This book focuses on Kevin Lewis, one of six students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who form a team to count cards in casinos, playing the mathematical odds to win at blackjack. Though it is not illegal, the casinos are not keen on any activity that gives an advantage to the player, and they can ban them from their establishments.

I live in Nevada and have been to Las Vegas many times, so I was easily able to picture the scenes. As with many people who live here, I am not a gambler. But this book is more about calculating occasions when the odds will favor the player, so it is not exactly the same as true gambling, which always favors the house. The events of this book took place in the 1990s and many casinos have since taken measures to prevent card counting.

The story is filled with the ostentation and spectacle of the Las Vegas strip. It occasionally ventures into sexist territory, especially in descriptions of women. The writing is passable, but one does not read this type of book for its literary merit. It is marketed as non-fiction, but the copyright page states that “the names of many of the characters and locations in this book have been changed, as have certain physical characteristics and other descriptive details. Some of the events and characters are also composites of several individual events or persons.” Overall, I found it a fast-paced entertaining read.

This is a really simple read, but good when you're looking for something quick (like a 2 hour plane ride). It kept me interested(except the parts where they talk about card counting strategy) and I didn't really want it to end.

It might not have been as good if it wasn't the first book I read in months, but it sure did serve it's purpose!

Interesting and intriguing. Keeps your focus.

I started reading Ben Mezrich only recently, having picked up The Accidental Billionaires. Bringing Down the House is one of his earlier works and definitely one of the best. It was made into the movie 21, which you can avoid. The story is about MIT students forming a team and going to Vegas casinos to make money by counting cards. The fact that Bringing Down the House is based on actual events makes it all the more interesting to read. Mezrich has several such books based on real-life, larger-than-life occurrences, and I can’t wait to check out the next one.

Bringing Down the House by Ben Mezrich is a thrilling biography about six M.I.T. students who "take Vegas for millions". This 257-page novel is full of ups and downs for the group of kids as they attempt to cleverly count cards in Blackjack to turn the odds in their favor. Main character Kevin Lewis is first just an ordinary MIT student: extremely intelligent, hardworking, determined, and geeky. He has a small group of friends, which includes two mysterious characters: Fisher and Martinez. After one of their long weekend trips, Fisher and Martinez expose Kevin to what they are really doing: professionally gambling. Slowly, Kevin takes interest in the concept of counting cards and falls into the glorious trap of working with Fisher, Martinez, and four other MIT students to rob casinos of their money through a complex version of the high-low card counting method in Vegas. Nevertheless, casinos are always hungry for money and don't like card counters taking theirs. Kevin and the group soon find themselves in a lot of trouble getting too deep into the lifestyle, blowing their cover, and attracting attention from The Eyes in the Sky (the people in the casino watching for counters and cheaters).

Overall, Bringing Down the House is a great book. I picked the book because of the movie remake, 21. However, after reading it, I think that the book is much better than the movie. It provides in-depth descriptions of the methods of card-counting and allowed me to understand how it works. The top notch depictions of the characters and settings also help me visualize the scenarios the characters are in and feel their nerve. In this book, I became shocked at how daring people can be. Kevin and his crew sometimes put down over one hundred thousand dollars for a single hand (if the count is high and there is a high chance of winning)! Also, I became aware of the true reality of Vegas. On the outside, the city is like one huge party. However on the inside, it is like a corporation. All Vegas wants to do is make money, and they will go far to ensure they do so. Overall, with the thrills and great descriptions included, I would highly recommend this book. It is an ideal story for people who enjoy gambling (or the concept of it) or who like to see thrill and action in a book.

I always enjoy watching the movie that this book is based off, and after my most recent viewing I decided to read the book.

What I didn’t know at the time of many of my viewings of the film is that it’s a true story. A bunch of MIT geeks used maths to beat the system. It’s a bit wow! Was it specifically a crime? No. Was it maybe in the grey area of morality? Sure. Is anyone crying for the poor casinos? Hell no.

This book was a lot of fun to read, and incredibly interesting to hear of the techniques and the lifestyles that these people developed, the size of the network, and how long they got away with it. I imagine that nowadays it would be a lot harder, but not impossible.

3.25* - inspired by my previous read which had a kind of Robin Hood theme i chose this as my next book - another "free little library" find. It's more David and Goliath than Robin Hood, and even then, we're talking about young people who had the financial and/or intellectual capital to attend MIT, so they weren't necessarily the little guy either.

Why read this? If you want to...
- Get a taste for what life was like in the 90s before the internet blew up (before the dot com bust),
- See what airplane travel was like just a few years before September 11th (the team members carried cash strapped to their bodies

As the subtitle to this book indicates, this is the story of a group of math wizzes, most associated with MIT, who use the science of probability to win millions at Black Jack. It was an easy read that kept my attention. 3.5 stars

I remember loving reading this a decade ago, and it still holds up. While I am sure the author still took liberties in his writing, the true story of this is far more interesting than the fictionalized whitewashed movie. If you have seen the movie and enjoy this, give this book a chance.

Reads like the movie 21 with Kevin Spacey. Very entertaining and out of my normal genre.

I listened to an audio version and was so engrossed in the story that I finished all but the last CD in one day. It was so interested to read and I am still trying to figure out how they did it. Guess that is why I am not an MIT graduate. This book certainly claims the truth the money can change you. I guess there is also a movie. I plan to watch it soon.

Brilliant book! After seeing the movie - with the famous Monty Hall problem scene - I was utterly triggered to read the original (non-fictional) story. Great storyline in combination with interesting mathematical concepts. Happy to have this one on the shelf.