Addiction by Design: Machine Gambling in Las Vegas is a wide ranging overview of slot machines and the people involved with them, like designers, gamblers, casino operators, regulators, executives etc. It's shockingly deep on the subject while also being clear and easy to read. And also like, apocalyptic.

You understand by reading it that the effect slot machines have on people is that they'll sit at them and don't want to be disturbed, and keep spending to the point where they can't gamble any more money. All the rest of the people in the book who aren't gamblers construct elaborate fantasies where that's not what this is all about.

Once you read it you start seeing slot machines everywhere, like so many things function like a slot machine does. So many things are allowed to exist using similar methods to how slot machines work. It can be a very depressing book, but there's something extremely illuminating about it. I came out it feeling better prepared to live life in the world the way it is.