Review of The Quotable Gambler

Title:

The Quotable Gambler

Author:

Paul Lyons

Publisher:

The Lyons Press

Date:

1999

ISBN:

1-55821-949-8

Pages:

326

Price:

$20.00

Reviewed by Nick Christenson, npc@lvrevealed.com

January 24, 2002

Some of most pithy remarks I've ever heard have had their origins in gambling. Not only is the gambling literature replete with wry observations relating games of chance to the ups and downs of life itself, but even the non-gambling press often seems to go out of its way to quote some of the betting world's most colorful characters. The Quotable Gambler is a collection of many of the most well-known sayings on every topic relating to games of chance.

The book is divided into several chapters, but this serves more to break up the text than it does to provide any real categorization of the quotations. Chapter titles cover the topics of luck, superstition, winning, losing, gambling characters, casinos, and more. Obviously, many of the most memorable lines about gambling itself can fall into more than one of these categories.

Many of literature's greatest writers are represented in these pages. Gambling writers such as Mike Caro, Anthony Holden, Ed Thorpe, and Al Alvarez appear side-by-side with mainstream writing giants like Mark Twain, Thomas Wolfe, and Mario Puzo. Gamblers themselves are represented, including such famous personalities as Amarillo Slim Preston, Minnesota Fats, Nick "The Greek" Dandalos, and Titanic Thompson. Even the classics are represented in this book, the words of Julius Caesar, Miguel de Cervantes, Blaise Pascal, and, of course, William Shakespeare are all recounted. Of course, some luminaries are quoted more than others. It would hardly be surprising to any student of gambling literature that Fyodor Dostoevsky, Walter Tevis, and Damon Runyon have been quoted early and often.

A list of the sources of these quotes is included as part of the index, which is awfully handy, but I can't help but feel a little disappointed that some of the most well-known and widely regarded quotes about gambling haven't been included. Further, the list of works from which the quotes have been gathered is shorter than I would have hoped, although I don't expect that the total resources that have been contributed to, say, Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, to be brought to bear on this book, but there are some striking omissions. On a similar vein, many of the quotations just aren't that notable. Does Tolstoy's line, "Don't swim beyond your depth, though" from War and Peace really need to be included?

The Quotable Gambler won't be able to serve as much of a reference book for those trying to figure out who said what about gambling. It's intended to be light entertainment for those with an interest in gambling, and it often succeeds. However, I can't help but feel a little disappointed in the book's overall contents. As a whole, the quotes just didn't move me, and this is coming from someone that is frequently moved by good writing about gambling and gambling related topics. I'd advise a prospective reader to go to a bookstore, open a copy to a random page in the middle of the book, and read the six or eight quotes listed on the two facing pages. If an entire book like those two pages seems interesting, then buy it, otherwise have no regrets after putting it back on the shelf.

Capsule:

The Quotable Gambler is a book intended for some light entertainment, it is not a reference work. A lot of great quotes from excellent sources are contained in this book, but some of them left me flat, and several important quotes and sources weren't included. The book can probably fairly be judged from reading a small sample of its contents. Some gambling enthusiasts will enjoy this book, some won't.

Note: I received a free review copy of this book from the publisher. I have no other interest, financial or otherwise, in the success of this book.