A Narrative History of 21: fact mixed with fiction
I enjoy playing a little blackjack here and there, some poker at times, so I was interested to read 21, especially after I had watched the movie. I was extremely surprised to find that the book was so much more that the boiled down movie. Granted, I know books are always better than the movie it is based off of, but this seem to be in a complete different ball park. That being said, I thoroughly enjoyed reading the account of the MIT card counters in Las Vegas.
The book is interesting because you get a progressively more and more complex and threatened lifestyle as you move through time. This injects natural adrenaline and action into each new chapter. There was always the threat of violence in the background, even though counting is legal, so you continually read on as you anticipate the conflict as it brews. I was sad when I was done reading it and there was no more to read, but in the same light it had also come to a natural conclusion that felt right.
On the other side I was a little saddened as well by a simple Google search that showed that Mezrich admitted to slightly fictionalizing some of the story. This goes without saying in most nonfiction, though, as the narrative effect that makes it so readable, that I expected this was the case before I did a little research. Obviously a lot of the sidelines of the other characters, like Fisher and Martinez when they went out of country to gamble, where fiction, building a story around rumor (such as hearing that they had conflict and were banned, and that Fisher had a black eye; the guess is the narrative around this story that Mezrich used).
In the end I really didn't care. I know there was truth to a lot of the basic facts of the MIT team, and that there was fiction around some of the more fascinating aspects, but when it all came down to it it was an enjoyable read. Enough said for me. I would recommend to others despite learning that some of the story was fictionalized.
4 stars.
Disappointed to learn it is mostly fiction
I picked this up after seeing the movie '21.' I knew the movie was largely fiction, and wanted to see what really happened.
The book is a good read; the author can definitely write. However, I have learned that the book is at least 50% fiction! Look, anybody can make up a story. Just be up front about it. This book should not be in the non-fiction section. (Maybe it should be on the same shelf as that slimebag Fry's "A Million Little Pieces").
I'm thinking about writing about my gambling escapades. I think I have a pretty good imagination, too.
Mesmerizing - Vegas will never look the same again
If you are a geek that dreams to become rich in a Vegas-way and use your math analysis brain then it is a book for you. I loved every bit of this book with great background about Vegas behind the curtain (or behind the nice wall). I am going to Vegas this for a 24-hours getaway with my wife and I am sure to watch around my for the sky-in-the-air, and the pit-bosses, and those security guards that patrolling the area around the black-jack tables. As Kevin Lewis wrote, BJ is the ONLY game in Vegas that the history influence the future and any card out of the shoe is less in the deck.
Read it and try to be careful when you implement it. This is a game for the grown-ups.
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