The Quotable Gambler [Hardcover]

Paul Blumenau Lyons (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1558219498 | ISBN-13: 978-1558219496 | Publication Date: October 1, 1999 | Edition: 1st

Covered here are gaming's superstition and luck, players and places, and every game, from the lowliest back-alley crap shoot to the highest-stakes poker contest.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Marvelous compendium of quotes from Plato and Mark Twain to Minnesota Fats, Nick the Greek and even Groucho Marx." --Billiards Digest

From the Back Cover

From Casablanca to The Hustler, from Moby Dick to How I Made $1,000,000 Playing Poker, The Quotable Gambler covers gaming's universality and history, superstition and luck, players and places, and every game - from the lowliest backalley crapshoot to the highest-stakes poker contest. The insights of such luminaries as Plato and Mark Twain can be found right alongside the hardscrabble advice offered by the likes of Minnesota Fats, Nick the Greek, and Amarillo Slim - as well as wisdom, humor, pith, and advice from: Woody Allen, Ingmar Bergman, Fyodor Dostoevsky, George Eliot, Sigmund Freud, David Halbertstam, Stephen Hawking, Ernest Hemingway, Shirley Jackson, James Joyce, Michael Ondaatje, Henry David Thoreau, Oscar Wilde, and many more.This entertaining and enlightening collection of over seven hundred quotes will appeal to everyone who's ever picked up a cue, cards, or dice, and to anyone who has ever taken a risk. (5 7/8 X 6 7/8, 340 pages)

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: The Lyons Press; 1st edition (October 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1558219498
• ISBN-13: 978-1558219496
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,676,324 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is a delight, far exceeding one's expectations!, November 2, 1999

By 

"ayoshida" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Quotable Gambler (Hardcover)

The quotes, including Einstein, Shakespeare, and Woody Allen are abundantly witty, with hopeful speculation mingling with multiple sarcasm. Loved it, and fully recommend it for all levels of gambling enthusiasts. Lyons did an excellent job of editing this book, and amazingly managed to transcend the trap of the quotation book genre.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Widened my perceptions of the philosophy of gambling., November 6, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Quotable Gambler (Hardcover)

I've always loved gambling, whether in a friendly poker game or I'll place a trifecta during lunch so after work I can see if I hit--there's a thrill in not knowing, having the possibility--I mean, maybe you won ten grand and you don't know it. I never thought much about that thrill, but when I saw this book on the shelf in Barnes & Noble and flipped it open I came across all these passages with people's insights on why and how people gamble. I never really thought of gambling in connection to belief or religion, but this book shows how gambling goes way back into the history of many cultures and how it appeals to that contest between human beings and their destinies. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to understand gambling better.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Take this book to Las Vegas along with "Das Kapital", May 7, 2000

By 

Rob Wilson - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Quotable Gambler (Hardcover)

This book contains a lot of wit and wisdom gathered from a vast array of sources. Gambling pervades the economy of the American masculine soul, so we need to study it as art and as disease, and this book is a wonderful resources in that regard. Like the man said in the pool hall, take this book to Las Vegas along with "Das Kapital" and your lucky mojo charm.