Pleasures of Small Motions: Mastering the Mental Game of Pocket Billiards [Paperback]

Bob Fancher (Author), Robert T. Fancher (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 2000

Pleasures of Small Motions is the only book on billiards written by an expert on psychology. Everyone who plays pool says: it's mostly mental. Until now, though, no one with any expertise on the mind has written about the game. Bob Fancher ("Dr. T Bob, Pool Shrink," of The American Cueist Magazine) changes that. Now you can find out what light real science about the mind sheds on pocket billiards!

Editorial Reviews

Review

A very practical book . . . [Fancher's] logic and evidence are very persuasive. This could be a breakthrough book for your game. -- Pool & Billiards Magazine, February, 2001)

One brilliant piece of writing. It is the best ten bucks you will ever spend towards improving your game. -- Billiards with Nick Prinsloo, about.com

From the Back Cover

Everyone who plays pool knows that it is "mostly mental," but the conventional wisdom about the mental game is about as accurate as the idea that the earth is flat. Until now, no one with any expertise on how the human mind works has bothered to write about pool. In Pleasures of Small Motions, Bob Fancher, a psychotherapist and pool columnist, breaks new ground by applying good science to the mental game of billiards.This book does for pool what Timothy Gallwey's bestselling "The Inner Game" books did for golf and tennis. Fancher explains how the conscious and unconscious mind work together, prescribes drills to help players improve, advises on mastering emotion and developing rhythm, explains the difference between concentration and focus, and gives invaluable insight on competitive play. (6 x 9, 160 pages, illustrations) Bob Fancher's column, "Dr. Bob, Pool Shrink," appears monthly in The American Cueist. He earned his Ph.D. at Vanderbilt University and practiced psychotherapy in New York for fourteen years. His acclaimed book Cultures of Healing has been used in classes at Columbia University, Princeton, and many other schools, and is writing has appeared in The Washington Post and other publications. He lives in Austin, Texas.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Writers Club Press (September 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 059512271X
• ISBN-13: 978-0595122714
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #920,176 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Invaluable advice on the mental side of the game, August 2, 2003

By 

S. McCandlish "Webmaster, pool instructor, an... (United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Pleasures of Small Motions: Mastering the Mental Game of Pocket Billiards (Paperback)

After you hone your basic shotmaking skills, pool is almost entirely a mental game. There are precious few books on the topic of the mental side of pool and billiards (I know of only three), and this is by far the best of them. The author is a sports psychologist (and pool player), and he explodes a lot of the "mental myths" of pool, including undoing some bad advice written by pool pros and wanna-be pros who meant well but didn't know what they were talking about psychologically speaking. The prose is also a nice read, especially for a nonfiction book. I can especially recommend this volume for intermediate players who are having a hard time dealing with league or tournament competition pressure. Fancher may give you some mental tools to quit being a "Count Choke-ula".

PS: If you order this used, be sure you are getting the revised 2002 edition.

24 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The new version, June 28, 2002

By 

Bob Fancher (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pleasures of Small Motions: Mastering the Mental Game of Pocket Billiards (Paperback)

Since I have to give this book "stars" to post about it, publically I give it five--as one would assume most authors would about their books. Such self-doubts as I may have needn't be advertyised, right? Anyway, the stars aren't my idea, but oh, well.

The point of this "review," though, is to tell readers of the first edition how this edition differs.

This edition is about fifty percent larger than the original, organized into twelve chapters (and an "interlude") rather than the original seven. The new material is mostly about competition, motivation, and the place of the body in the mental game. In addition, new material has been worked into various chapters to elaborate or clarify.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential for Serious Players, September 27, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Pleasures of Small Motions: Mastering the Mental Game of Pocket Billiards (Paperback)

If you're a serious player, this may be the most important purchase you'll ever make to improve your pool game. Once you are proficient at pocketing balls, getting shape, breaking, safety play and kicking, it's your mental game that determines if your skills will "come out to play today" or not. If you usually play much better in practice or when nothing is on the line than when in serious competition, this book is for you. Dr. Fancher teaches you how to use competitive pressures to your benefit. Believe it or not, you actually have the capacity to play better in competition than in practice by using the methods contained in this wonderful book. It's worked wonders for my game. I've surprised myself many times over the past year with sterling play during pressure packed matches. If I could rate this book higher than 5 stars, I would without hesitation.