While I was in Colorado, I started reading Eyeing the Flash, author Peter Fenton's so-called nonfictional account of his life as a con artist on the carnival midway.

Regardless of whether or not Fenton's account is true, I'm fascinated by his description of the insidious scams employed on the midway to fleece the rubes, along with the colorful carny lingo.

Here's an old retroCRUSH article that tells you how to beat the carnies at their own game.

UPDATE: I received a private e-mail from the author today, in which he took issue with the claims in the SF Gate review that the people and events in his book had been fictionalized. From my perspective, I think it's perfectly valid to question whether or not his background as a carnival con-artist and tabloid reporter colored his telling of the tale, but that in the long run, the only thing that ultimately matters to me was that I thought it was a hell of a good story that was told with style and in an engaging manner. I look forward to reading his next book, and catching up on his older works.