Absolute best book I've ever heard on mental game
- Thread starter TrumanHW
- Start date
I agree. Both of those books are great but this one is unique as it has a lot of pool specific issues that are addressed. Written by a PhD.
second edition small motions
I'd like to read the first edition of the pleasure of small motions. The second edition reads like too much effort was made to stretch it and much of it, I believe pretty much the entire second half, is focused on not beating yourself, not on how to win. Lost my copy in a flood and I won't buy another copy to refresh my memory. The second edition wasn't a mental book on winning I was impressed with at all.
May have to go to my local library and see if they have or can get The Inner Game of Tennis. I don't remember reading it. Only read mental game books for entertainment these days so I'm not willing to buy it.
The book that did it for me was "Shooting From Within" by J Michael Plaxco. About pistol competition but a large section on the mental game and stuff sprinkled all through the book on the mental game too. Selling on the used market for up to $150 or still available at brownells.com for under $20 last time I looked. Aside from other things, this was the best book I read about finding the real zone. I read an entire book about finding your zone by a competitor who was a psychologist only to realize he didn't know what the zone was!
Hu
I'd like to read the first edition of the pleasure of small motions. The second edition reads like too much effort was made to stretch it and much of it, I believe pretty much the entire second half, is focused on not beating yourself, not on how to win. Lost my copy in a flood and I won't buy another copy to refresh my memory. The second edition wasn't a mental book on winning I was impressed with at all.
May have to go to my local library and see if they have or can get The Inner Game of Tennis. I don't remember reading it. Only read mental game books for entertainment these days so I'm not willing to buy it.
The book that did it for me was "Shooting From Within" by J Michael Plaxco. About pistol competition but a large section on the mental game and stuff sprinkled all through the book on the mental game too. Selling on the used market for up to $150 or still available at brownells.com for under $20 last time I looked. Aside from other things, this was the best book I read about finding the real zone. I read an entire book about finding your zone by a competitor who was a psychologist only to realize he didn't know what the zone was!
Hu
Wow. I'm impressed by the consistency to which you guys agree. I'll have to check audible for it.
Audible is the shit!
I have read them both and liked them, but they didn't like me. Still a C player 
Truman, can I get 9-6 please ???
Truman, can I get 9-6 please ???
The Inner Game of Golf transfers the ideas even better. Terminology passes between golf and pool a bit easier. READ IT!
I've only read the inner game of tennis. I've never played either game, but, sometimes.... late at night..... I watch women's tennis when my wife is sleeping. So, I chose that one. :winknudge::thud:
I've read both and liked them. Did NOT like Pleasures of Small Motions. I know I'm in the minority but it just isn't for everybody.
I have read them both and liked them, but they didn't like me. Still a C player
Truman, can I get 9-6 please ???
Is this B8con? Who dis is?
Was there any one thing you thought was exceptional?
In golf, Harvey Penick's "take dead aim" is considered an iconic statement. Wouldn't be a bad key thought in setting up your pool shot.
Having read both the Inner Game of Tennis and The Pleasure of Small Motions, both excellent books. My favorite book on the mental game is The Winning Point by Loren Folgelman. She works with many athletes and her exercises have proven to be very helpful. You can find the book on Amazon.
Something that a lot of folks miss when reading Gallwey is that you still, first and foremost, must have the talent to begin with. Then you can utilize the "Inner Game." If you dan't got that to start with you will still have squadoush, even after a through reading.
Lou Figueroa
I like the book. I think it might be the first book I ever read and I have read it numerous times since. It is not all about using mental tools after you aquire skills though, a part of the book deals with his strategy of learning new skills also.
From an article tonight after this guy's team won some sort of championship...
But Kerr isn't one to buckle under stress. In fact, the coach draws on one particular text as a guide to staying relaxed when the heat is on: the 1972 book "The Inner Game of Tennis: The Classic Guide to the Mental Side of Peak Performance," by Timothy Gallwey.
try reading the "Talent Code" and the subsequent "Little Book of Talent" by Coyle.
Coyle pretty much blows up the idea that you have to be born with talent.
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Try "Combat Golf". I thought it was a really good and easy read
What's interesting about this book and the era it came out in is this. Back in the 60's and 70's to have a great player offer up any help or tips for you too improve was zilch. During this time fram there were very few pool books one could get to help you improve. The timing of it was perfect for the game, it gave many weaker players that little extra in the tank, needed to win.