Book excerpt: "THE ENLIGHTENED GAMBLER, The Heart and Spirit of the Risk Taker in All of us" guides the reader through the author's world of gambling, seduced by the never ending excitement in the "land of uncertainty." The book encourages readers to step past the superficial and take a more conscious view of the motivating drive in all of us to take risks. In a lighthearted, sometimes laugh-out-loud, self deprecating style, the author playfully and willingly exposes his own vulnerability to the seductive lure of gambling, but then points out ways to encourage winning attitudes, which he has developed over the years, while defusing old, toxic, loser mentality. You can find my blogs at www.theenlightenedgambler.com. "I wrote this book, first of all, to point out that everybody gambles, but most people don't call what they do gambling. Some of the risks we take in life work out and some don't. Right? Well guess what? I call those risks gambles. I also wrote this book to help you laugh out loud about all the dumb moves I made as a gambler, and maybe, just maybe, after laughing out loud at MY screw-ups, you'll sit back and take a look at your own. I say, if you want to play, you have to pay. One way or another. You either lose your stubborn defiance or you lose your shirt. So which one ya gonna choose?"