Nevada Books

My book jacket summary for this book would be "an American Angela's Ashes, only better!" This book is great. Gregory Martin does a fantastic job at pulling you into the middle of this miniscule town in Nevada. I grew up in New York and now live in Los Angeles, but every time I drive through the deserts of Nevada or Arizona I think of this book.

When I read about the History of America, two aspects come to mind. And that is that America is made up of many different groups and many small towns. While the USA is perhaps more ethnically diverse then ever, small towns like Mountain City are disappearing from the landscape. I fear that one day we will all be living in cities, and then America will have lost something. Gregory Martin writes of his immigrant community with great affection and feeling. Many of the characters in his book are individuals who had lived in Mountain City when it was a relatively thriving town, and refused to leave when the town declined after the mines played out. It was somewhat chilling to imagine that in our lifetimes Mountain City may well cease to exist. The fact that I would be concerned about this is a testement to Martin's writing.

I was very touched by the story of the people in Mountain City. I enjoy books about real people, whom from the outside seem as if there is no story but from the inside have warmth and wisdom. How many towns have you driven through and thought ," who lives here, what do they do?" Well now we know. Greg Martin wrote an excellent book and it should be must reading for all people interested in the real heartland of this country.

I was fortunate to hear Greg Martin give a reading from this book. Reading this book from end to end I heard the echo of his voice, the caring for his family, the strong feeling of place and anchoring he gets from Mountain City. Driving by, I have often wondered what it must be like to live in some of the small, lonely, almost-empty towns that aren't too hard to find in the West. I wonder where the people came from-and went to, and what happened, and this book gives me a glimpse into one such place. The smallness and sparseness aside, there's more history and depth than I would have thought driving by it. I'll look more carefully at other small places now.

Thomas McGuane says that "...all literature is about loss, or the recognition of loss..." and Gregory Martin's debute memoir certainly shows this to be true.

In Mountain City, Martin writes poignantly about a small town and a huge loss, about a place in rural northeastern Nevada, its people and their way of life--all leaning toward extinction. "Thirty-three people live in Mountain City," he says. "I come and go, but when I'm here that makes thirty-four." The community of ranchers, Native Americans, widows, and Martin's relatives, who are descendants of the original Basque settlers of the area, is already mostly abandoned to the past. There are no young families; one one, in fact, under forty.

"I sweep the floors," Martin writes, providing us with his intimate perspective as he helps out at his Uncle Mel's store. Martin is always in the background, always observing. He lets us see the salient details, without judgment, without pity. From the hub of Tremewan's general store, an anachronism not unlike the town itself, he shows us the slow erosion: a circle of widows who won't allow any other woman to join them until her husband is dead; a grandfather who no longer recognizes life-long friends due to his failing eyesight; an Owyhee Indian who lives from one government check to the next and on many bottles of wine in between.

By the end of the book there are two fewer people in Mountain City. But by then, we've come to see all of them as survivors. We admire them for their fierce tenacity, and we appreciate that Martin has shared their spirit with us.

This is an amazing story, with details little known even in Nevada.
The writing could be better, but it's still worth reading.

Great book on a little known robbery spree in La Vegas in the 90's. The book is very good at setting up the character's backrounds and life stories.

This book moves from cover to cover, with an unexpected twist at the end. I understand the movie rights have been sold, but no way will this story fit into a two hour movie. It's a mini series.

What a story...one of my top picks from the non-fiction genre. Action, adventure, brutality, justice. Amazing story.

The cover blurb got me to buy this book; it led me to think I was going to read some sort of real life "Ocean's 11." But it's not. The author recounts a series of what amount to snatch-and-grab armored car heists as well as a botched cashier's cage robbery at the Bellagio. The robberies are not very interesting, and the characters aren't very interesting either. There's too much luck, incompetence and happenstance in the events, all of which diffuse any drama. Added to that is the fact the author can't decide in which tense to write the book -- he jumps from present tense to past tense, in a rather disorganized way, while providing lots of extraneous detail. This would have been much better as a 40 or 50 page section of an anthology crime book, but at this length, it's bloated. If the subject interests you, check it out of the library...it's certainly not good enough to warrant a place on your bookshelf.

I just got back from my first trip to vegas and this book guided me every step of the way. From the best place to stay or eat to the top strip clubs and bars it covers it all in a very unique set up compared to all other travel guides. I wanna keep it simple so if your a guy who is going to vegas to for a "guys weekend" this book will greatly improve you trip!

Overall the book was ok. Honestly I was expecting a bit more from a so called "Vegas Insider". It did have a few helpful tips, and the rating systems for the hotels and Gentleman's Clubs were helpful in selecting where to stay and what to do. I would not pay more than $10 for it again, and it should be updated yearly, if for no other reason than things change so often in Vegas.

Hiram Norman and Dave DeMontmollin you wrote a great book.

This book is a must for a guy's weekend in Vegas. Plan your weekend in order that you make the most out of your stay in Vegas.

These guys tell you where to stay, where to go, how to meet & have a great time in Vegas.

Very insightful, very funny, very informative.

If you are a guy, and are a guy who is only in Vegas for one thing, women, you will enjoy this book. Whether you are a bachelor, a soon-to-be-married gentleman, or a "Night at the Roxbury" woman hound, you will do just fine with this, as it is just what you need. I do mean, need.
I can think of a guy I used to work with who considers himself "all that" and would go to Vegas JUST for the ladies and the clubs. I, on the other hand, enjoy ALL facets of the city.
While I love to read anything informative, this book teaches you things such as how to manage your money. Uh, watch the Travel Channel's shows on Vegas. It teaches you how to gamble. Again, refer to the TC or play in those online rooms. Those are both free. Finally, the book actually teaches someone, or tries to do this, how to eat a steak and how to enjoy a buffet. So, I guess this is a book notorious for the obvious. Or, maybe the ideal clientel has never experienced many elements of life.
I know I say this as someone who has lived just south of Vegas for a year, and I have visited both Laughlin and Vegas many times, but I am sorry. This book is worth nothing more than a read at B'n'N or Borders. And trust me, you won't need more than an hour, as a quick skim is all that is needed.

My one positive note, though, is that, even though I laughed at both the topics in this book and at those who probably think this literature really is the answer to finding a great time in this city, the information about hotels is truly useful. I was indeed happy that I read that section because I followed DeMontmollin's advice and chose a room at the Flamingo. Upon arriving at my hotel, I quickly understood his advice that this hotel was for the cultured and not for the "clubber," I was pleasantly surprised. This book offers a nice explanation of each "type" of hotel, as does it succeed in locating where you want to go with what you will need to expect to travel (walk or cab) to get there.

With a "3," I offer a mixed review. Very good at times, unforgetable at others. If you find this book for cheap on Amazon, less than three dollar, it will be worth the read. Otherwise, just use the three dollars in gas and drive to one of the main bookstores. Bring a notebook, and set aside one hour to jot down key ideas. Heck, just place what you want (phone numbers, ket notes) in your cell. Then, when you get to Vegas, you won't have to worry about looking like a tourist or an obvious dud. Yes, dud.

-JM

While this book definately isn't for families it can be applied to travelers other than just men. I just bought this book (I'm a 32 year old married woman)and found some great advice that can apply to anyone that is looking to let loose and have some fun.

I am soon traveling to Vegas with my husband and two girlfriends. The information on the bars and clubs was extremely helpful. We also plan to hit a strip club while there and this book helped us decide. While I've been to several local strip clubs, I have never been to one in a big city and it outlines some of the basics that are different than what I'm used to.

I have been to Vegas 4 other times in the past couple years, but this will be my first trip that is completely social. This will be an exceptional tool to have.

Headlock's main character, Dess Rose, is a loser; Gary Rose, his cousin, is also a loser. Adam Berlin writes about 2 losers in a world of gambling and fighting and manages in this exceptional debut novel to make us care.
He makes us bond with the main characters and wonder why they have chosen to let go when they could have done it right. He makes us turn page after page in a 3 day-trip across country to Vegas and to a point of no return. He makes us root for the losers as they gamble until their eyes are sore, counting cards to perfection without reaching their goal.
Berlin knows how to make readers care: he skillfully gets them in his main character head, unveiling his childhood, his successes and struggles. He describes his relationship to his cousin, brother and family with reality and brilliance. The scene of the grilled cheese sandwich is exceptionally full of normality and childish drollery in which Dess and his brother are presented as 2 kids with same future and potential. But Dess got kicked out of the wrestling team and lost his college scholarship when his brother is an A student at Harvard. Gary and Dess are obsessed with being a failure to their family and while Gary is resolved to his disownment, Dess continues to be dazed about his fate, about being a failure to his wrestling hero, his grandfather, only to learn that his hero was a failure himself. Then only does he totally let go.

Berlin is a master of portraying real characters that will, by the end of the book, feel like family to you. It does not mater if the characters wrestle, gamble, binge or fall in love with a beautiful waitress, you will follow them to the depth of their story just for the beauty of Berlin's words.

Also check out Berlin's second book, 'Belmondo Style', in which Berlin continues his brilliant journey as an author.

Adam Berlin's debut novel has impressed me. His main character, Odessa Rose, cannot be stereotyped. He is a complex character with a violent temper and a middle class background. He is a rebel, but he doesn't really understand himself or what he is rebelling against. This book made me think both of Richard Wright's Native Son and John Irving's A Prayer for Owen Meany because of Dess's primal violence and it's apparent fulfillment and redemptive purpose. Adam Berlin is in good company.

I found this book linked on a wrestling site, and was interested in it for that reason. As a former college wrestler, it's an area of interest. What I found was a Kerouacian-derived work with some very good writing, but lacking in the poetic descriptions of wrestling I've found in other works like "The wrestler's Cruel Study" - a wonderful piece on a sad hero of pro wrestling, and "PINS" perhaps the only poetic and wonderful novel about high school wrestling that isn't kid stuff.

I wonder how much experience the author has with amateur wrestling. The level of violence in that sport is so small by comparison to other sports, it seems that he was really writing about a boxer. Having experienced the rage he describes, it's believable, and I sympathized with his character's having the superiority of never having to worry about losing a fight, due to his wrestling skills. But intentionally banging up guys, and describing it with savor, got to be too much. The descriptions and macho writing kept making me think Denis Leary should do the audio version.

The "road trip" is a very worn format, but Mr. Berlin gives it some life, with perhaps unintentional Vegas nods to Hunter Thompson's "Fear and Loathing." I just wonder how someone can write so much and so well, and still not fathom the soul of his characters. A lot of similar fiction seems to take on an almost sociopathic tone; no motivation, but well-described action. Comparisons to "Fight Club" with no subtext, irony or wit are apt. With a degree in criminology, no doubt Mr. Berlin will find more oddballs to write about.

One of the best debut works I've encountered since Thomas Harris' Black Sunday. In Headlock, Berlin confronts the human condition head-on through the realistic depiction of the hungers, needs and various foibles of his two protagonists, Dess and Gary. He skillfully exposes our deep collective need for 'connection', whether through family, relationships (however flawed), money or gluttony. Berlin's first novel is a fun and fulfilling romp across the internal and external terrain of our Nation. I highly recommend this great work of fiction.

I guess I'm in the minority when I say I really didn't care for this book at all. I took me almost a month to get through it. I just didn't care what happened to Gary and Odessa. I managed to guess the the ending about ten minutes into it. When that happens, it's tough to remain too interested. It seems like every chapter is a re-hash of the last: Gary eats, Odessa beats someone up, Gary eats more, they both go gambling. These characters are paper thin: We never know why Gary is the way he is. We never know why Odessa is the way he is. Also, the author uses the classic, "instant true love" device as well in an attempt to vary the pattern here. It doesn't work. The whole time I sat there dumbfounded, actually laughing out loud when he meets the waitress, then all of a day later they're all set to spend the rest of their lives together. It's insulting. Mr. Berlin seems to have read "Fight Club" one too many times, because this book totally copies it. It tries to be the same type of biting social commentary (man acts out frustrations with society through violence), only it doesn't sell. Do I really care that some 22 year old kid has a beef with society? No. Unlike Tyler Durden, who's violence is more directed towards himself and actually has a purpose, Odessa Rose just pounds away on people, with no motivation. Not once did I know, or even care for that matter, why Odessa went into his berserker rages and beat people. He just did. This is pretentious writing at it's worst.

Save the money and the time, folks.

You know, it's not too late in the year to call this a great book to take to the beach. It truly is. I have several friends who have this book now, and they kept telling me to read it. So, if they wanted me to read it so bad, why didn't they loan me THEIR copies? They said they wanted to read it again. I can see why, now, and I'm certainly not going to loan MY copy out to anyone, either! I have yet to see what the naysayer here saw. I was raised in the "business" in the 50s. The eclectic mix of the 50s movie scene and the book's 90s readability was spot-on for me. I think anyone who doesn't give this book a chance is going to be sad later that they missed such a good read. I did some checking. This author has more books coming out before the end of the year. I'll be looking for them, and this time, I'm going to be the one buying the books and telling everyone else to get their own copies!

One of the things I've found since I first bought this book is that you are tempted to pick it up and read it again and again. It's just as refreshing a second, third and fourth time. I've bought it for Christmas presents this year for new friends--and even for high school and college kids who are looking for something light and positive to read. Everyone I know who has read it say that they've learned something new and different about the 1950s and that it's nice to be able to read a beautiful love story that doesn't reek of sexual innuendo or downright graphic details. Rumor has it that the author is considering a series based on Jack and Margo. I think that's terrific, and I encourage him to do that.

Ok, maybe I'm not the market for this book or maybe I was turned off by the very obvious "romance author" pseudonym, but the book didnt' live up to the reviews I read on-line. I had a hard time with the 50s movies images along with the 1990s anachronisms. And I guessed the ending well in advance.

I loved this! From the start, the witty dialogue between Jack and Margo had me smiling, if not laughing out loud. The story was inventive and original, and the view of 1950's Hollywood seemed dead on. I loved Sidney, the wisecracking Hollywood agent, and Gussie deserves a book of her own!

I'd love to see a movie of this, and please, please Grant Devereaux, tell me there is going to be a sequel!

After a long wait, my copy finally arrived! It was well worth the wait. I devoured the story in just one night. I sat with my bag of chips and laughed and sighed. The only thing that could have made it more perfect was if Jack was there with me. Actually, he was, wasn't he? The tension between he and Margo was great. Their characters were well defined and real. And the supporting characters almost stole their thunder! Good luck Grant on your next book. I'll be watching for it.

HE'S A GREAT PLAYER AND A GREAT WRITER! HE'S TRULY A WORLD CLASS PLAYER. A GREAT BOOK TO READ AND TO OWN!

Ian Andersen is an entertaining writer as well as a longtime high-stakes professional blackjack player. With his latest offering, "Burning the Tables in Las Vegas," Andersen has attempted to update his classic from the '70s, "Turning the Tables on Las Vegas," and make it relevant to today's game. The results are mixed. "Burning" is a good read for sure, with many fascinating vignettes about life in the high-roller fast lane, as well as quite a bit of useful information for pros on how to survive and prosper in an age of high-tech casino surveillance. But, all that aside, it still left me wanting. Andersen may write about blackjack with the entertaining talent of, say, a Bryce Carlson, but he lacks the solid mathematical knowledge of a Carlson, or a Wong, or a Schlesinger to back it up. For example, with his so-called "Ultimate Gambit," he is all too happy in the name of camouflage to reduce his edge to not much more than half a percent, and then throw even more ev out the window with fairly large bets at craps and other negative-expectation games. His whole approach smacks of a certain lack of appreciation for the harsh realities of variance and standard deviation. Don't get me wrong, "Burning" is a very good book, and I think serious bj players will find it enjoyable and useful, but in the real world of professional play--high stakes or otherwise--it laces in a little too much fantasy with the facts to rate five stars.

What's new in this second edition of Burning the Tables in Las Vegas? Mostly Chapter 9 on Green Chip Play. If you have a copy already, it's probably not worth it to buy the new edition, but you might want to borrow a copy to read this short new chapter on low-roller betting. In a nutshell, Andersen tells you how to win with $25-$50 bets, but don't expect to make a living at it.

Andersen spends about half the book talking about the mechanics of blackjack, and only the first few pages cover the basics. The rest is strategy and tactics, and he brings Stanford Wong along to add his expertise. The other half of the book covers topics that are not specific to blackjack, but are just as important: history, psychology, money management, risk management, health, demeanor. It is difficult to say exactly how much of a professional gambler's success is due to playing well and how much is due to people skills, being alert, reading a room, and staying healthy.

This is an up-to-date book that takes into account the way casinos operate today, not twenty years ago. Andersen adds a lot of what should be common sense to the nuts and bolts of playing winning blackjack. You probably don't need someone to tell you not to piss off the dealer (or even shoot them a disgusted look when you're losing), but it doesn't hurt to be reminded. Especially by a proven winner.

I am new to card counting and after reading this book - I feel like I have a whole new perspective on playing blackjack as a business. There is so much good information here. I would recommend this book a a must-read for anyone interested in counting as a business or just for fun!!

There are simply no other players quite as experienced as Ian Andersen. Even if you are not interested in counting cards, his experiences make for great stories and wonderful anecdotes. If you are serious about card-counting, then this book will pay for itself with the Ultimate Gambit. This book is perfect for your first trip to a casino as well as the experienced card-counter.

I'll make this short and sweet. I really liked this book. My mother and I go to Vegas at least once a year, and there are so many changes each year that I began to wonder what happened to the good old days. Well they're right here. Mike Weatherford brings the 50's and 60's to life like never before. He tells the story of the comedy club beginnings, singers who might have never made it if it weren't for the lounges, movies filmed in Vegas and show girls from a bygone era. And yes of course there's the Rat Pack and Elvis (who by the way bombed on his first try in Vegas). I'm too young to have expierenced this side of Las Vegas myself, but I asked my mother about it and she recalled some more stories and loved the fact that this book is out. It's important to know where we've been to know where we're going. But it's books like this that will be the only memory of Vegas we have. Today's Vegas will be gone in a blink of the eye, just like yesturday's Vegas and Mr. Weahterford will be pinning another book about Cult Vegas in the 1990's. If you love the retro era, entertainment, and history about such fab, weird, wild places like Vegas, don't pass this one up.

"Cult `Vegas" is not a history of Las Vegas per se, rather a history of casino entertainment from the rise of the Strip and Fremont Street in the 1950s up to the "family destination" of the early 21st Century. From the earliest days of legalized gambling, entertainment of one sort or another was key to get gamblers in the establishment. Later, the Rat Pack stimulated the aura of a "cool swingin'" Las Vegas. As Mr. Weatherford points out this was probably a reputation that the city held on to way too long. The rise and decline of the Lounge Singer, showgirls, Elvis and the Rat Pack are described with a clearly nostalgic eye. But the author doesn't hesitate to show the faded polyester leisure suit image of Las Vegas during the locust years of the mid 70's. He points out that holding on to the schlocky comics, and warmed over crooners moved the entertainment of Las Vegas away from the tourists with the most disposable income: singles and couples. Films about Las Vegas are also part of the "Cult" and those with the city as subject or backdrop are listed and critiqued. The book itself is quirky, with lots of sidebars and anecdotes but this fits the overall tone of the prose. This is a great anecdotal history of postwar casino entertainment, that would make a great souvenir or as another reviewer wisely suggested, cool reference material for your next trip (whether you're a local or a tourist). If you're at all interested in Las Vegas-get this.

This book is not as interesting as one would hope. While it does provide an interesting look at Las Vegas, most of it is Entertainment related. Specifically: movies filled there, musicians who have played there, showgirls and celebrities who live and work there.

As a professional tour director I'm always on the lookout for good reference material that I can share with my vacationers. For a 4 day tour titled, Hidden Las Vegas, I brought along this book to add some color to my commentaries.

Here's a fun book that looks at Las Vegas from an entertainment point-of-view. It is packed with stories about Sinatra and the big name acts, Louie Prima and the lounge acts, the comedians such as Don Rickles (who's show I appeared in!), Buddy Hackett, Shecky Greene, Totie Fields, and Red Foxx, Elvis, Liberace, Diamonds Are Forever and other movies shot in Las Vegas.

I think that the strongest part of the book is about the Rat Pack Era (Joey Bishop, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., and Peter Lawford) and its fans (JFK, Marilyn Monroe, Angie Dickinson, Sam Gianciana). There's a great new show in Vegas called "The Rat Pack is Back" and this book's stories help make the show more real.

Is this a great book? Probably, not.

But it's got some interesting stuff in it and it's well laid out.

What a swelligant book! The detail and the insight from Weatherford are well worth the price. Any hipster who understands how much Frank Sinatra and Las Vegas mirror what American society really pines for should read it well, know it well and take note to preserve and protect all that is Cult Vegas. My only complaint is that I'd like to see a Volume II. Las Vegas is a misunderstood town, but not in Weatherford's hands as an author who plies his trade well. Las Vegas matters to America and Weatherford explains why.

I've read all Nevada Barr's books not so much for their stories/plots but because I love Ms. Barr's, and her protagonist Anna Pigeon's, attitudes and views on life. I first took it out of the library, read it twice, and then decided I wanted my own copy so I could reread it whenever I wanted.

For me, this book is about Ms. Barr's journey to reconcile and integrate spirituality, without becoming a religious fanatic, with her down-to-earth psyche and firm footing in physical reality. This is something I've been working on for most of my life, and I'm astonished how similar my thoughts have been to Ms. Barr's. The thought paths she takes you through in this book, and the clarity of her conclusions, helped me focus on who I am and how to make the best of my time here. I am so glad I found this book.

Having read all of Nevada's novels, I didn't expect to be surprised by her spiritual journey, but I was. It was interesting to find out how much of Anna Pidgeon's personality and personal history was based on Nevada's own and how much was very different. Her insights are very real, down to earth and unlike most spiritual guides. I didn't always agree, but she made me examine some assumptions from a new viewpoint.

This book touches deeply and lovingly on many of today's spiritual issues. I bought copies of this book for all the people in my life that I care about.

I found Nevada's book to be honest, well written, with a subtle sense of humor so needed in works dealing with religion and enlightenment. One of my favorite lines: "... I would occasionally run across someone who seemed to truly know God, and I realized that religion, like a bad toupee or a face-lift gone sour, is only obvious when it's done badly." This book did not do well commercially because honest well-written books dealing with things that really matter don't sell. But this book is very good, very important. It helped me on my return journey to God.

In this collection of short essays, Ms. Barr shares her spiritual experiences which are sometimes witty and sometimes thought-provoking. Some of the stories may even inspire readers to do some soul searching of their own, as they relate to some of the deeper issues Ms. Barr shares. These issues include social conciousness and responsibility to the global community; the importance of keeping commitments to others as well as to oneself; and striving to be a good person, not only for the hope of redemption of one's soul in the hereafter, but for the benefits received during one's lifetime.

Ms. Barr shares some unusual thoughts regarding spirituality that other seekers might also find enlightening. Those readers who are already on a well-defined spiritual path may not agree with some or many of the ideas Ms Barr presents, but reading this book is still a good opportunity to explore the musings of a fellow traveler on the spiritual journey of life.

Mathew O'Brien is a man of his time, but more than that he is an explorer of his generation and an excellent writer. I have enjoyed this book immensely, and learned from it. In the book, he explores the tunnels and storm drains, which like giant endless catacombs wind their dark dangerous web under Las Vegas. He interviews and befriends those people who make these tunnels their home, wile looking at those who live the seeming life of luxury in the hotels, casinos and wonderful restaurants above.
In this contrast of lifestyles, between those who live in the dark dangerous world of the tunnels and storm drains and those who live in the opulence of luxury above: I was startled to find that the ones living in the darkness have hope, while those above have none.

This is an important book when considering our American way of life, our problems and our future. I think that, by inference one can feel the dissolution of what used to be our great middle class. Where has it gone? Mathew O'Brien will probably write a book about that subject. I'm looking forward to reading it.

I lived in Las Vegas for the past 4 years and heard the author talking about it on the news out there. I bought it for my 24 year old son who just loved visiting me in Las Vegas but I decided to read it myself first. It is just amazing to me what goes on under the very streets I worked, played and lived on.

The book is a quick read and will open your eyes to how much is going on that is unnoticed around us. I bought this book to read on the plane to Vegas and it sure gave you a different perspective to what was going on below your feet. You will look at the overpasses, casinos and landscape in a different light.

It was sad to read the stirring stories of the results of compulsive addictive behaviors like alcoholism, drug abuse and gambling. All in all it was a nice dip in a world that most ignore but pass by every day of their life.

Rob

Las Vegas, arguably the entertainment capitol of the world, has an alternate newspaper, akin to NYC's The Village Voice and Boston's The Phoenix. It's called Las Vegas CityLife, and it's writer/editor is a man named Matthew O'Brien, and he is unquestionably an author to watch--or, rather--an author to read. And enjoy. His writing is akin to George Orwell, filtered without fear and loathing through Hunter Thompson, no mean praise for no mean piece of work. His topic is the storm drains under the streets of Las Vegas, a desert town subjected to sudden violent rain storms that, without the drains, would cause extensive flooding. These drains are also a refuge for the homeless, a cool place in a hot desert land to live out a life, to try to get back onto the hectic track, or just give up. And Las Vegas, land of glitz and gambling, showgirls, celebrities, lights and lots of action, has as darker side as any modern city. The juxtaposition between the rich and the poor, the haves and have-nots, the privileged and the penalized, has always been fodder for writers, but O'Brien's notes from the Vegas underground have a resonance, beauty and humanity seldom felt as strongly, or described and illustrated so well. These drains, like the catacombs of ancient Rome, have stories that will make you smile and break your heart. Odds are you'll agree.

Writing a book about tunnels under a city can almost always spark interest in readers. There are so many tunnels, and so many cities that have them - an astonishing number, in nearly every country of the world. However, most anything written about underground spaces of the cities that have them range from ultra-dry Corps of Engineer type-documents to historical works of varying merit, some of which slide more into myth instead of fact. In other words, there is little written about under city tunnels that is both interesting and factual.

Las Vegas and its tunnels, and Matthew O'Brian's telling of them, is quite different, and of a much higher caliber. His book is "Beneath The Neon." Matthew brings a human touch of reality and immediacy to the people who live below Las Vegas, who are in continual danger of their lives. "Beneath The Neon" therefore, is a very interesting, entertaining and factual book.

Take the tunnels of Orange County, in Southern California, for instance, which has miles of tunnels and spaces, many as wide as the four lanes above them, all of which are bone dry and empty of life. Most of these tunnels channel into massive floodways, snaking through the Los Angeles basin, and eventually empty into the Pacific. Of the few times a decade that they are full of water, people are amazed at both the volume and speed of the water. Whoever gets caught in one of these channels has little hope of survival. Go here for a look at the scope of the tunnels under Los Angeles.

Then there is the Burro Schmidt Tunnel in the upper Mojave desert, a couple of hours north of L.A., built over a number of years by a single individual, through solid granite. Here is a link.

Secret tunnels of historical significance and mystery can be found under San Francisco. And under Seattle.

Cities don't have a monopoly on tunnels either. Colleges and universities sometimes have their own. Here is a similar link. But by far the biggest and most astonishing underground of all, is under Tokyo.

Many tunnels have small collections of people; homeless, addicts, and iconoclasts. The only apparent exception is Los Angeles, where there are no homeless living in the wide, dry, and accommodating tunnels. It is not that these tunnels are policed, it is just that the homeless there are likely smart enough to know better.

But what really interests O'Brien are the homeless people who live in the tunnels under the bright oven that is Las Vegas. He estimates that there are 300 people at any time, who are living in small encampments throughout the tunnel system, and in the course of his research, he got to know many of them.

There is evidence of these people everywhere: an old set of pans; heaps of garbage, including many old mattresses; and graffiti. If you were to wander through the tunnels, you would never know it was 110 degrees or more just above your head. Down there it's quiet, dark, cool--and wet.

You would think the tunnels are dangerous, but O'Brien said they don't feel that way. But he had a guide who knowingly led him around through those spaces, so who is to say? He was most impressed by being underneath Caesar's Palace, for the tunnels are not relegated just to being beside and under the expressways through the city.

The tunnels under Vegas are storm drainage tunnels, built around 1977 to control runoff from the local wash. Prior to that, there were stories of cars washing up in culverts around the town after a sudden downpour. When Vegas started to expand, it was decided that the city needed a subtler way to deal with the results of storms, thus the tunnels were born. Today there are 450 miles of flood channels in Las Vegas, including 300 miles of them underground. O'Brien says that the Las Vegas master plan created in the 1990s calls for 1,000 miles of flood channels and tunnels within 25 years.

Most of the time the tunnels are dry, largely because it doesn't rain much in Vegas. But when it does, O'Brien says, the water level in the tunnels can rise rapidly, quickly turning into a flash flood. Down there is not where you'd want to be if such a thing were to happen. Which is why on a pillar deep underground, someone has helpfully spray painted, "In case of flood swim for your f---ing life."

In fact, spray painting--the graffiti kind--is a major element to the tunnels. Everywhere there is some kind of graffiti, much of it meaningless and uninteresting. But in some places, it turns into art, as the photos in the book, taken by Danny Mollohan, testify.

Because of its unique and dynamic presence in the world, Las Vegas is the subject of more books than any typical community of its size. The Las Vegas metro population is roughly the same as that of Columbus, Ohio, but you don't see many authors flocking to the Buckeye State capital in search of best-selling material.

Nonfiction books about Las Vegas commonly come in four flavors:

-- Gambling: Tomes of wisdom and mathematics to beat the odds (or at least not lose all your money during your first hour in the casino).

-- History: Documenting the city's past, from John C. Fremont's brief stop to the Rat Pack era to the rise of the mega resorts.

-- Organized crime: All the dirty details -- some of them actually true -- about Bugsy Siegel, Tony Spilotro and other lovable crooks.

-- Photo essays: Artful pix of leggy showgirls, crowded craps tables and neon signs.

But Matt O'Brien's "Beneath the Neon: Life and Death in the Tunnels of Las Vegas" doesn't fall into any of these categories. It's a refreshing departure from the usual fare.

O'Brien, is the news editor of CityLife, a weekly newspaper owned by the same company as the Review-Journal. "Beneath The Neon" is not a boring engineering-type textbook. It is a glowing, personal journey of discovery. Get this book. You will enjoy the read, written by a mostly likely future Pulitzer prize winning journalist.

HERE is a link to some photos of the tunnels under Las Vegas.

"Gunning for Ho: Vietnam Stories," is one of those brilliant works of fiction that comes around once in a while to provoke a bit of reflection on the experience of war.
H. Lee Barnes draws upon his first-hand experiences in Vietnam to stitch together a compelling work of literature that begs to be read over and over again.
The stories are perfectly balanced with a combination of suspense, comedy, mystery and anguish all wrapped into a single package.
The world is full of warm-and-fuzzy books for those who need them and this book does not pretend to be one. But if your willing to strap on a Y-Chromosome and enjoy a succinct work of military fiction, then behold: "Gunning for Ho: Vietnam Stories."
REVIEW EVERY BOOK YOU READ, AUTHORS DESERVE YOUR OPINIONS TOO.

There are some fine times in Gunning for Ho. My personal favorites are "A Lovely Day..." and the wonderfully mystic and deep "Stonehands..." This gives a glimpse into the author's not wanting to take responsibility for anything too heavy, though he certainly has and will in the future. It's like a fairy tale dream that can't come true. However the story has real merit and is wonderful.

The characters and stories are real and tragic. The Cat in the Cage horrified me. Here the writer actually got in touch with his sensitive more human side and touched me greatly.

However through the book, there is a distance between the author and his characters. As though he doesn't want to get too close. This is so blatant, I found myself not caring very much for them either.

More heart, more soul, more empathy, should be employed in this man's work. It goes without saying he is a superb writer. He simply needs to open himself up to his characters and likewise, he needs to open his characters up as well.

That sort of cutting off of emotions, is part of military training and being in a war, I suppose. But that war is over. A larger focus on the depth of emotion for writer and characters is what is needed.

H. Lee Barnes' collection of stories, Gunning For Ho, need not be looked at as just "Vietnam stories", rather they are stories of the soul, of man, of morality, and of America, uniquely America. This is a writer who doesn't shy away from wit or horror (often in the same paragraph, the same sentence) when describing the wars we fight with ourselves and the wars we fight with the enemy. A powerful, moving reminder that what matters is often not what is written on the page, but what we as readers take with us, to last a lifetime. Nothing short of brilliant.

I am not from Las Vegas, nor a member of any writers' group nor Veterans of Viet Nam group. Neither am I even an acquaintance of H. Lee Barnes, but I know a little about the Ashau, Khe Sahn, Laos, and certain other sites of pertinence. I have also read a considerable number of books on or about that war, and have studied and taught literature for much longer than I care to admit. It would be wrong to compare Gunning for Ho with All Quiet on the Western Front, The Red Badge of Courage, or A Farewell to Arms, because Barnes' collection of stories isn't a novel. It does, however, achieve artistic consonance with them in ways Melville described as providing the universal thump of truth "heard the circle round." Free of the topical politics so common to most books coming out of that now ancient war but full of the true relevance of the interior politics related to human survival in apocryphal circumstances, these stories achieve a gripping poignancy which connects the author's internal experience to the essence of human existence across all time. There is pathos, but it is ameliorated with scintillating humor; there is dignity and honor, but it is balanced by the inevitableness of human fallibility; there are terror and cowardice but they coexist with quiet but determined heroism of the first and lesser orders. To Barnes' credit, all of these elements come together in his tales as natural portrayals of the human spirit in adversity, told quietly, yet with astounding brilliance. He lets us see the pervading haze created by carpet bombing, smell the funkiness of the tropical jungle adulterated by the stink of rotting corpses, and hear the sounds of the unspoken in superbly handled dialogue. This is without doubt the best book I've yet read about the way it was thirty-odd years ago-and still is today, as it was for Jake Barnes in the 20s. Any serious student of literature or anyone with an interest in late 20th century America and the American psyche should read this book.

Despite having been born in the latter years of the Vietnam War, and not having read deeply in the field, I am confident this collection of six short stories and a novella by a former Green Beret, is destined to be a classic of Vietnam War fiction. Destined because they resound with the truth--and aren't really concerned with making any political statement. Barnes's stories tell you about the young men who went off to war in an alien landscape, and how they--and those they left behind--were transformed forever. The first three stories are thematically joined by strong surreal elements that speak to the wider confusion and disorientation felt by many who served. More like Kafka than Conrad. The fourth and fifth stories are more straightforward tales of aftermath and picking up the pieces. I found the novella ("Tunnel Rat") to be somewhat more elusive than the stories, and less forceful. It may take a re-reading or two to really get at it. The final (and title) story is a direct descendant of Heart of Darkness, and succeeds in spite of traveling that well-worn path. As a whole, this collection is a testament to the humanity of the men who went to Vietnam.