21: Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions, Ben Mezrich

The dis-oriented author is not a gambler. I did however major in mathematics, so I have an interest in numbers. After seeing previews for the movie based on the book, I decided to pick up Ben Mezrich's book, 21: Bringing Down the House. In the book, Mezrich tells the story of a group of MIT math whizzes who form a team to go to Las Vegas and beat the house at Blackjack.

This was a fascinating book.

Card counting. The system is deceptively simple. Keep track of the cards played. Not even the individual cards but their values. When the probabilities stack up against the house, signal another player to come in and start betting. It really is that easy. Except of course that the casinos are monitored 24/7 by video and both uniformed and undercover security.

As the name suggests, this book and the movie by the same name follow a crew of MIT students who take on the casinos and live the high life. All good things come to an end and this adventure is no exception.

I found this book hard to put down, and of course it is better than the movie.

21: Bringing Down the House gets 4 of 5 dis-oriented smileys

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