Busting Vegas April 8th, 2008 @ 7:46 am PDT
This weekend I finished reading Busting Vegas by Ben Mezrich, the same guy that wrote Bringing Down the House. It’s pretty much the same story: M.I.T. math geeks take on the gambling industry. David and Goliath, etc. It’s a good, quick read. I’d definitely grab Bringing Down the House first, though. It was much more […]
When the Mob Ran Vegas March 25th, 2008 @ 6:32 am PDT
Last night I finished reading When the Mob Ran Vegas, a great book that I grabbed at the McCarran Airport on my last trip to Sin City. At times the book suffers from some pretty poor grammar and editing, but the stories are so fascinating that you can forgive the author’s quirky, personal style. Plus, […]
The Blind Side February 19th, 2008 @ 7:10 am PDT
My friend Andy loaned me the latest Michael Lewis book, The Blind Side, last week. (I seem to remember reading an excerpt from it in Sports Illustrated earlier this year.) It’s a great look at the high school / college football recruiting process in the SEC. The author does an excellent job of jumping between […]
Lately in Los Angeles August 1st, 2007 @ 7:51 am PDT
Last night Tricia and I went to see Tamar at the Hotel Cafe in Hollywood. She played a great set and we had a good time. We didn’t get home until after 11, and I couldn’t get to sleep. I was up until 1:30am reading Dark Tide: The Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919. What […]
Weekend Media Review June 11th, 2007 @ 7:33 pm PDT
Are you wondering what media I consumed this weekend? I knew you were. And so I shall tell you. Heat **** Sopranos ***** Oh the Glory of It All, by Sean Wilsey ****½ Oceans 13 ***½ John from Cincinnati ***½ A Prairie Home Companion, featuring Martin Sheen, Randy Newman, and Paula Poundstone (live at The […]
Simon Winchester May 29th, 2007 @ 6:53 am PDT
It’s hard to believe that it’s been over a year since I read Krakatoa — The Day the World Exploded: August 27, 1883, by Simon Winchester. Because I loved that book so much, at some point around Christmas I bought A Crack in the Edge of the World: America and the Great California Earthquake of […]
Maps May 17th, 2007 @ 7:52 am PDT
Somehow I managed to forget to write about this wonderful book. I read Miles Harvey‘s The Island of Lost Maps: A True Story of Cartographic Crime over a year ago and it is brilliant. I’ve been thinking about it lately because of the awesome song “Maps” by the Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs. You see, I have […]
Fortune’s Formula April 2nd, 2007 @ 5:47 am PDT
I am not even 100 pages into my latest William Poundstone book and I already know it’s going to be a favorite. Fortune’s Formula, The Untold Story of the Scientific Betting System That Beat the Casinos and Wall Street is the fourth Poundstone book I’ve read. The man is a genius of a writer. Labyrinths […]
Peyton Manning on Saturday Night Live March 25th, 2007 @ 8:02 pm PDT
Last night’s Saturday Night Live with Peyton Manning and Carrie Underwood was excellent. I am so happy that the show is in something of a revival right now. It’s a long-overdue, glorious return to funny. The last dozen or so SNLs have had me in stitches on more than one occasion. The digital shorts and […]
Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America March 25th, 2007 @ 8:00 pm PDT
Late Friday night I finished reading Barbara Ehrenreich‘s Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America. This one’s been in my personal queue for several years; I sort of randomly found it on the shelf while looking for something to read on the plane to New York last week. It’s a psuedo-scientific exploration of […]
