Rating: 
Summary: Excellent for beginners, a little too heavy on straight-pool
Review: This book has a lot of great information for beginning and intermediate players. I'm a self-taught aspiring player, and while I was capable of actually hitting the ball with english, I didnt quite understand what this would do in all cases. Ray Martin's book focuses heavily on the implications of english and, in fact, gives easy geometrical formulas you can use to make bank and carom shots. (I needed those!) Three minor problems I have with the book, though: 1) It's tough to differentiate black target balls from other gray balls. They all look black. 2) The wording gets repetitive at times - it seems every shot is come across "thousands of times." Then again, if each of these 99 shots is "critical," there are only so many ways to say so. 3) Finally, a lot of the shots focus on straight pool. If all you play is 8-ball and 9-ball, the last 20 or so shots are of limited value. (Most are positions for putting a ball in and breaking the rack in the same shot.) Of course, if all you play is straight pool, this is great. Anyway, I highly recommend this book. These problems I have with it are nothing significant, and the information contained within is priceless to someone who can hold his own but is trying to become great.
Rating:
Summary: 99 - 24 = 75
Review: This book is not a bad read. Many of the 99 shots are duplicated, so it's more like 75 critical shots. If you've never read a book on pool, this book is definitely not a bad start and will help you identify and make your shots easier. I read this book on a friend's advice and I think it has helped me become a better player, but I was left a little wanting in some areas. If you're a beginner, this book should improve your game greatly, but if you're more than an intermediate player, this book won't help you too much. Remember, there's no substiture for GOOD practice.
Rating:
Summary: 99 - 24 = 75
Review: This book is not a bad read. Many of the 99 shots are duplicated, so it's more like 75 critical shots. If you've never read a book on pool, this book is definitely not a bad start and will help you identify and make your shots easier. I read this book on a friend's advice and I think it has helped me become a better player, but I was left a little wanting in some areas. If you're a beginner, this book should improve your game greatly, but if you're more than an intermediate player, this book won't help you too much. Remember, there's no substiture for GOOD practice.
Rating: 
Summary: A very good book suffering from poor illustrations.
Review: This book is victimized by the the illustrator more than the authors. The writing style is good and the choice of shots and explanations is excellent. However, even in the hardcover edition it is impossible to distinguish the object ball in the diagrams. The sad part is that this could have been overcome by simply making all the non-objects balls 'stripes'. Also, in one example the author mentions balls A B and C which are not marked in the diagram at all.If you are only going to buy ONE book, I would suggest Byrne's Standard Book of Pool and Billiards rather than 99 Crucial Shots. The fact that this book is a good addition to anyone's billiard LIBRARY, in spite of the flawed illustrations, is a solid endorsement of Ray Martin's ability to recognize these shots and the authors' ability to explain them in a clear and concise manner.
Rating: 
Summary: Great tutorial!
Review: This book really works. After I had read this book once and looked at the table next day I was surprised how many new shots I could see and, more important, make.
Rating:
Summary: This is a must bring to practice sessions.
Review: This book should reside in your cue case. When it time to practice and you need to increase your accuracy, pull out this book and go to town.
Rating:
Summary: This is the best self help book out there !!!!! PERIOD.
Review: this book will improve your game greatly by the time you read and put into use the first 20 shots... it was writen very well for the beginner or the amateur wanting more from their game... Thanx Ray !
Rating:
Summary: Excellent foundation for your game!
Review: This book will provide the new player or the player who wants to raise the level of his/her game with an excellent foundation for the shots that they will see over and over in playing pool. I often go back to it when I start to lose confidence in my game. I'm giving copies of it as Christmas gifts to the other players on my APA league team!
Rating:
Summary: excellent shot foresight to last a life time
Review: This is my third billiard book (one more to go for now) and this was by far the most informative. The illustrations and explanations were clear and understandable. I have been shooting about 60% of the 99 shots, but some i did not understand the principle. Now that i do, it opens up a whole new arena a possibilites. Some of the shots I had no idea they would pocket and best of all, they work on a real table, not just on paper. These are not trick shots but realworld situations. I realy like this book and I am sure I will refer back to it many times in the future. I am not usualy so generous in my reviews.
Rating:
Summary: excellent shot foresight to last a life time
Review: This is my third billiard book (one more to go for now) and this was by far the most informative. The illustrations and explanations were clear and understandable. I have been shooting about 60% of the 99 shots, but some i did not understand the principle. Now that i do, it opens up a whole new arena a possibilites. Some of the shots I had no idea they would pocket and best of all, they work on a real table, not just on paper. These are not trick shots but realworld situations. I realy like this book and I am sure I will refer back to it many times in the future. I am not usualy so generous in my reviews.
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