First Quarter Book Reveiw

Bringing Down The House by Ben Mezrich. Free Press, 2002. Genre: historical fiction

 

Bringing down the house is a story about six M.I.T. students were brought together by one of their professors to count cards in Vegas. Once they learn how to count they take trips to Vegas on the weekends and make hundreds of thousands of dollars. In Boston they were jus six regular students but in Vegas they could be who ever they wanted to.

 

“ This book made me wants to gamble! Vegas! Vegas!”- Bill Simmons

“ A lively tale that could pass for thriller fiction… Mezrich’s skilled yet easy writing draws sweat to the reader’s brow.”- Rocky Mountain News

 

These six M.I.T. students form a team with a brilliant math professor as the leader of the pack. They go and count cards in a game call Blackjack. The goal in this game is to add up your cards and beat the dealer’s hand and receive double the amount you bet. The point of counting cards is to know what card comes next without it being flipped over yet. This way they knew whether to bet a lot f money or bet the minimum. The casino’s had caught wind of the team and kept a close eye on them. Technically they couldn’t do anything about this because counting cards isn’t illegal but if they caught a counter they would bring them down into the basement and tortured them until they stopped counting at their casino. The writing style of Ben Mezrich is that he writes in suspense and after reading a chapter of the book you have to put it down and replay all the events that occurred in that chapter. His writing is very suspenseful and I read five chapters in a row because they were so jam packed with action and adventure that every chapter leaves off on the most exciting parts of the books.

After reading this book it is similar to a book I read on Texas Hold’em poker. They are both suspenseful because when you are gambling and playing for a lot of money there seems to be more action and more grudge against other players. I feel thought that Ben Mezrich’s book is written more maturely and uses better word choice than the other book uses.

 

“ Kevin a rush of adrenaline. It was the feeling he got when his father approved of something he had done. His father would not have approved of Mickey, an adult who hung around with brilliant kids, turning them into gamblers. Kevin’s father never would have understood. Card counting wasn’t gambling. It was arbitrage”(52).

 

I enjoyed this book because I too am I gambler. I play Texas Hold’em poker with my friends. This is why I enjoyed this book because I have always imagined what it would be like to gamble in Vegas and this gave me a clear picture. Also I enjoyed this book because it is a dream of mine to go to M.I.T. I hope he comes out with another book like this one because I read it in a heartbeat.

Riding the Dirt Bike of Sucess

Objects or priceless moments can be rank on all kinds of different value scales. Personally I don’t value things by cost or how fancy it is. I know other people can value things on how expensive they are or how fancy they are but not me. I couldn't put a price on the feeling i got when i had won the championship game or when i ride my dirt bike and listen to the way the engine gears climb as the speed increases. There is no price for that and you can't find in a store. Today I will share with you items that i value and price is not a factor.

It was just an ordinary fall day. It was windy and nippy out when a black and white tow truck was backing in to the driveway of 6 Sunrise Circle (My Driveway) and on the back was a black Dr-Z 125cc engine Suzuki dirt bike and it was mine. Once I realized that that was mine I almost hit the ceiling when I leaped out of my seat to go check it out. I have been begging my parents for one for ever but they finally came to their senses. I put on my shoes and bolted outside faster than Usain Bolt in the 100 meter dash. After the man came out of the tow truck got all the paperwork done and after all of that boring stuff I sat on the bike and the black leather seat felt a fluffy white cloud in the sky. I decided to start of the beastly 125cc engine. I pulled out the kick start and gave a kick. The engine purred like a tomcat. I value my dirt bike because when the engine is shifted into fifth gear and your traveling so fast everything else is a blur then it is a peaceful environment.

This was my last year playing CYO Basketball for St. Patrick’s Church and my basketball team made it to the championship game. We were playing a team that had lost to us by about two points when we last played them in the regular season. They had a center that was about 6’2” and a guard that could make it rain from downtown. Let’s fast forward to the fourth quarter. There is about 2 minutes left on the clock and we are up by five. As Though last 2 minutes whine down they score a lay to decrease our lead. Then all of a sudden the make another lay up and we are only up by one with a minute left. After them stealing the ball and putting up a third 2 pointer we are down by 1 with 30 seconds left in the championship game. Our coach calls a timeout to think up scheme on how to score and be the champions. After coming up with idea we hustle back on to the court and wait for the clock to start. We pass it in and the crowd is roaring we pass it to our point guard who then takes it down the lane to score a lay up with 10 seconds left and by the time the other team passed the ball in time had expired and we had become the victors of this championship. I value this win because the work and effort we had to put into it made the victory feel that much better.

I value my dirt bike because when I drive it the engine climbing and the speeding increasing it is almost soothing except for the occasional bump here and there.. It is a rush of adrenaline to drive my dirt bike and to be going 50 miles per hour. I value wining my basketball championship because after the whole season to win the championship is the best feeling in the world and the feeling of success is like no other and can't be taken away from you either. I value these items/moments because they mean a lot to me and without experiencing them now i probably never would have. So having lots of money and just buying anything can not compare to something you have truly worked for or something that is like nothing else on the planet.

To Be A Contender...

The Contender, Alfred Brooks
A Child Called It, David Pelzer
Donatelli's Gym in New York

One Day in the state of New York at a small beat up gym called Donatelli’s there was an African-American teenager working out at peanut bag. Around this time the teenager finished his workout and was wiping his face when a little skimpy boy asked him “ Is this Donatelli’s gym?” The Teenager responded, “Yeah. Were you looking to join and workout?” “Yes I was. My name is David Pelzer I heard this is where champions started to box.” “Well you have to become a contender first before you are a champion but anyways my name is Alfred Brooks. Have you ever boxed before?” “Um. No but I would like to start. Could you help me out?” “Sure. I’m always around here just pop in when you want to start and ill show you the ropes around here. First, you need to start running in the morning because the core is key boxing. Is that Ok?” “Yeah I can start doing that. Could I start working out tomorrow?” “Yeah ill meet you here bright and early at 7 a.m.” “Ok. Sounds good,” Replied David anxiously.

“Good morning Alfred. I ran at 5 this morning just like you told me to do” “Good that’s good start as early as you can. Now, the first thing we’re going to try is the big bag. The big bag is to work on your power and to strengthen your arms. Give a couple punches and lets see how ya’ do.” David punched it as hard as he could and it felt like punching a solid brick wall. Alfred starts to chuckle, “Not so easy is it? That’s ok you’ll get it sooner or later.” David thought to himself, “My hand stinks of sweat and leather from punching the bag but that’s what the whole gym smelt like anyways. The gym was always dark because it only had two windows by the front door but there was always a light bulb in the middle of the ring in the gym. You could always see the dust when the light shined through the windows. “This is the peanut bag,” said Alfred interrupting David’s thought, “after practicing you should be able to keep hitting the bag repeatedly to work on your rhythm.” David Watched Alfred hit it. It sounded like a machine gun bouncing off of the wooden board that the little bag was attached to. Alfred stopped punching the bag and said,” And after practicing these two things enough we can get into sparring but you’re nowhere near that so don’t worry about it. Ok, Alfred said exhaling, this is pretty much what you’ll be doing here to work out so if you don’t have any questions for me we can start getting into a rhythm of working out constantly and really start to improve. So... I’ll see you tomorrow.” “Ok. I just have one question?” “Yeah? What is it?” “Were you ever a contender?” “I got close but my coach, Mr. Donatelli, thought I didn’t have the passion of boxing anymore and that I was only going to get hurt out there so I stopped boxing after that and now just workout here.” “Alright well thanks for showing me around I’ll see you tomorrow.” “Alright get home safe.”

“Alright first we start with some push-ups and sit –ups.” So David did as he was told. “Good, good. Now we move on to chin-ups and dips.” David struggled a bit in that workout. “Ok not bad but you’ll improve the more and more you do it. Next we work on strength at the big bag and speed and rhythm at the peanut bag and we just repeat all the workouts again like a rotation. Did you run today?” “Yes,” David said in between punches to the big bag. After one rotation of the workout routine David was sweating more and breathing heavier than he ever had before. After working out for a couple weeks at Donatelli’s David became stronger and stronger as Alfred and David’s friendship grew as well. Soon it would be time for David to start sparring and then he would have his shot to see if he has what it takes to be a contender just like his new best friend Alfred was.