Las Vegas

Road Tripping: A Best Practice

Trekking somewhere cool? Make it cooler by reading a book before you go or bring one for the ride. Say you are going to Las Vegas — a truly vile place by all but Roman standards — what can be done with it? Check the Library and see what pops up…

  • If you’ve seen the movie, feel free to blow by Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: a Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream by Hunter S. Thompson (PN4874.T444 A3 1998) but do check out some of his other stuff: genius, as in does Kerouac better than Jack.
  • However, if you are into smart emo stuff at least scope out the contents, intro, and conclusion to The Postmodern Urban Condition by Michael J. Dear (HT384.U52 L674 2000).
  • Social justice your thing? Try Storming Caesars Palace: How Black Mothers Fought Their Own War on Poverty by Annelise Orleck (HV99.L37 O75 2005).
  • Suppose you are a compu-geek of some sort, why not check out The Theory of Gambling and Statistical Logic by Richard A. Epstein (QA271 .E67 1995)?
  • If business is your business and thus personal, then Jeff Burbank’s License to Steal: Nevada’s Gaming Control System in the Megaresort Era (HV6721.L3 B87 2000) is the place to find insider nuggets.
Knowing a bit about where you find yourself makes for better tripping. Also, road trips are not about a change of scene, but a change of perspective which can begin before you sign on for a killer case of bucket seat butt rot. In fact, you could save gas and fix up the ol’ perspective while right here or of course at the reference desk, virtual or otherwise.