Rating: 
Summary: This book gives you a really solid foundation
Review: If you are looking for a good book for beginners, this isn't it. This book is all about making a good pool player better. It assumes a basic knowledge of pool has already been established. If you're a beginner, check out Ewa Mataya Laurance's "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Pool & Billiards." It's a great straight-forward book to get you started right. But if you're already a pretty good pool player and want to add some great shots to your game, I highly recommend "The 99 Critical Shots in Pool."The book is not without it's drawbacks. This is a 220 page book. Of that, 50 pages are devoted to The Official Rules and Glossary of Terms. An additional 25 pages skim the basics of shooting form, etc. That leaves only 145 pages for the meat of the book, the 99 critical shots. Of the 99 shots, 22 are devoted to break shots for straight pool. If, like me, you play only 8-ball and 9-ball, then this book should be called "The 77 Critical Shots in Pool" because you'll never use the other 22. So, for me, this 220 page book has only 107 useful pages. The format of the shots section is great. Each shot includes a diagram of the whole table layout, a diagram of the cue ball showing exactly where to strike it to impart the draw, follow or English, and a text description of the shot. As others have pointed out, the text refers to a black ball (the object ball) and gray balls (all other balls), yet they are indistinguishable in the diagrams; they both look black. This is an annoyance, but does not keep you from understanding the author's intentions. Between the text description and the lines indicating the ball paths, I was always able to determine which ball was the object ball. If I still had my own pool table, I would have this book sitting right next to it. I'd study a single shot in this book and then practice it until I had mastered it. Then, when I'd mastered that shot, I'd proceed to the next shot and so forth. That would be the most effective way to use the book. Unfortunately, I have to go to a pool hall to practice. I don't know about you, but I don't really want to be seen reading a book about pool at the pool hall. So I have to study several shots and then practice them there from memory. Obviously, there's no substitute for practice. This book shows you WHAT to practice.
Having told you that I only found 107 pages (77 shots) useful, you might get the impression that this book's not worth buying. Nothing could be further from the truth. Of those 77 shots, probably at least half were shots that I had either never even considered or had never fully mastered. You only have to add a few new shots to your game to make this book well worth the price. Buy it!
Rating:
Summary: You say you're good? This will make you better!
Review: If you are looking for a good book for beginners, this isn't it. This book is all about making a good pool player better. It assumes a basic knowledge of pool has already been established. If you're a beginner, check out Ewa Mataya Laurance's "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Pool & Billiards." It's a great straight-forward book to get you started right. But if you're already a pretty good pool player and want to add some great shots to your game, I highly recommend "The 99 Critical Shots in Pool." The book is not without it's drawbacks. This is a 220 page book. Of that, 50 pages are devoted to The Official Rules and Glossary of Terms. An additional 25 pages skim the basics of shooting form, etc. That leaves only 145 pages for the meat of the book, the 99 critical shots. Of the 99 shots, 22 are devoted to break shots for straight pool. If, like me, you play only 8-ball and 9-ball, then this book should be called "The 77 Critical Shots in Pool" because you'll never use the other 22. So, for me, this 220 page book has only 107 useful pages. The format of the shots section is great. Each shot includes a diagram of the whole table layout, a diagram of the cue ball showing exactly where to strike it to impart the draw, follow or English, and a text description of the shot. As others have pointed out, the text refers to a black ball (the object ball) and gray balls (all other balls), yet they are indistinguishable in the diagrams; they both look black. This is an annoyance, but does not keep you from understanding the author's intentions. Between the text description and the lines indicating the ball paths, I was always able to determine which ball was the object ball. If I still had my own pool table, I would have this book sitting right next to it. I'd study a single shot in this book and then practice it until I had mastered it. Then, when I'd mastered that shot, I'd proceed to the next shot and so forth. That would be the most effective way to use the book. Unfortunately, I have to go to a pool hall to practice. I don't know about you, but I don't really want to be seen reading a book about pool at the pool hall. So I have to study several shots and then practice them there from memory. Obviously, there's no substitute for practice. This book shows you WHAT to practice.
Having told you that I only found 107 pages (77 shots) useful, you might get the impression that this book's not worth buying. Nothing could be further from the truth. Of those 77 shots, probably at least half were shots that I had either never even considered or had never fully mastered. You only have to add a few new shots to your game to make this book well worth the price. Buy it!
Rating:
Summary: An informative primer for the sport of billiards
Review: In "The 99 Critical Shots in Pool," Ray Martin takes
the beginning player through the fundamentals of pool.
He proceeds in a very organized and stepwise fashion.
The shots that he teachs are fun to learn, fun to
watch, and useful in pool games. If the average beginning
to intermediate player practiced most of the shots in this
book, they could easily become experts at the game of pool.
Rating:
Summary: Great book for sharpening your pool skills
Review: In addition to the 99 shots, this book also has general advice on the game that I found useful. An advanced player may not benefit from the advice on stance and cue maintenance, but I did. And the shots are clearly explained. It really opened my eyes to possibilities I'd never seen before. Some of the examples in the book seem impossible to control, but if you follow the directions, you'll be surprised how they work. As for the illustrations, yes stripes would have been a better choice than gray, but I never had trouble knowing which ball was the object ball. If you look close, you can see the differences, but even without that, the context and markings always made it clear. My game is improving and I've only had the book for a short time.
Rating:
Summary: SIMPLY, THE BEST BOOK ON POOL
Review: Normally, I wouldn't take the time to write a review, however, I owe a lot to Ray Martin and his book --- it dramatically changed my pool game and fostered my love for the game. The other night I was playing eight-ball and was in a virtually impossible position to make a shot. Using a little imagination and three principles I learned a long time ago from the 99 Critical Shots, I was able to make a really slick shot, instead of playing a safety. However, this is NOT a book of trick shots. It is a book of fundamental principles, many of which I doubt you can learn on your own (at least, I couldn't have). In fact, the book does an excellent job of emphasizing that pool is not about trick shots, but about controlling your position. As a side note, about ten years ago I was playing straight pool in Elizabeth, NJ. I had discovered the 99 Critical Shots three or four years earlier. There was a guy who was watching me play pool for a half-hour, until his table was called. Then, he picked up his case and left. Spray-painted across the case was "Ray Martin". Hilarious.
Rating:
Summary: Pool Homework
Review: Of The 23 trillion or so possible pool table layouts, the author has distilled them down to 99 different recurring situations in this best seller book. Including are basic cuts, combos, banks, jumps, masse' and advanced force through shots. Those fortunate enough to have a pool table at home can experiment privately with each shot for maximum learning impact. The one famous error in the book does not offset the great value of it. (error: hit the ball and the rail at the same time to cut a frozen ball down the rail).
Rating:
Summary: This is the one book you must have to understand the game.
Review: Ray Martin puts the art of playing pool into simple easy to follow language. Maneuvers such as draw, English and masse are explained in detail. Emphasis is placed on position play.
Rating:
Summary: excellent text; wish the publisher could have done better
Review: Ray writes in a very straight forward , informative, witty and challenging style. The diagrams and explanations are clear and easy to understand. I am , however, disappointed that I cannot distinguish between the two groups of balls ( grays and blacks).....the copying or reproduction process could have been better (what happened to quality inspection) . P.S . I purchased the paperback edition.
Rating: 
Summary: This book is awful.
Review: The text here is poorly written, and even includes things that just plain violate physics and will be confusing and misleading to those without good pre-existing understanding of the interactions between the balls. For a much better Beginner's book, one that can take you to a very high level, I suggest "Byrne's Standard Book of Pool and Billiards." For the more advanced, George Fels' "How would you Play this" is excellent.
Rating:
Summary: One of the most informative books on Billiards!
Review: This book explains in such detail almost every imaginable shot in pool. It shows you how to use English and the consequenses of doing so. This is a great book for the first timer up to anyone NOT competing semi-pro or pro. Everyone can get something out of this book. Pool is like the game Othello, "a minute to learn, but a lifetime to master".
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