• 21

  • Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions
  • By: Ben Mezrich
  • Narrated by: Johnny Heller
  • Length: 7 hrs and 51 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (1,040 ratings)

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21  By  cover art

21

By: Ben Mezrich
Narrated by: Johnny Heller
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Publisher's summary

In the midst of the Go-Go '90s, the culture of greed infused the MIT campus. A small blackjack club sprang up, dedicated to counting cards and beating the house at major casinos around the country. The Club grew slowly at first, but by the late 1990s, the right people had come up with the right system to take some of the world's most sophisticated casinos for all they were worth. In less than two years, this ring of card savants earned more than $3 million from corporate Vegas. This is the true story of how they did it.

Bringing Down the House is everyman's dream, certainly every gambler's dream, and gambling is a growth industry on the East and West Coasts.

A cross between Liar's Poker, Ocean's Eleven, and The Cuckoo's Egg, this fast-paced caper features the most unlikely of heroes, a bunch of super-smart MIT geeks. Before the dot.coms kidnapped the mathematical geniuses of MIT, here's what higher education produced from the dark underbelly of the Ivy League, where kids with brains, money, and bright futures were just as likely to be found gambling in a Paradise Island casino as putting in time in the library.

©2002 Ben Mezrich (P)2008 Simon and Schuster, Inc.
  • Unabridged Audiobook

What listeners say about 21

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Killed by Narrator

I have never wrote a review on here before. I am usually happy with all the narrators on the books I get here. This is horrible. I can't believe this guy is drinking and burping out loud on the book. I am considering just giving up and deleting the file.

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23 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Good Book.. HORRIBLE Narrator

The content of this book is very good and interesting. Unfotunately, the narrator does such a horrific job that it makes it almost unlistenable. I will NEVER buy a book if this guy is reading it again!

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16 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

I need to modify my review

Mr. Heller singlehandedly ruins this audiobook by drinking too close to the microphone, burping (don't do voice-overs and drink soda!)

This otherwise five-star book loses stars for this distraction.

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15 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Couldn't stop listening

Despite the bad reviews based on the "poor narration", I went ahead and got this book. There is nothing wrong with the narrator. There were no burps, gurgles, wheezing, or gulping to really notice. Not the best narration I ever heard, but certainly not worth some of the scathing reviews.

I like true crime stories, especially ones where the charater (or perpetrator) is a genuinly likeable guy getting over on the system (think Catch Me if you Can). This book rates right up there and was an exciting read. The movie with the same title does not compare, as it is completly re-written for Hollywood and changes just about everything. The book is MUCH better and details the life of the MIT students who used their brains to beat the system.

The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is because the author switches back and forth from his point of view to the main character's, and proves a bit confusing at times. Other than that, an excellent book.

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12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Might have been good...I'll never find out.

I'll echo the sentiments of the previous reviewer. How could this awful narration passed muster as professional? I mean, really, it is beyond a distraction to hear this poor guy swallow a huge hair ball and wheeze his way past his own tonsils every few paragraphs. It gets to the point where you are waiting for it...just....waiting for it and then you realize - wham! You just missed two minutes of dialogue! I couldn't finish the book. Just awful! If the Audible editors have any integrity that will post this review as is - we'll see..

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Good book ruined by bad narration

You know how you feel when you're first getting a cold? You know, where you can feel that lump of phlegm stuck in your throat, and you find yourself subconsciously swallowing harder and harder to try to get rid of it? I think this narrator was coming down with a cold, because all I could hear was his constant swallowing, gulping, gasping, and wheezing--it's very distracting.

The story is entertaining and for the most part well written, though the author does sometimes lapse into stereotypes and cliches.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Liked the movie, loved the book.

I had wanted to read "Bringing Down the House" before the movie "21" came out, but Audible didn't offer it as an audio book until then. So I saw the movie first. I liked the movie so much, that I immediately downloaded the audio book as soon as I could.

Just like many books made into movies, there are numerous differences between the two, but they are both very enjoyable. However, I preferred the book over the movie just because of how much more detail is provided regarding the card counting techniques and team play. Even though the book lacked the cheesy romance (as played out in the movie), it more than made up for it by being more realistic and believable.

A lot of other reviewers noted the narration was sub-par. While the narrator wasn't the best I've heard, he certainly wasn't the worst. (Although he did sound a little like Casey Kasem.) If you're listening to this in your car, you most likely won't notice the recording flaws. However, they will become apparent when listening to it with headphones.

If you're interested in seeing the movie and reading the book, go see the movie first. I think if I had read the book first, I would have been more disappointed in the movie.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

Not a good bet

This is the book behind the movie of the same name. It was a mediocre movie made from this mediocre book. It was a potentially good story regarding a group of MIT students organized by a prof to beat the casinos at 21. Unfortunately, it spent very little time going into exacty how the system worked - it just provided a superficial overview of the topic. This not only was a missed opportunity to provide an interesting look at statistics, memory techniques, strategy etc., it also missed an opportunity to relay how difficulty a task carrying out the system is. Don't read this book expecting to learn anything about how you actually 'beat the house' or how the casinos actually protect themselves against these ploys. The book did not sell out the ending as bad as the movie, but it just fizzles away at the end.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

A real life thriller

This book was fantastic, well written, exciting, suspenseful, and amazingly enough, simple, straight forward, and truthful.

The format of the book was interesting, divided between a documentary style, and that of a novel, but it ends up working very well.

The story is better than most fiction novels I've read, perhaps the intrigue of it's truth adds some to the suspense, but what an incredible story it is!

I finished this book in record time (which cost me some in my work productivity). I can only offer the highest possible praise for this book. For it's quality of writing, and for it's unbelievable storyline. I can't imagine anyone not being swept away by it.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Extremely compelling

I too have listened to quite a few books over the past few years and I can't think of any book more exciting than this. Despite the corporate image Las Vegas has nowadays, I suspect this description of how the city really functions is probably accurate. When the group is getting caught (you know they had to--otherwise where is the story?) I found myself becoming extremely nervous. This type of reaction doesn't happen too often in listening to non-fiction. Definitely a worthwhile listen, maybe for a long boring car ride.

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4 people found this helpful