- Hardcover: 8 pages
- Publisher: Houghton Mifflin (Trade) (30 May 2000)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0395954290
- ISBN-13: 978-0395954294
- Product Dimensions: 21.7 x 15 x 2.1 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
77,929 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1 in Books > Society, Politics & Philosophy > Social Sciences > Social Issues > Illness & Addiction > Gambling Addiction
- #5 in Books > Science & Nature > Medicine > Diseases & Disorders > Addiction
- #17 in Books > Biography > Social & Health Issues > Gambling Addiction
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More About the Author
Product Description
Review
"Double Down is an astounding book--lucid and hypnotic. I read it as if witnessing a not-so-small miracle in which a fall from grace is inverted, mid-air, and turned into a fall toward grace. It is clean and crisp and important." -- Rick Bass
"Anyone who buys into the insane conclusion that casino gambling is good for a community should read this book. Double Down is one of the best firsthand accounts ever written about organized gambling. Like Goodman Brown, taking a walk with a hooded stranger into the darkness of the New England woods, the Barthelme brothers suddenly find themselves inside the maw of the monster. The compulsion to control, to intuit the future, to be painted by magic, could not be better or more accurately described." -- James Lee Burke, author of Burning Angel and Cadillac Jukebox)
"Whoever invented gambling knew something about human nature the rest of us have to keep rediscovering. Double Down is a gripping read." --Larry Brown
"Frederick and Steven Barthelme have written one of the great books on gambling--a memoir of guilt, frustration, the wickedness of American justice, and, above all, the hair-raising rush of the action." --Thom Jones
"I really enjoyed Double Down--I loved going along vicariously into the world of casinos. The Barthelme brothers write in a remarkably unified voice, and I was especially intrigued and moved by their analysis of themselves as grown-up children because they are childless. It's a very compelling narrative." --Bobbie Ann Mason
"Anyone who buys into the insane conclusion that casino gambling is good for a community should read this book. Double Down is one of the best firsthand accounts ever written about organized gambling. Like Goodman Brown, taking a walk with a hooded stranger into the darkness of the New England woods, the Barthelme brothers suddenly find themselves inside the maw of the monster. The compulsion to control, to intuit the future, to be painted by magic, could not be better or more accurately described." -- James Lee Burke, author of Burning Angel and Cadillac Jukebox)
"Whoever invented gambling knew something about human nature the rest of us have to keep rediscovering. Double Down is a gripping read." --Larry Brown
"Frederick and Steven Barthelme have written one of the great books on gambling--a memoir of guilt, frustration, the wickedness of American justice, and, above all, the hair-raising rush of the action." --Thom Jones
"I really enjoyed Double Down--I loved going along vicariously into the world of casinos. The Barthelme brothers write in a remarkably unified voice, and I was especially intrigued and moved by their analysis of themselves as grown-up children because they are childless. It's a very compelling narrative." --Bobbie Ann Mason
Synopsis
The brothers of deceased author Donald Barthelme describe their experience with organized gambling in the wake of their parents' deaths, how they lost a fortune at the gaming tables, and how they recovered from this addiction.
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First Sentence
WE ARRIVED in Hattiesburg almost ten years apart. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
WE ARRIVED in Hattiesburg almost ten years apart. Read the first page
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Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Literary Gamblers,
By
This review is from: Double Down: Reflections on Gambling and Loss (Paperback)
I enjoy books about money and gambling. This is an a account of how two brothers blow a fortune in the casinos of Gulfport, Missisipi. They link their compulsion to the break up of their family. I was intrigued by the idea that losing becomes addictive, and the fact that it's playing the game that counts - the fellowship and excitement of the gambling den clouds the fact that they are blowing ludicrously large sums of money. I think there are several human activities which are a bit like that.I was interested in the detail that if you win the jackpot on the slot machines, they ask you to 'play it off', meaning that the winner has to play the machine once more so it won't be left showing a jackpot. The procedure is to stop frightening players away, but it also induces winners to keep at it, and so become losers again. I heard a similar tactic in a book about time-management - just start something - you'll be amazed how long you keep doing it. Eventually the brothers get caught up in something they aren't prepared for, which sours their experience. This is a very well-written book, full of insights on families, work, addiction and gambling. The only slightly odd thing was the fact that it is described from two people's point of view in one narrative.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
3.8 out of 5 stars (44 customer reviews) 23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Harrowing and well written memoir,
By Binx Bolling "Binx" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Double down: Reflections on Gambling and Loss (Hardcover)
This slim book by the Barthelme Brothers, recounting their descent into gambling hell, is both elegantly written and horrifying. After all, the Barthelmes are college professors and literary stars, and if their lives could veer out of control so suddenly and so badly, then so could yours and mine. The brothers end up throwing away all their money, including a $300,000 inheritance, at a riverboat casino during the year or so after their parents' deaths. Then -- as if the story couldn't get any more gruesome -- they are indicted on charges of cheating the casino! I've spent a lot of time in casinos myself, and can vouch for the accuracy of the Barthelmes' portrait of the casino scene: the mood of the place and the behavior of the various participants are captured perfectly. They are especially good at describing the feelings that run through a gambler while winning and losing. The only shortcoming of the book is the repetitious (and sometimes shallow) analysis of their behavior. Or maybe I've just read one too many books where it all goes back to Mommy and Daddy. I would like them to have stayed more focused on the story, and allow the reader to provide some of the analysis for himself. Also, if the brothers had waited a few months longer before publishing, they would have been able to provide the conclusion to this story, which, as it stands, is anti-climactic. Nevertheless, I would put this on a rather short shelf of great gambling literature, maybe not too far away from Dostoyevsky's "The Gambler."'
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A brilliant book about gambling compulsively,
By A Customer - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Double down: Reflections on Gambling and Loss (Hardcover)
I've spent as much time gambling recklessly as searching for the words to explain why. They'd escaped me all these years. Maybe after a big loss I'd come to some partly lucid but entirely fleeting realization driving home in the dark from the boats thinking about what to do next. One or two movies (most remarkably "The Gambler", especially its ending) and books (same, by Doestyevsky) show and talk about it deeply, but this book is different. It details what it's like to gamble like a fool and reveals the fool's motivation: Do it again and again until all the money's gone. Not to sound like a book jacket but a few paragraphs made me wiggle unconfortably in my chair while reading it. (Which I did, beginning to end, at Borders -- not because I was too cheap to buy it (well maybe that's part of it) but because I didn't want to put it down.) I saw myself, and if you've ever watched your whole life turn with a bust card, you will too. Finally gambling's seduced someone with a supreme command of our written language. If you're reading this, thank you. Both of you.
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Drowning in Grief by Losing Their Shirts,
By Helene Hoffman - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Double down: Reflections on Gambling and Loss (Hardcover)
I thought this book was excellent: a memoir by two brothers who lost $250,000 in riverboat casinos. They describe in detail how they would spend 12 hours or more losing thousands in the slot machines, or, more often, at blackjack. And how it escalated slowly, and then how the addiction got completely out-of-hand after both of their elderly parents died. Apparently, their pattern on each gambling spree was to lose a lot, and then spend the rest of the night (and sometimes day) winning back the lost amount. What amazed me is that even after they were indicted for a crime allegedly committed while gambling, they continued their addiction, albeit in another casino. Astounding! This memoir is remarkable on many counts. For one, it is beautifully written (both authors are writing professors), and also, they attempt to analyze their behavior, the big "WHY"? I commend them for revealing so many intimate details. It seems that perhaps the loss of their father, who had been a brilliant architect but an insensitive father to both, put them over the edge. Raised not to show feelings, coupled with their belief that their parents were their only true "community", perhaps put them in a hard, "no win" position when they died. And the only way to "win" (or attempt to) was at the casino. They are excellent at drawing out the allure of gambling - that, no matter win or lose, they were finally "feeling" something at the blackjack table. A sad tale of an attempt to deal with loss in a desperate, impossible way.
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