TITLE: License to Pawn: Deals, Steals, and My Life at Gold & Silver AUTHOR: Rick Harrison
STARTED: October 22, 2011
FINISHED: October 22, 2011
PAGES: 257
GENRE: Memoir
FIRST SENTENCE: This is my story, my family's story, and the story of the World Famous Gold & Silver Pawn Shop.
SUMMARY: [From Amazon] Rick hasn't had it easy. He was a math whiz at an early age, but developed a similarly uncanny ability to find ever-deepening trouble that nearly ruined his life. With the birth of his son, he sobered up, reconnected with his dad, and they started their booming business together.License to Pawn also offers an entertaining walk through the pawn shop's history. It's a captivating look into how the Gold & Silver works, with incredible stories about the crazy customers and the one-of-a-kind items that the shop sells. Rick isn't only a businessman; he's also a historian and keen observer of human nature. For instance, did you know that pimps wear lots of jewelry for a reason? It's because if they're arrested, jewelry doesn't get confiscated like cash does, and ready money will be available for bail. Or that WWII bomber jackets and Zippo lighters can sell for a freakishly high price in Japan? Have you ever heard that the makers of Ormolu clocks, which Rick sells for as much as $15,000 apiece, frequently died before forty thanks to the mercury in the paint?
Rick also reveals the items he loves so much he'll never sell. The shop has three Olympic bronze medals, a Patriots Super Bowl ring, a Samurai sword from 1490, and an original Iwo Jima battle plan. Each object has an incredible story behind it, of course. Rick shares them all, and so much more--there's an irresistible treasure trove of history behind both the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop and the life of Rick Harrison.
THOUGHTS: I want to know these guys in person! They are teh awesome. Either Rick wrote this book himself, or he had one hell of a ghost writer. If you've ever watched the show, you'll feel right at home with License to Pawn. It was light, fun, and full of humor. I kept stopping to read passages out loud because I felt the need to explain my outbursts of giggles. This book is no mind enhancer, but it certainly was a joy to read.
The text sounds exactly like the guys on their show. It felt like Rick and I were in the same room, just swapping stories. I loved that about this book. You can see how and why Rick got to where he is today, and it all makes sense. The ups and downs, the crazy get rich quick schemes, and the ever present connection to family make Rick seem like that guy you met in the grocery store one day. We all have people in our lives kinda like Pawn Stars. It's their zaniness that make us remember them.
The writing is by no means astounding. It's bare bones, but it gets the point across. Rick has lived a fascinating life, and there is no need for him to embellish his stories with flowery prose of extra exposition. The chapters are short, sweet and focused, but they still have enough meat in them to still be rich. I also enjoyed how Big Hoss, The Old Man, and Chumlee all got their own chapters. Each of their chapters sounds like them as well. This book isn't so much a book as transcribed storytelling. It's a simple method of writing, but it works.
I always thought that Pawn Stars was more about the people than the stuff, and this book is the same way. The stuff of the pawn shop is used to set up the lives of the people, and that is utterly fascinating. If I had to sum it up, this book feels like a conversation you have with a random person in a hotel lobby of at a bar. It's a bunch of life stories about the characters that make our everyday lives so interesting. It's human, and it's a heck of a lot of fun.
RATING: 8/10 [Terrific]
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