Author : Chris Stone
Comments : The smallest book in my collection at 63mm x 75mm. Useful tips are also in short supply.
Author : Howard Jacobson
Comments : A first USA paperback version of the popular 1999 original
Author : Bernd Ulrich Gross & Werner Schlager
Comments : A really good coaching book. It gives some wonderful photographs and some sound coaching advice. The Question and Answer format can sometimes make for a prolonged reading session, but overall the book is the definitive book of modern Table Tennis.
Author : Alex Polyakov
Comments : All books should be as enjoyable as this one. A highly readable account of a beginner’s rise up the ladder to a very respectable standard of play. Full of useful tips and homilies. The US Rating System has many advantages, but the UK Rating System is calculated differently and I have no doubt that other countries have their own systems. I wonder if the concept of targeting 2000 points as achievements, might restrict the books attraction to the US market only.
Author : ITTF
Comments : More of the same wonderful photographs.
Author : Steve Grant
Comments : WOW! What a fabulous book. One of the best TT historians has completed a massive feat of research in producing this definitive history on the birth of our sport. I have to say that other earlier histories are dwarfed by comparison. Richly illustrated and full of anecdotal and factual evidence, I suspect this work cannot be surpassed. If you are intrigued by our sport, or even just enjoy a good yarn – get one.
Author : Fred Danner
Comments : An interesting account of the Ping Pong Diplomacy and the negotiations and subsequent visits to China by the British and US Table Tennis Teams and Dipolmats. I found this fascinating but whether I will be quite so excited about the planned future volumes I am not so sure.
Author : Colin Clemmett
Comments : A well produced commemorative book celebrating the 2012 London Olympics. I can’t see any previously undiscovered data but the history sections and in particular, the section on TT in the Olympics are nevertheless superbly presented with some dynamic action photographs
Author : Mark Geoffrey Young
Comments : Pick any joke you have ever heard and substitute the Englishman, Scotsman, or Irishman, and insert ‘a Table Tennis Player’ instead. For example ‘ a Table Tennis Player walked into a bar……’ or ‘There was an Englishman, an Irishman and a Table Tennis Player………….’. Lots of jokes with that sort of treatment and not a mention of a bat or ball. There are endless possibilities of using the same jokes for different sports, nationalities, professions, etc. Good Fun, but it’s just not cricket. P.S. Note the name of Publisher.
Author : ITTF
Comments : More of the same wonderful photographs, but even photos as good as these start to look a little tired after 7 volumes. I think there is room for a new format.