significant American authors of the 20th century. Though he worked for the most part in “mere” science
Book review: The Short Happy Life of the Brown Oxford Read More »
book reviewsAdam Resnick with Todd Gold. Bust: How I Gambled and Lost a Fortune, Brought Down a Bank–and Lived to Pay for It. New York: William Morrow, 2007. Another day, another review of what seems to be a burgeoning genre–the problem gambling memoir. Like Burt Dragin’s Six to Five Against, Bust is a story of a
Burt Dragin. Six to Five Against: A Gambler’s Odyssey. Berkeley: RDR Books, 2005. Six to Five Against is a refreshing, sometimes wincingly honest look at one man’s gambling. Drawing chiefly on his own experiences but supported by Dragin’s investigations into the thrall that gambling holds for many, this is an open, honest, and readable story
Book Review: Six to Five Against Read More »
book reviewsThe other night, Suni and I watched a movie that neither of us had heard about called Love, Ludlow. It was between that and a few other things Tivo had decided we might like, and based on the description, we decided to give it a shot: Myra Smuldanski has done the unthinkable. After years of
Movie Review: Love, Ludlow Read More »
book reviewsIan Fleming. Casino Royale. New York: Signet Books, 1953. 144 pages. “JAMES BOND declares war on Le Chiffre, French Communist of paymaster of the Soviet murder organization SMERSH. The battle begins for the ace secret agent in a fifty-million franc game of baccarat…gains momentum in his fiery love affair with a sensuous lady spy…and reaches
Book Review: Casino Royale Read More »
book reviewsGiles Slade. Made to Break: Technology and Obsolescence in America. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2006. Giles Slade opens this monograph with a flurry of astounding facts: in 2004, 315 million working PCs were thrown out in North America alone, and in the following year over 100 million cell phones joined them on the trashheap. That’s
Book Review: Made to Break Read More »
book reviewsI discovered this book while looking at the Barnes and Noble page for Roll the Bones. Apparently, people who buy my book there also buy this one, along with histories of happiness and night-time. Being interested in Venice, I thought I’d give it a read, not really knowing what to expect. Author John Berendt doesn’t
Book Review: The City of Falling Angels Read More »
book reviews