> In some respects reviews are important. For example, I
> read
> John May's Getting the Edge at BJ. I'm still not
> certain whether I should trust the advice as some
> people have been quite critical of the work. Is John
> May a respected BJ author? How about Frank Scoblete?
> His book Best Blackjack recieved superb reviews on
> amazon.com(yet he recieves no mention on the BJ
> boards) so he must be doing something right.

"He" does nothing but turn out several books a year that are largely written by staff members of a large publishing house (they tell him the topic and usually provide an outline, and then edit the book to their liking). A search on these boards will generate another thread on the reliability (or rather, lack thereof) of Amazon.com reviews. Anyone can make up a handle and post a review, including the same publishing company that put out the book. They have entire departments devoted to marketing their books, and I guarantee that many of those reviews are false. Unfortunately, many of them are also actual reviews from people who were drawn in by the hype and have allowed themselves to be swayed by the promise of riches without the work.

Other reviews are also obviously false, such as the one from "Parker" in "San Diego" panning Don's Blackjack Attack. Do you really think that one of the most upstanding guys I know wrote that? If I didn't have morals and ethics, I'd create a fake handle and post a rebuttle, but I have better things to do with my time (and conscience). That review has been up for years; I'm still waiting for one of our customers to write their own, honest, review.

If an author is either largely ignored, or frequently panned, on reputable advantage play sites such as ours, you can bet that there's no substance to the style.

Bettie