Byrnes “Complete Book on Pool Shots”

I just completed Byrnes “Complete Book on Pool Shots”. It is that, a book about many different pool shots, many unusual but workable. It is well written, easy to understand and each illustration was accurate. It is broken down into about 10 chapters of types of shots and probably contains about 700 hundred different shots. Most table illustrations had two to 3 three shots in the same table illustration utilizing the same concept and with a cue ball diagram to show the cue tip contact point which was very helpful. As with any book that has a plethora of shot diagrams, most will be forgotten except a few that really made an impression. Many of the shots were with the 9 ball at the throat of a pocket and how to pocket it in unusual circumstances. Most of these are common sense when looked at in the book but not thought of during a game, It helps the reader to think ‘out of the box’. What is gained are concepts on how to make types of shots that can be applied in real games. I used one last night that was the winning shot on the 8 ball. It utilized an easy double kiss to make the 8 that otherwise would be un-makeable. One revelation to me was that a sliding object ball on a bank shot closes the angle, as does a hard shot. This makes a difference when the object ball is close to the cushion because even a soft shot will result in a sliding object ball and will react similar to a hard hit.

This is not the strongest billiard book I have read but I am glad I took the time to read it word for word and work out many of the interesting shots on the table. There are always gems in every book that makes them worth the read. Though many of the shots probably will not be seen in an actual game and when they do it will probably be forgotten but the shot concepts will not be forgotten. I would give this book an average rating of 5.