Byrne's Book of Great Pool Stories

By: Robert Byrne

Book Overview

Robert Byrne provides drama, humor, and constant surprises in this first-ever collection of short stories about pool, billiards, and snooker. The writers have made excellent use of the short story... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 015600223X
• ISBN13: 9780156002233
• Release Date: January 1995
• Publisher: Mariner Books
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 1.28 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 7.0" x 10.0"

Customer Reviews

An interesting collection

Perhaps the first thing to consider with this work is that the number of total pool related stories is low. So don't expect every story to be excellent or to be totally about pool. I am impressed Byrne found this many stories. This is a great book for people who collect books on pool (such as myself.) There is nothing else like it. I think there's enough stories in here, that most people would enjoy at least some of them. I was surprised at one negative review which dismissed the whole book. I thought the story "The crossroader" was almost worth the price of the book alone. Throw in the Walter Tevis stories (I seem to recall there being two,) and you should have little to complain about. I also loved the "sci-fi" story about the pool playing alien. If you don't expect every story to be a classic story about high stakes pool matches or hustling, you should enjoy this. Of course, it also helps to appreciate the short story as an art form unto itself. If you don't have any pool stories, I suggest first buying Playing of the Rail as it's the best pool story I have ever read. I have rated it 4 stars due to it's unique nature, and R. Byrne's hard work in actually finding enough pool stories to fill a book.

A book of stories sure to amuse pool players everywhere

Being an avid pool player, I often look for books on the subject to take up the time when I can't play. Most of the stories in this book were well written and were very enjoyable. Granted, there were some stories that were not as good, but in any book of short stories, that is bound to be the case. Overall, the book was humorous, and I enjoyed reading it.