Living Las Vegas

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Top Vegas Hotels: Bellagio, Luxor, Rio

Roads from the Ashes: An Odyssey in Real Life on the Virtual Frontier, by Megan Edwards

Books & Movies

Book Review: Las Vegas Weddings

Las Vegas Weddings: A Brief History, Celebrity Gossip, Everything Elvis, and the Complete Chapel Guide, by Susan Marg

With over 170,000 marriage and renewal ceremonies each year, Las Vegas easily out-distances its nearest competitor, Reno, for the claim of “Marriage Capital of the World.” In Las Vegas Weddings: A Brief History, Celebrity Gossip, Everything Elvis, and the Complete Chapel Guide, author Susan Marg traces the evolution of the wedding industry in Sin City since 1933. She provides a fascinating look into dozens of chapels currently operating in Las Vegas, part of a thriving wedding industry that contributes, she estimates, over $1 billion each year to the local economy…

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Book Review: Sharks in the Desert

Sharks in the Desert: The Founding Fathers and Current Kings of Las Vegas
by John L. Smith

Irresistible. That’s the one-word last sentence of Review-Journal columnist John L. Smith’s latest book, Sharks in the Desert. And no, I didn’t read it first. I started at the beginning, and then munched my way through every word, just the way you’d eat a large box of popcorn. And when I got to “Irresistible,” I smiled. That’s how the book was. From Bugsy Siegel to George Maloof, I couldn’t have stopped reading even if I had wanted to. Sharks in the Desert is a book you can’t help devouring to the last kernel, and even then, it tastes like more…

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Book Review: 1,000 Naked Truths

1,000 Naked Truths
by Norm Clarke

I’ve been waiting for this one. I’ve been a Norm Clarke fan since I arrived in Las Vegas five years ago. This book, I learned by reading the acknowledgements, has been in the works just about the same length of time. Clarke started working on it when he first moved to Las Vegas from Denver in 1999 and began building his career as Sin City’s favorite gossip monger.

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Book Review: How to Win Millions Playing Slot Machines!

How to Win Millions Playing Slot Machines! …Or Lose Trying
by Frank Legato

Here’s a title to baffle if I ever saw one, even though it starts out clearly enough. “How to Win Millions Playing Slot Machines” sounds like the subject line of a spammy email message. But then there’s the “…Or Lose Trying.” What’s that supposed to mean? I’m actually supposed to be tempted to plunk down money for a book that promises… absolutely nothing? …

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Book Review: 24/7

24/7: Living It Up and Doubling Down in the New Las Vegas
by Andrés Martinez

On April Fool’s Day in 1998, Andrés Martinez took $50,000 out of a bank in Manhattan and headed for Las Vegas. Martinez was not a high roller—at least not yet—but he had succeeded in selling a publisher on the idea of taking a big wad of cash to Las Vegas, gambling with it, and writing about the experience…

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