Dusty Volumes
maggie and milly and molly and may went down to the beach(to play one day)
Straight Flush LP: The True Story of Six College Friends Who Dealt Their Way to a Billion-Dollar Online Poker Empire--and How It All Came Crashing Down...
Mezrich's works of faction are generally a fun read, even if (or, perhaps, largely because) he rarely lets reality get in the way of a good story. This one, however, doesn't really work on either level. There's an obviously great story lurking underneath — or, if you're not really concerned with the facts, potentially two great stories. At some point someone is sure to write the more in-depth corporate-finance-thriller-esque exposé of the company's increasingly complex attempts to evade the US justice system, all-the-while shamelessly cheating their customers. But even though he obviously didn't want to write that book, Mezrich could still have gone for a much more classic tragedy — the David and Goliath tale of entrepreneurs up against not just better funded competitors, but the the entire weight of a broken political system, leading relentlessly to the key moment, where, hubristically believing they're beyond its reach, they take the path that ends in prison. Instead, the author decides to simply skip either of these in favour of an overly-simplistic frat-boy romp, with all the critical moments either omitted or glossed over so as to get back as quickly as possible to the fast cars and topless chicas.
Currently reading
Black Swan Green
The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary
Kiss Kiss
Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth and Happiness
The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work
Lost and Found in Russia: Lives in the Post-Soviet Landscape
Confessions of a Public Speaker
Mis on Vabadus
Shades of Grey
The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements
