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There isn't
a pointspread to be found, nor the mention of a spread on any page,
but the Official 2002 NCAA Men's Final Four Tournament Records
book (225 pages, paperbound, $15.95) is a wonderful package of facts,
stats and trivia for those who revel in nostalgia, old photos and
memorable box scores of the past.
This resource, along with a rediscovery of Gary Ross' Stung
(301 pages, paperbound, $10) and When Luck Runs Out
(Help for Compulsive Gamblers and Their Families) by the late Dr.
Robert Custer and Harry Milt (239 pages, hardbound, $29.95) are
three new shelf additions to Gambler's Book Club this week.
The NCAA tournament records book, for example, will tell you who
scored the most points in a game; who the greatest free-throw shooters
were; what team scored the most points in a game; the longest overtime
games; how often a No. 15 seed was won a tournament game; how rare
it is for a team with 13 losses to advance to the Final Four; all-time
coaching records; photos of winning teams from the 1939 tournament
on; plus many a potential bar bet or argument-settling fact.
This book may not make you any extra units as a sports bettor, but
you'll sound like an expert when March Madness comes around.
*********
 Brian
Molony, a Canadian banker, lost $10 million gambling in a lifetime,
but still didn't believe he had a gambling problem. Even after losing
more than $1 in a single night, he thought it was merely a "financial
problem."
This is the story of a man who lost control of his passion for gambling,
of a banking system that allowed him to slip through, embezzling
at will, and of a casino which acted oh-so-innocent after finding
out the million dollar loser did it all with someone else's money.
How the case was handled criminally; how Molony saw himself, and
how others saw him, and how money talks (stolen or not) is what
Stung is about.
*********
 Dr.
Robert Custer, one of the pioneer names in the area of treatment
of problem gambling, has passed on. But his book, titled When Luck
Runs Out, remains a must-read classic for those who have a problem
and the families of those individuals seeking help.
Custer's work, published in 1985, has been out of print until Gambler's
Book Club located a supply recently. In my position as a reviewer,
I have to say that
it is to find a book that covers the subject of problem gambling
with such clarity and directness. Sadly, too often those who are
trained to help folks in need fail to communicate in their writing
by being overly technical. The tend to be experts writing for other
experts-to impress them with their own studies perhaps, and are
not effective in helping those who need help the most.
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