The Rant Zone: An All-Out Blitz Against Soul-Sucking Jobs, Twisted Child Stars, Holistic Loons, and People Who Eat Their Dogs! Book

In this fourth installment of his acclaimed Rants series, bestselling author, Emmy Award-winning talk-show host, and wisecracking analyst for ABC's Monday Night Football Dennis Miller makes hamburger meat out of society's most sacred cows as only he can, with the kinds of allusions that require high SAT scores -- or at least a smart crib sheet.

This time around, Miller takes on child stars with rap sheets, women with bigger muscles than his own, herbs you don't smoke, God, and football. As always, nothing is out-of-bounds.

Publishers Weekly

Part memoir, part history and part how-to, this entertaining volume takes readers on a tour of the poker subculture by one of the game's devotees. When Bellin was eight, he used minimarshmallows as poker chips; by high school, he "played to be bad"; at Vassar, his mathematical abilities (he majored in physics and astronomy) were put in service of the game. In 1992, while on a break from working on a masters degree in astrophysics, he went to Foxwoods Casino in New London, Conn.: "If I ever was a gambling addict, that year was it. I played poker to escape from school and mostly to forget that my mother had just passed away." At 22, he dropped out of grad school to play semipro poker for 10 years. An expansion of an earlier Esquire article, Bellin's energetic narrative flits from New York's underground clubs to Las Vegas's annual World Series of Poker, and ponders cheating, memory, sexism in poker, tournaments, probability and statistics, as well as the author's own obsession. The chapter "Tells," recently published in the Atlantic, details the unconscious "ticks and twitches" that give poker players away, while other sections detail the game's colorful characters and offer playing tips. Tiny cards within the text illustrate the hands, and the book includes a glossary for terms like "tilt" and "coffeehousing." It's a winning read for poker experts and newcomers alike. (Mar. 10) Forecast: Those with a gambling spirit will take note of this book during a broadcast, Internet and print media campaign, when Bellin will make appearances in D.C., Vegas and N.Y.C. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.