Ben Mezrich ( ;
He has written well-known non-fiction books, including The Accidental Billionaires and The Antisocial Network, which have been turned into the films The Social Network and Dumb Money, respectively. Some of his books have been written under the pen-name Holden Scott.
Early life and education
Mezrich was born in Princeton, New Jersey, the son of Molli Newman, a lawyer, and Reuben Mezrich,
a chairman of radiology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. He has two brothers, including Josh Mezrich. He was raised in a Conservative Jewish household, and attended Princeton Day School, in Princeton, New Jersey. He graduated
Latin honors with a degree in Social Studies from Harvard University in 1991.
Career
Mezrich is best known for his first non-fiction work,
. This book tells the story of a group of students from Massachusetts Institute of Technology who bet on
blackjack games using a sophisticated
card counting system, earning millions of dollars at casinos in Las Vegas and other gambling centers in the
United States and the
Caribbean.
The story was made into the movie
21, released in 2008.
Despite being categorized as non-fiction many of the characters in
Bringing Down the House are composite characters and some of the events described have been contested by the people the characters are based on.
[
][ MickeyRosa.com 'House of Cards' Retrieved July 31, 2008.]
In 2004, Mezrich published . This book recounts the exploits of an American assistant securities trader, John Malcolm.
In 2005, Mezrich published , a semi-sequel to Bringing Down the House. The book tells the story of another student involved in a similar Blackjack team, but one that used more advanced techniques than the ones discussed in the first book. As with Bringing Down the House, many of the events depicted in Busting Vegas were later contested by main character Semyon Dukach, who described the book as "only about half true".
In 2007, Mezrich published , which recounts the formation of what would eventually become the Dubai Mercantile Exchange by two young visionaries, one in the New York Mercantile Exchange and the other in the Dubai Ministry of Finance.
Mezrich published a new book in July 2009 about Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, titled . It debuted at No. 4 on The New York Times Nonfiction Bestseller List, and No. 1 on The Boston Globe Nonfiction Bestseller List."
In 2014, Mezrich published Seven Wonders, his first novel since The Carrier in 2001. Seven Wonders is "a fast-moving thriller involving murder, conspiracy, historical mystery, and the Seven Wonders of the World", according to Booklist.[ Booklist, May 1, 2014 v110 i17 p42][ Publishers Weekly, June 16, 2014 v261 i24 p56]
His 2021 book, The Antisocial Network: The GameStop Short Squeeze and the Ragtag Group of Amateur Traders That Brought Wall Street to Its Knees, was adapted into the film Dumb Money
His 2023 book, Breaking Twitter: Elon Musk and the Most Controversial Corporate Takeover in History, is set to become a limited series.
Personal life
Mezrich has been married to Tonya M. Chen since 2006; they write the
Charlie Numbers series together.
[ He lives in Boston.]
Works
Books
Fiction
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Threshold (1996, )
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Reaper (1998, )
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Fertile Ground (1999, )
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The X-Files: Skin (2000, )
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Skeptic (written under the pen name Holden Scott) (2000, )
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The Carrier (written under the pen name Holden Scott) (2001, )
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Seven Wonders (2014, )
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The Midnight Ride (2022, )
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The Mistress and the Key (2024, )
Non-fiction
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(2002, )
-
(2004, )
-
(2005, )
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(2007, )
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(2009, )
-
(2011, )
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Straight Flush: The True Story of Six College Friends Who Dealt Their Way to a Billion-Dollar Online Poker Empire—and How It All Came Crashing Down ... (2013, )
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Once Upon a Time in Russia: The Rise of the Oligarchs—A True Story of Ambition, Wealth, Betrayal, and Murder (2015, )
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The 37th Parallel: The Secret Truth Behind America's UFO Highway (2016, )
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Woolly: The True Story of the Quest to Revive One of History's Most Iconic Extinct Creatures (2017, )
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(2019, )
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(2021, Grand Central / Hachette, )
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(2023, )
Juvenile fiction
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Bringing Down the Mouse (2014, )
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Charlie Numbers and the Man in the Moon (2017, )
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Charlie Numbers and the Woolly Mammoth (2019, )
Other projects
Mezrich represented Massachusetts as a contestant in the Sexiest Bachelor in America Pageant on Fox in 2000.
External links
