After seeing commercials for that upcmoing film, 21, I decided to give this book a chance and was very glad to have done so. The story of an MIT car counting crew that rakes up millions in Vegas was a short, but fascinating, read. I never quite got the hang of the counting system used by the team in the story, but it was so interesting to read about the acting affected by the counters to avoid detection by casino pit bosses and dealers. There were also code words and gestures that team players used to signal when bets should be raised or lowered and what tables had a hot game going on, all of which was so cool to learn about! Of course, there are also the scary repercussions of getting caught that factor into the story, which grows increasingly tense as the book wraps up. Players get tossed out of casinos, not-so-subtly threatened with bodily injury, beat up, and even audited by the IRS. It's strange to think that young men and women fromsuch a prestigious university would use their smarts in a seemingly deceitful manner. However, counting isn't illegal because it doesn't change the outcome of the game so it isn't really cheating although most casino bigwigs take a different view of that activity. If you'd like an exciting and fast-paced read, I'd definitely recommend reading this book!