In The Noble Hustle Colson Whitehead does for participatory journalism what he did for zombie novels in Zone One: Take one literary genius, add $10,000 and a seat at the World Series of Poker, and stir. On one level, Colson Whitehead's The Noble Hustle is a familiar species of participatory journalism—a longtime neighborhood poker player, Colson was given a $10,000 stake and an assignment from the online ESPN offshoot Grantland to see how far he could get in the World Series of Poker. But since it stems from the astonishing mind of Colson Whitehead (MacArthur Award-endorsed!), the book is a brilliant, hilarious, weirdly profound, and ultimately moving portrayal of—yes, it sounds overblown and ridiculous, but really!—the human condition. The book will appeal to a wide variety of consumers: the poker-loving readers of James MacManus Positively Fifth Street, or the I-could-do-that genre including Stefan Fatsis' Word Freak, or the oeuvre of A.J. Jacobs, or fans of humorous sports books like Rick Reilly's Whose Your Caddy?, or literary nonfiction readers who buy penetrating portraits of outcast subcultures like Bill Buford's Among the Thugs. The book delivers all those fans would want—including the author's surprising progress through the piratical competition of high-stakes Texas Hold 'Em poker. But it is also a bravura piece of writing, from its very first line—"I have a good poker face because I am half dead inside." And it is deeply, unbelievably funny, an uncannily accurate social satire whose main target is the author himself. So, yes, all the above comps can and should be used, but in truth The Noble Hustle is utterly unique, a book about poker like Moby-Dick is a book about fishing.