Author Ben Mezrich must subscribe to the twin theories of "write what you know," and "stick with what works." Exhibit A: His first non-fiction book, "Bringing Down the House," was subtitled "The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions." A true story, it followed a nerd from MIT who, along with a team of friends, used a sophisticated gambling system to win millions of dollars from casinos in Vegas and elsewhere, thus drawing the ire of casino execs.
What's the premise of Mezrich's new book? It's called "Busting Vegas," its subtitle is "The MIT Whiz Kid Who Brought the Casinos to Their Knees," and it's a true story about... a nerd from MIT who, along with a team of friends, used a sophisticated gambling system to win millions of dollars from casinos in Vegas and elsewhere, thus drawing the ire of casino execs.
But don't think Mezrich has merely written the exact same book again- "Busting Vegas" is about an entirely separate group of characters, and their system "has nothing to do with card-counting." Good to know.
Posted by Stephen Silver at September 29, 2005 06:58 AMYeah, I was thinking the same thing. Did you read the book inbetween, Ugly Americans? It's, like, the opposite of Bringing Down the House -- it's a bunch of well-educated WHITE guys going to ASIA to make cash in the shady derivitives markets (which I only sort of understand, so sorry if I phrased it wrong). Bringing Down the House was better.
Posted by: Caryn at September 29, 2005 11:47 AMI was peripherally involved in the group described in "bringing
down the house". It is more fiction based on facts than non-fiction.