Skip to main content
PBS logo
 
 

Search - Double Down : Reflections on Gambling and Loss

Double Down : Reflections on Gambling and Loss
Double Down Reflections on Gambling and Loss
Author: Frederick Barthelme, Steven Barthelme
"So each night begins. One of us picks up the other and we drive into the Mississippi darkness, headed for a place where everything is different." This first nonfiction book by Frederick Barthelme, author of BOB THE GAMBLER, and his brother and colleague Steven is both a story of family feeling and a testimony to the risky allure of casinos. Wit...  more »
ISBN-13: 9780395954294
ISBN-10: 0395954290
Publication Date: 11/22/1999
Pages: 224
Rating:
  ?

0 stars, based on 0 rating
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Book Type: Hardcover
Other Versions: Paperback
Members Wishing: 0
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review

Top Member Book Reviews

reviewed Double Down : Reflections on Gambling and Loss on + 63 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Double Down is the true story of 2 brothers who inherited a great deal of money from a father they loathed. At times I felt the author was attempting to come to terms with his actions at the readers expense, as if he was "thinking out loud".

Both professers, the men began driving to the casino's occasionally for fun. Unfortunately, their times of fun slowly began turning into a full fledged addiction. The typical cycle of winning, winning, then loosing big, then trying to win back what you lost became an obsession with both men, who eventually became suspects in cheating, and lost the entire inheritance their father had left them. The relationship with their father, which was not good was mentioned throughout the book.

The book does touch on the inner workings of the casino, how they will offer luxury rooms to "high rollers," and the way staff will treat you with a sense of admiration - all ways to get you to come back. But, when the money runs out, the 5 star treatment suddenly stops.


A good read for anyone in the grip of gambling, or interested in addiction.
Read All 1 Book Reviews of "Double Down Reflections on Gambling and Loss"


Genres: