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Pleasures of Small Motions: Mastering the Mental Game of Pocket Billiards » (Revised)

Book cover image of Pleasures of Small Motions: Mastering the Mental Game of Pocket Billiards by Bob Fancher, Ph.D. Bob

Authors: Bob Fancher, Ph.D. Bob, Robert T Fancher
ISBN-13: 9781585745395, ISBN-10: 1585745391
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Globe Pequot Press
Date Published: June 2002
Edition: Revised

Author Biography: Bob Fancher, Ph.D. Bob

Book Synopsis

A psychotherapist and pool columnist breaks new ground by applying good science to the mental game of billiards and gives invaluable insight on competitive play.

	Foreword to the New Edition	ix
	Introduction	xi
1.	Motivation: The Pleasures of Small Motions	1
	The Instinct for Play	3
	The Value of Proper Motivation	5
	Pleasure and Other Motivations	7
2.	Body in Mind: What the Mental Game is About	11
	The Bodily Mind	12
	The Conceptual Mind	14
	Can Mental Skills Really Be Learned?	16
	Acquiring a Sound Mental Game	17
3.	A Sense of the Game: Conscious and Unconscious Controls	19
	Division of Labor, Part One	20
	Developing Unconscious Controls	22
	Division of Labor, Part Two	26
	Relaxing Conscious Controls	29
4.	Concentration: The Well-Ordered Mind	31
	Concentration in a Nutshell	32
	Filling in the Picture	34
	Focus	38
	Distraction	40
	Concentration as Choreography	44
5.	Rhythm: Put Some Music in Your Moves	47
	Why Rhythm Matters	47
	Understanding Rhythm	50
	Becoming Rhythmic	52
	Tempo	57
	Play as Dance	58
	Interlude
	Dead Stroke: All Together Now	61
6.	Emotions: The Source of Playing at All	65
	Emotions and Performance	66
	The "Right Amount" of Emotion	68
	Modulating Your Emotions	68
	Shaping Your Emotional Climate	69
	Controlling Your "Current Weather Conditions"	71
	The Moral of the Story	76
7.	Confidence: The Security of Accurate Expectations	77
	Confidence and Self-Image	78
	Effective Confidence	80
	The Pool Journal	83
	Confidence, Probability, and Your Current Skills	85
	The Banality of Confidence	87
8.	Motivation Revisited: Moved by Desire	89
	Essential Traits and Idiosyncratic Meanings	91
	Motivation and the Place of Pool in Your Life	95
	The Disaster of Single-Mindedness	97
	Optimizing Motivation	98
9.	Competition: Finding Out Who's Who	101
	What Makes Competition Different?	102
	The Fundamental Challenge of Competition	104
	The Basic Solution	107
	Confidence and Respect	109
10.	The Opponent: Why Competing Is Competing	113
	The Inevitability of Noticing	114
	How the Opponent Matters 101	115
	The Opponent and Your Game Plan	117
	Competitive Styles: Dominants and Egalitarians	118
	The Point of Competing, Again	121
11.	Almost Neurotic: Competitive Problems of Peculiar Sorts	123
	Fear of Harsh Judgment	124
	Fear of Winning	126
	Solace from Neurotic Experience	129
12.	Competition and Pleasure	131
	Panic and Pleasure	133
	The Best Indicator	137
	The Romance of the Game	139
	For Further Reading	141
	Acknowledgments	143
	About the Author	145

Subjects

Game Books

Pool & Billiards

Billiards -> Handbooks & Manuals
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