If you are starting out in pool or billiards, this is probably the best instructional book for beginners out there. Byrnes' clarity in this area is unparalleled. Once you have acquired some basic knowledge of pool and billiards, the only way to get better is by playing, observing, and practicing. If you are a pool player, I believe the best way to improve your cue ball control is by playing the carom game. Play the carom game (you should probably start out with straight rail) for a few months and you'll see the difference. As for the billiard players, don't get too caught up in all the fancy shots in Byrnes' book since some of them are extremely low-percentage shots in a game situation. The key to high runs in three-cushion is positioning. I believe the best way to learn to play position is by watching top players and studying tapes of top players. Remember what you see and practice it over and over. You also might want to learn a few systems for double checking and for getting the cue ball in the neighborhood when you can't visualize a shot.

I just learned about this NEW publication, which is a revision of the one I read "Byrne's Standard Book of Pool and Billiards", Copyright © 1987, 1978 by the same author Robert Byrne. I have read just about every book on this subject, and there is no better book than this one! In fact, I recommend all of Robert Byrne's Pool & Billiards books and videos. He is an accomplished player, teacher and author.

I have no doubts that this book will meet and exceeds everyone's expectations on the subject!

Robert Byrne has set the standard. As a state ranked player I decided to read this book. My game went to the next level. His checklist for running a table, his description of different types of "throw" shots and his simplifying the stroke all were instrumental. In pool, unlike other sports, there are few real teachers, Robert Byrne is a great teacher for the beginner to the very advanced player. It's the least expensive pool lesson you'll ever get.

The book is interesting, but I tried a number of the supposedly "easy" trick shots.. They're not easy and I'm a fairly decent shot (play in leagues etc..). I'm sure with consistent practice, you could actually make 1 or 2 of these shots, but even then they would be "low percentage" shots. The placement of the balls must be perfect and no text can tell where to place these balls with the kind of precision you'll need to make these shots. Just don't expect to buy this book and be making trick shots the next day.. - You'll be disappointed. Even so, it's fun just to see these shots diagramed and the historical facts/anecdotes are interesting.

This book covers the classics, such as the football shot, butterfly shot, machine gun shot, just showin' off, etc, plus variations, (i.e. masse machine gun shot) lesser known shots, and shots by the author. Some require almost no skill at all, while making others could keep pros happy all day.
Every shot has information about its history, how to do it, and sometimes even suggestions on what to say before you attempt it, plus a clear yet detailed digram of the setup and shot.
Almost any book will tell you how to do a few, common trick shots, but this one has them all.

Once again Byrne delivers concise info in an easy understandable manner. I currently own several of his books and videos; all of which are helpful. Some of his info may be found in earlier writings, but that's the case with many tomes in this area. It's no surprise he was inducted into the BCA Hall of Fame for his wonderful contributions to this sport via his writings/videos.

This is another wonderfully written book by Robert Byrne. It shows the vivid life of a pool hustler/hobo/drunk/real person that was in his prime in the 1920's-1950's. If gives a real sense of McGoorty and his life in what apear to be his own words. He also shares extremely colorful insight, his opinion, into several famous and well known professional billiard players and World Champions of his era. It is full of real life experiences during those times; however, the language and crude tone are very vulgar. If you're not offended it is an enjoyable interesting read.

McGoorty, billiards legend, tells all. Not quite on the same plateau as, for example, Mezz Mezzrow's 'Really the Blues', but definitely up there in the modest pantheon of books unafraid to celebrate lowbrow Americana in all its primal glory. McGoorty's glorious world of the 1920s and 30s is gone now, but thankfully we have a few books like this to remind us what it was like.

Quick review: Very unique voice. Was a pleasure to read. Excellent Social Anthropological details contained within. Highly recommended. Made me want to learn 3 cushion.

It's fun, informative and useful. I have several Byrne books and videos and I review them once in a while. I hesitated buying this in fear it was merely a revamping of old material. I found it used...and bought it anyway; I was so wrong, it's totally new and fresh and a great addition to my library. Byrne comes thru once again and shows why he's been inducted into the BCA hall of Fame.

Originally after I read Byrne's "Skyscraper" novel I thought he had absolutely no talent in placing words together, placing him in the moronic catagory, as well as a complete bore! But he swings and connects with this work! Bravo!

Ponape and Nan-Matol ARE still mysterious islands in the South Pacific - despite much archaeological speculation, Easter Island is too! This wild tale combines the mystery of these islands with hollow-earth theory and techno-occultism to produce a fantasy epic only Abraham Merritt could conceive.

abraham merritt: a great writer from the age before the far corners of the world had been explored. when there was still a sense of innocence about what the world contained. it is gone now that we have investigated the whole world. there are no strange islands in the south pacific; no metal monsters in outer mongolia; no bridges to valhalla above the artic circle in scandinavia. there are times when knowing too much hurts the ability to dream. from pat taylor

I gave this five stars because it deserved it. It's still a classic and still a lot of fun to read. However, readers be warned. You must remember it was written in 1919. Stereotypes abound. Women are voluptous, wear very little clothing and are either totally good or totally evil. If you can make allowances for all that, then it's a thoroughly enjoyable romp and the author's imagination is stunning. Today, he would place his adventure on an alien planet. In 1919, the vast uncharted regions of the Pacific were vast and alien enough to contain lost races, lost civilizations, unimaginable science, etc. My recommendation is to suspend all disbelief and critical judgment and simply enjoy.

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.

If you love Classic Hollywood Photos in Classic Hollywood style, then you will enjoy this book. It's really as simple as that. Another Coffee Table Conversation starter.

Although I was forced to read this book for a class of mine, I actually enjoyed it and gained a greater appreciation of some new perspectives

I think this book is a wakeup call for society - for all of us to re-evaluate ourselves and recognize the role we play in the evolution of technology. I think the author brings out such a valid point of the complexity of technology, and as a scientist/engineer myself, I find it refreshing, and not a burden, to think up new ideas and view my field in light of what effect society could/would have on it, instead of just what effect it could have on society. I personally think some of the detail on nuclear power could have been avoided without the reader missing the point (but I guess you can't disregard the hand (publisher) that feeds you). I also draw attention to another book, Biomimicry by Janine Benyus, which makes the point that nature provides a model for scientific innovation. If nature was our map, then the complex picture of technology that Pool paints could be a lot clearer and brighter.

'Beyond Engineering' is subtitled 'How Engineering Shapes Society'. It is that but it is much more. It is a book about technology and society. It is part a descriptive history and sociology of technology and part a prescriptive analysis of how society can manage technology to its best purposes. It is broken into two main parts. The first describes the technological process and shows how technologies are selected for mass utilization. The second uses this analysis and discusses the issues that have now arisen with the ascendancy of technology and its central place in society.

In discussing the technological selection process, the author Robert Pool makes much of the power of incumbency. A new technology does not arise form nothing but is developed in a co-evolution between scientific progress and societal capabilities. It is developed by human beings who live in a particular point in history and thus have their values and practices shaped in a specific manner. Any technology that is developed will have to be compatible with the social and technical attitudes prevailing at that time. Pool shows in his discussion of the development of the Watt steam engine that the engine was developed taking into full account the attitudes of the people who would have to implement and manufacture it. Watt could scientifically demonstrate the need for tight tolerances to maximize efficiency but his engine was being developed in an era of craft workman who could not see the necessity of such tolerance. Watt was compelled to set up controlled manufacturing sites where he could build machines to the required tolerances. It would have been more efficient to manufacture the engines in place with local labour but that could not be done in the ethos of that time.

Mistakes once made in the development of technology will propagate themselves in the social and technical attitudes of the people involved in its continuing development. Pool shows how nuclear power developed within the technological attitudes of military propulsion and civilian power generation. Pool shows how attitudes in these domains shaped the technological choices and how these choices were not the best either technically or commercially. Pool's analysis of the power of incumbency and the multi-armed bandit is excellent here.

The second part of the book talks of central place of technology in our society. Technology has moved far from the time of Watt. Now, technology is so complex that no one human being can be aware of all that factors that go into the development and operation of a major new invention. The implication of this is that no one can understand and predict the operation of a major invention in all circumstances. Technological risk cannot be obviated by the building of entirely predictable systems. Rather risk has become probabilistic with designs being created to hopefully prevent failures causing major loss of life or economic loss rare.

Society must decide if the risks inherent in a technology are acceptable given the benefits tha can be derived from it. Since no complex technology is predictable this acceptance must in some manner be built around a faith in our societies ability to cope with uncertainty. Since no technology can be proved safe in all circumstances, society must be shaped in such a way that it can rapidly cope with unexpected serious failures.

This analysis shows the basic disagreement between the neo-Luddites or technological pessimists and the technological optimists. Pool discusses the work of a Yale sociologist named Charles Perrow who argues that complex technologies cannot be so maintained. They are rife with un-understood emergent properties that render them unmanageable. They are so complex that they cannot be understood by any one person and therefore must be managed centrally and hierarchically by enforcing detailed operation procedures that are the result of long term research by multiple specialists. On the other hand they are prone to unexpected failures and so must be managed locally by workers who can respond to serious contingencies. According to Perrow this is a contradiction that shows that some technologies cannot be managed so as to prevent losses due to accidents. Perrow calls these 'normal accidents'. This is a statement of technological pessimism and is one that calls foe the aggressive use of the 'precautionary principle' in rejecting technologies that cannot be proved safe. Since this is true of most modern technologies it seems as if society must give up the benefits of modern technology in order to remain safe.

However there are many large complex technological systems that function safely. Pool uses the research of Berkeley political science professor Todd a Porte to show this. La Porte discovered may organizations that were managing large scale technologies in a very safe and efficient manner. The characteristic of these organizations is that they combine the properties that Perrow said wee incompatible. The combine a centralized hierarchical control of best practices with distributed local control able to cope with contingencies. La Porte shows how these function in the operation or the US air traffic control systems, military organizations such as aircraft carriers, large chemical manufacturing companies such as Dupont. These overlay a central concern with best practices with an educated workforce who are expected to montitor their own activities, communicate and learn.

This insight demonstrates the technological pessimism inherent in analyses like Perrow's can be overcome. Society can shape itself to be able to benefit from modern technology. Since this benefit will derive from the actions of an educated, self-initiating, learning middle class, technology can also indirectly create social good.

This is book well worth reading. One fault in the book is that Pool does not outline his argument anywhere. In no one pace does he give a clear summery of his ideas. An introduction and a final summary would have improved the book. Nevertheless this is a book this it found to be full of insight. It one that is well worth reading.

Beyond Engineering is the brightest of the many shining stars that make up the Sloan Technology Series. It is easily the most educational, enlightening and thought provoking ("The One Best Way" by Kanigel being a close second) of the series, and will be the barometer by which I personally measure all future popular technology books. Mr. Pool looks at the way in which technology and society shape each other by looking at eight key elements of these interactions. These areas form the chapters of Beyond Engineering, with Mr. Pool frequently using many poignant technological case studies, biotechnology, steam powered automobiles, the Xerox Alto, and many others. The recurring case study which unites the book is that of the nuclear power industry in the U.S. Despite the non-chronological nature of this story, it is told thoroughly, using just the right amount of technical explanation to explain without overwhelming.

Indeed, Mr.Pool began his book as a history of the US Nuclear Power Industry, but changed his topic as several other authors beat him to it ("Nuclear Choices" by R. Wolfson and "Nuclear Renewal" by R. Rhodes). It is a good thing they did, otherwise he would not have looked at this as merely a case study, in which to frame socio-technological interaction. The eight areas that are covered; momentum, idea creation, business, complexity, choices, risk, control and trade-offs are very quickly paced and liberally sprinkled with very poignant references. His thematic review of the subject matter is similar to the author Lisa Jardine's histories of the Renaissance and Scientific Revolution. The most frequently referred to text is Kuhn's classic "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions." This book could be viewed as the technological adaptation of Kuhn's scientific applications.

There are no ways in which the text disappoints, and it would be difficult to endorse it any more enthusiastically than I am. This book will be of benefit to anyone that works in technology, has a general interest in that area, is curious about nuclear power, or is simply looking for a good book.

This book contains very little information that will be of use to an 8 or 9-ball player and close to half of the book is spent discussing specific 3-Cushion shots. I bought this book for the defense section hoping to learn some more about that but again it related to 3-Cushion rather than anything for 8 or 9-ball. Since I don't know the first thing about 3-Cushion billiards, I can't say whether or not the information about that is good or not.

If you've already read Byrne's standard book, don't waste your money on this book, unless you're really in to 3cushion billiards. There is very little new info in this book. Borrow it from a friend, or check it out in the library if you can. Some stuff is useful, but you'll be disappointed if you've already read Byrne's.

...I don't claim any good talent in pool, but i do enjoy reading up on all the strategies and thought processes, and attempting to apply them when I play. Byrne's Advanced Technique isn't so much for advanced players only, but covers some specific topics that aer very interesting as well, such as the half-ball hit, the masse shot, the physics of the heavy tavern cueball, and so on. The section on Three-Cushion billiards is somewhat redundant, though, if you have his Standard. but it has some other topics, including more shots from master play, to keep one engrossed. He also writes some stories on several of the games greats, including three-cushion legends like Ceulemans and Blohmdal. Overall, a very good buy if you want to know as much about the game as you can.