Willie Mosconi on Pocket Billiards

I have played pool off and on for years and never real got very good. Then I purchsed this book and my game changed dramatically. Instead of getting beat all the time I began beating them. Some of my friends have said that overnight I got better at pool. I must say I owe most of it to this book. One of the nice things about this book is you will be able to read the whole thing in an hour! Willie Mosconi was the master pool player and one of the best to ever live so who better to take lessons from then the master himself. He starts out by showing you how to properly hold the cue stick. What a difference that makes. Then proper stance, making the bridge, stroke, cueing the ball, hitting the ball, english, combos, strategy, practice and more. This is a compact guide that can help anyone improve there game in as little as a couple games. There are also numerous illustrations included in this book to help you to visualize just how to make shots. Overall I would say this is a GREAT book on learning how to play pool.

When I went away to college in 1985, my girlfriend's father gave me a copy of the then-current edition of this book. I'd played a lot of pool before, but this book changed my game from mediocre to excellent, which is why I recently bought a new copy to give to a friend who is just learning the game. The tips on holding the cue stick alone made a difference in my game; when I spent the time to practice the other principles Mosconi discusses, I began to win more often than not, and could honestly say, "I meant to do that," when I'd just made a particularly difficult shot. The fact that the book is small enough to roll up and stick in your back pocket helps; you can whip it out whenever you need to review a particular concept.