3.5* I had to read this book for AP Stat, and I was thoroughly surprised. The pacing is slow, but I was so intrigued the entire time. Learning about the unethical card counting method for blackjack was so fascinating to read about. I also loved the vibe from the book. I felt like I was in a busy casino with high risks around me. I wouldn't necessarily go out and buying this if I wasn't required to, but it was interesting nonetheless.

Bringing down the house was a thrilling and action-packed book that just leaves you wanting more. This book portrays the life of a regular college student named Kevin and his journey to being one of the most wanted and sought after gamblers in the country. I enjoyed this book, and so did many other people. One reader by the name of Petra said that in the book Kevin and his crew were doing nothing wrong in gambling and they broke no laws. I have to agree with Petra because I felt that the team thought long and hard about a way they can gamble legally and they succeeded. I feel the casinos were just angry that they were losing so much money and that is why they wanted to stop Kevin and his crew. I also agree with Petra that Kevin was a very bright boy. No average person could have pulled that off that fast, and that thought out. I believe we need more people like Kevin in the world but instead of using them for gambling, we can use them to create new technology, solve big issues in the world, or we can even use them to win or stop wars.

Another Goodreads reviewer by the name of Greg. Greg stated that the harsh dialogue in the book gave it more of a "vegas" feel. I highly agree with Greg because even though the author did use some harsh language, it was needed to help you visualize the book better and help you feel what the characters are feeling better. I thought the author did a great job with this. I also agree with Greg that the writer's style of writing made this book even more exciting. In parts of the book where the author describes how Kevin is sitting at a table acting cool, but on the inside he is scared. The author uses his unique format to let you be able to picture how Kevin looks from the outside. It makes him seem calm, collected, and confident, but the authors also describe how on the inside he feels nervous, scared, and a little overwhelmed.

This book was not meant for everyone. Some moments in the book where Kevin is at a club, and it describes his addiction to drugs and alcohol may not be comfortable for some readers. However, I do feel everyone should give this book a shot because not only is it action packed but there is a lot you can learn from it. For example, Kevin could have prevented all the chaos he experienced in the end if he knew how to control himself and stop. He could have also prevented it if he listened to his friends and family. His very close friends Jill tried to explain to him that this would not end well if he kept on going. However, Kevin did not stop, and we can learn from this that you should listen to other people's advice, especially the advice from people that love and care for you. Overall I really enjoyed this book and highly encourage everyone to read it.

a fun airport pickup! good balance of glitzy drama and backed up statistics

“Bringing Down the House” is definitely a page turner. The language is very descriptive and style of writing draws you in and makes you want to keep reading. There were some parts I thought were irrelevant to the storyline, but it was overall a very good book. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes action-packed books or books about Vegas.

1. Plot Overview (Don’t give the ending away!) What did you like about the plot? Did it move quickly or slowly? What didn’t you like? Was it interesting or not? Why? Give details!

The plot was pretty good. The story was about students at MIT college who count cards in blackjack and convince an extremely smart student to join their group. They go to Las Vegas every weekend to count cards and come back to attend school durring the week days.




2. Character Overview: Who were you favorite characters? Describe them—what were they like? Did they remind you of someone? Who/how? How are you like them, even in small ways?

I had no favorites but they all had different personalitys by far and they were all unique in different ways.





3. Theme Overview: Choose a theme starter word (love, hate, revenge, friendship, anger, etc.) and tell us what the author is saying about it.
Example: Forgiveness = The author teaches us that sometimes you have to forgive yourself before you can forgive someone else. She shows this through the characters of Danny and Sandy when…

There are many themes in this book but the most relevant is love, friendship and revenge because of the girl he has a crush on is with him through it all and he wants to be with her. Friendship is because of his two friends who are working with him on a huge project that he just laid off and at the end try to reunite. and revenge because his leader betrays him and he takes action on that.

super interesting!

Bringing Down the House is an action packed book with many scenes that keep the reader wanting more. Although it wasn't as good as I thought it would be, it was still a good read. Some readers thought that immoderate use of cursing kind of brought the book to a lower level. I disagree with this. I believe that this kind of language helped show some of the characters' emotions during rough and troubling times. Although, at some moments it was not needed, the use of this language did not make a book terrible. Another reader said that she would not want to gamble, but she sees how easy it is to get caught in the lifestyle of gambling. This statement is very agreeable. As I was reading the book, I imagined myself as Kevin Lewis or one of the other MIT members gambling and outsmarting the system.

This book is not meant for everyone. If someone likes a fast paced, eventful story, then this book is for them. Card counters live a suspenseful life. They are often at risk of getting caught or not earning profit from their betting. Nothing is slow in their life, and the book demonstrates that idea. If a reader are like me, then the reader would not enjoy this fast paced story. Often, I found myself confused of what was going on and I had to reread multiple areas multiple times. Also, some of the detail in this book was not as good as I thought it would be. For example, in the latter part of the book, Kevin's teammates get robbed. The book does not go in deep detail about the robbing though, which frustrated me. So, if as a reader detail does not have to be exact, then this book is for you.

In this book, the writer's strategy took me a while to figure out. I often thought it was something other than what I believe it is now. The writer's strategy in this book is to be aware of your surroundings at all times and to also think before you do. Now, other people may disagree with this, but this is was I thought it was. The book basically shows how Kevin Lewis goes from a regular MIT student to a professional card counter. However, along the way, there are many things that Kevin and his team were not aware of. Mickey, and ex-member of the group, was one of the major leaders of the group. When he got voted out the team, Mickey gave Martinez, Fisher, and Kevin warning about the growing technology that the casinos were starting to obtain. Only Kevin actually thought about this. When he tried warning Martinez and Fisher, they both did not pay any attention to it. This eventually caused a big problem with the group, and eventually made the group split. If the team payed attention to Mickey's warnings, maybe they would not have been unsuccessful towards the latter stages.

In Bring Down the House, it was easy to get attached, if you will, to the characters. It almost felt as if you were observing them on a mini television in your brain. The plot was written well, and it was a strength of the book. There was not really a good poetic use of language in is book. In my earlier paragraph, I talked about the unnecessary use of curse words and how sometimes it was good and sometimes it was not. I would not say there was a poetic was of this writing, so it was a weakness in my opinion. Finally, I would also say that there was not really that much good detail. Yes, it expressed detail about what a casino looked like, how a character felt, or even how Kevin swims, but it was not enough. The lack of detail kind of ruined the book for me, but other than that the book was fascinating.

This was an enjoyable read, although I admit my eyes and brain glossed over when explanations for blackjack and card counting became too detailed for my interests. The writing was fast-paced and enjoyable, detailed, and easy to read. The weird addition of the authors' "present" day research felt out of place and unnecessary to the book but was unique. I didn't struggle to book the book down at night, one reading session infact I closed the book feeling slightly bored, mostly due to the math, and blackjack and probability details I simply had no interest in understanding to enjoy the book. That says more about me as a reader than about the book or the author.

"Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions" by Ben Mezrich is a nonfiction work that takes a look at a group of MIT graduates and dropouts who develop and perfect a card counting system, which they use to great effect. Specifically, the book concerns Kevin Miller, who is apparently Asian despite the inventive pseudonym, and his involvement with the team of MIT card counters.

As I read this book, I kept flipping back to the frontispiece and wondering, sometimes aloud, why Mezrich has six other titles to his credit. Two of them are pseudonymous, to be fair, so maybe it actually got to the point where editors were asking themselves the same question. Or maybe this guy just won the literary lottery and no one else wanted to write this book.

This literary abortion breaks every rule I’ve established for how to write. He uses adverbs, puts exposition in dialogue, uses cliched similes, and every attempt he makes to “pretty up" his bland writing just makes you want to fly to wherever this jackass lives and punch him in the kidneys.

Some examples of this guy’s exemplary writing style:

"[his sisters were] helping his mother with the dessert — something to do with apples, cinnamon, and sugary pie crust."

Could it be an apple pie, asshole? Just say it! It’s okay to use the words “apple pie.” We’re not going to laugh at you (for that).

"[She] found the thrill of [blackjack] almost as addictive as the field of consulting."

I don’t get it. Does that mean she thought card counting was really boring, or is she just so ridiculous that she actually thinks “consulting” is an “addictive” proposition? I shudder to think. Is that what business school actually does to people?

"The team was operating like a well-oiled machine."

Did you really just say that? You’ve got to be kidding me. Who edited this trash?

"He said, “We’ve got costumes — some of the best money can buy — from some place in LA.”"

Okay, that’s technically proper use of a dash, ignoring the fact that it occurs in a completely unremarkable sentence (what's more important, that the costumes are expensive or that you can't remember where you bought them?). This stilted dialogue is just exposition with pointless quote marks wrapped around it. Maybe Mezrich reads a lot of Clive Cussler. There's a lot of this in the book, and to say that Mezrich has a tin ear for dialogue would be to play the game on his level. It's entirely possible that Mezrich has never, in fact, heard people speak.

Not only is this book poorly written, it’s boring. Avoid it and everything else Ben Mezrich has his hack name on. Remember, though, just because it doesn’t say “Ben Mezrich,” that doesn’t mean he hasn't been blacklisted and is now using another pseudonym.

One last snippet of this dude's literary brilliance:

"The two were best friends, cut from a similar mold."

Really. What a waste of time.

Oh, I guess I should tell you how it ends: the team gets banned from all the casinos and they have to fall back on their incredibly lucrative MIT engineering degrees. Poor little babies.

The book is well written, but what is irritating is that it holds itself out as a non-fiction, but after reading about the book online, it appears the book is far more fiction then non-fiction. The person that the book is centered around has apparently admitted several key scenes from the book didn't happen, and that many other scenes were similarly fabricated. Also, because many of the people in the book are composites of two or more people, it makes me wonder what, if anything, from the book is actually accurate. They should have described the book as "inspired by true events". Having said that, the book is well written, and was a page turner. I just wish the author/publisher was more honest about what the book really is. Hence, I lowered my rating by one star.

This book has reaffirmed how not into gambling I am. I've never been to Vegas, but I get nervous playing penny slots in Atlantic City so the whole world just freaks me out. But this story is so incredible. So seemingly impossible. And yet believable. These kids are smarter than me, and they're bolder than me. This book is worth reading, and it will make you see the world of Vegas in a whole new way.

poorly written but an interesting story