Looking for Pool Books with a Conversational Style

[boogieman]

So there are some books that really click with me, and others that don't. I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions.

Books that click:
Mastering Pool by George Fels
Anything by Freddy the Beard
Wagon Wheel System by Ted G. Brown
The Pleasure of Small Motions
Playing to Win by BC21
Magazine articles by Bob Jewett

Books that are excellent but don't click:
Play Your Best (9 Ball, Pool, 8 Ball, etc) by Phil Capelle
Byrne's books
99 Critical Shots
Pool and Billiards by Dr. Dave
Play Great Pool by Mark Wilson


The ones that click seem to be written in a more conversational tone. Like you're talking with the author or listening to them tell a story. You might have to parse some information and sometimes an almost non sequitur ends up being important. You can read the book from front to back without skipping around. Often they include some personal pool stories.

The ones that don't click as much are loaded with diagrams and almost seem like they are trying to cover every single aspect of pool that you could ever need to know. This isn't bad, but it just seems like parsing through info that I don't really need and I end up not enjoying the book cover to cover and end up wondering what I've missed.

Thanks for any suggestions/thoughts on this. I'd like to pick up a couple books to read on lunch break and practice on the table.

 

[lfigueroa]

If I ever get around to finishing it you will love my book, lol.

Lou Figueroa
don't hold
your breath

 

[Bob Jewett]

Babe Cranfield's books might fit. He did two of them with Larry Moy.

A little older is Complete Snooker by Joe Davis. Unfortunately, scarcity has driven the price over $100.

I can't think of any other book right now that is both good instruction and a "friendly" style. Well, Robin's one pocket books might work but they're horrible expensive.

 

[Banger]

If you are only referring to instructional books, then these may be of interest. But I don't think I would put a lot of stock in either. Mostly they are just for the fun of it.

Minnesota Fats on Pool: The complete guide for the pool enthusiast.
Willie Mosconi on Pocket Billiards

And of course, there are a number of non-instructional books that are fun reading, and somewhat historical, too.

 

[7stud]

Thanks for posting your lists. For anyone who is interested, "Wagon Wheel System: Secrets of Fine Position Play" can be downloaded from scribd. scribd is offering a 30 day free trial, but you have to give them your credit card info. I signed up, downloaded the book, then I immediately canceled the free trial, which also immediately terminated the free trial.

I found Mark Wilson's "Play Great Pool" to be extremely helpful. Initially, I practiced his recommended stance and all the other fundamentals, but ultimately his stance did not work out for me because I am right handed and completely left eye dominant so my vision center is directly under my left eye. Standing so far from the cue with his recommended stance, then reaching with my neck to get my left eye back over the cue was torturing my neck, so now I stand on the shot line, very close to the cue, with very little clearance, in order to give my neck some relief while getting my vision center lined up over the cue. However, I found all the other highly detailed fundamentals to be very valuable, like his recommended eye movements during your practice strokes.

I found Phil Capelle's book on 14.1 to be unreadable, so like you his book did not provide any help for me.

I recently worked my way through most of Ray Martin's "The 99 Critical Shots in Pool" again. Some of the shots don't work, however if you look up the shots on the internet, you can find good explanations of how to make them work (shot #22). Also, if you follow Dr Dave's videos you will know that certain shots won't work the way they are described (shot #32). Other shots can be replicated better using Dr. Dave's 30 degree rule and/or the tangent line (shot #43). Therefore, you have to read Ray's book with a very critical eye, which means it's not as simple as setting up the shots and practicing them. Dr Dave has a video that reviews 10 of the shots in the book:

 

[Jimmy_Betmore]

I really enjoyed this one because it kind of takes a step away from the table and the actual physical aspect of the game and, obviously, focuses on the mental side. Lots of good insights relating to visualization, pre-shot routine, and focus.