Customer Reviews

The Straight Pool Bible: Personal Instruction from a World Champion Arthur "Babe" Cranfield and Laurence S. Moy

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This was a thoroughly enjoyable read. In pool speak - a "dead on" combination of personal anecdotes of one of pool's greatest champions and useful techniques for improving your game. This book is much easier to read (and thus, in many respects, more useful) than a number of comprehensive treatises on the game that are available. Larry Moy has made a great contribution to the game and, together with "Babe," has gone a long way to making a difficult, but exciting, game a little easier and even more enjoyable.

I've never been much of a pool player, but I have always wanted be play well. I have a decent eye but little, if any, technique. I play on an infrequent basis, mostly because I am good enough to beat novices on a regular basis, but not nearly good enough to beat anyone who truly understands the game. I tried once to watch some videos on the game but it seemed as though they were either too rudimentary or got caught up on trick shots that I could never use in a practical manner.

I needed someone to show me how to play the game. How to make my next shot easier--not harder. In short, I wanted to know the "tricks" that made me a better player. This book does all of that.

If you want to learn how to improve the very essence of your game, whether you are a true novice or an intermediate player (like myself) this really is the "Bible of Pool." For the pros, I still think this is a great source. Cranfield is a former world champ, is in the Billiards Hall of Fame, and has shared all of his insights with Moy.

If you like the game, make the investment.

I've had the pleasure of watching Babe Cranfield play on numerous occasions. In my opinion, he ranks as one of the the top straight pool players of all time. The beauty of his game was an aggressive style coupled with brilliant pattern play. Few could run a rack in the simple uncomplicated manner of the Babe. This book conveys the importance of pocketing balls in the correct sequence to ensure run-outs without moving the cueball all over the table - a lost art to the modern nine ball player. While there are no new fundamentals or deep secrets revealed, the reader does gain insight from one of the finest gentlemen to ever play the game.

Cranfield and Moy do manage to get across a few useful facts and strategies for straight pool, but there's really nothing new here. Not only is the content of the book fairly weak, it's also full of technical inaccuracies. Considering the level of play that Cranfield was at, it's interesting to note that he apparently has no grasp whatsoever of the actual effects of english and throw. While a good player of any of the other cuesports might find this a useful introduction to the strategy of straight pool, I think a beginner may find this book does irreparable harm to his understanding of basic fundamentals.

Pool players: if you are anything above a low C player than this book is really a waste of time, and exposes no unique opinions/strategies/skills/drills that you will find useful. Basically the book rides on the coattails of the authors' professional achievements; sadly these do NOT bring with them a knack for either teaching OR writing, as sorely evidenced in this thin texts' lack of content. Time would be better spent with Cappelle, Fels and Koehler. These three will say all this book says and much, much more. Good luck with your runouts....

I think the book will be extremely usefull to all pool players that are use to moving the cue ball all over the table with little regard for absolute position and control.
It's a no nonsense approach to the game of Straight Pool and Billiards in general. It a good resource that can be usefull in all cue games.

To my great pleasure, I've noticed a number of posts recently from players taking up the game of straight pool for the first time. I've been playing 14.1 (straight pool) for almost 40 years, and I consider it the most challenging and fascinating of all the pool games.

Oddly, though, in all my years of playing, I've seldom seen a decent book on straight pool. Only George Fels' (all his books are excellent) nearly 15 year old book is worthwhile for the aspiring straight pool player. But now there is a terrific new addition.

One of the greatest straight pool players of all time, Babe Cranfield, has produced a really useful book on straight pool called "The Straight Pool Bible". I highly recommend this book to anyone--newcomer to veteran. It is concise, accurate, filled with wonderful insights and advice, and provides clear and useful illustrations. I particularly enjoyed that he emphasizes there is seldom only one correct way to run a rack. He acknowledges there can be many effective routes to the break ball. His advice, then, is not dogmatic, rather, it is dynamic, suggesting concepts over rigid patterns. (He does, however, offer some common "by the numbers" patterns to illustrate points.) His sections on pattern play and position will help players of any game, from straight to 9-ball. This is one great book.

The Straight Pool Bible conveys the basics (physical and mental), the art, and the strategy of playing pool in the most simple yet comprehensive manner. Beginners as well as advanced players will learn much from reading less than 200 pages. The information is clear, and the diagrams are most helpful. Of course the concentration of the book is straight pool, for which there is ample instruction; but the lessons learned will be applied easily to eight-ball, nine-ball, one pocket, and even snooker. I found the sections devoted to the mental game extremely interesting and helpful. I have not found another book devoted to billiards that has conveyed the way to acquire, practice, and focus the mental aspect of pool as well as The Straight Pool Bible by Cranfield and Moy.

Covers some aspects of Straight Pool...but never in enough depth or clarity. More worth your money are Capelle's "Play your Best Straight Pool" (everything you can imagine about the game) and Fels' classic "Advanced Pool" (not quite as in depth as Capelle, but with good sections on the mental aspect of pool, plus several racks analyzed shot by shot). To be perfectly honest, I junked Babe's book a month after buying it; I simply had no use for it alongside better books like the above-mentioned.