Deep Pockets: Snooker and the Meaning of Life

by Brendan Cooper

'A brilliant book . . . brilliantly written. You really do need to read it' Adrian Chiles

'Mixing the sacred and the profane, high culture and low culture, the sublime and the ridiculous, Deep Pockets is the book this game of unfathomable difficulty and infinite mystery well deserves' Critic

The game of snooker has a remarkable history. From humble origins, it blossomed spectacularly in the 1980s into the nation's most popular sport. Top players became celebrities. The papers were stuffed with snooker scandals. It even conquered the pop charts.


In the twenty-first century, the game is still big news. Along with millions of British fans, a vast audience continues to grow across every corner of the world, from Europe to the Middle East to China. The global thirst for snooker has never been greater.


But - strangely perhaps - snooker's deeper meanings have rarely been explored. It is a game that celebrates subtlety and mystery; a slow undertaking in a fast-paced world. Elegant and profound, snooker invites serious contemplation.


Deep Pockets is a study of this uncharted territory - a love letter to snooker, and an impassioned journey into its soul. Because snooker, in fact, is more than a game. It is a belief set; a way of seeing; an entire philosophical system. In chapters that cover everything from time, truth, loss, luck and more, Deep Pockets explores how snooker can help us to trace the meaning of life itself.

286 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 6, 2023

Reviews

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding look at snooker and the meaning of the game. One of the best books I've read in a long time.

[Paul McCormack · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable, whimsical. No real new content for snooker followers

[Bobby Byrne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is quite a beautiful piece of writing. Although some of the references to literature and philosophy can sometimes feel a bit left of field overall there’s a lot of emotion and it’s a very engaging read. Rare to find a snooker book in any way like this

[Gille Liath · Rating 1 out of 5]

The trouble is, this is just a bad idea for a book. Few sports lend themselves to being written about. Cricket does, perhaps, with its endless subtleties, artistic ideals and very long matches in which to meditate about them. But with many sports, the danger is that as soon as you try to wax eloquent about them you immediately part company from the working class culture that is their lifeblood. We've all seen the excruciating results of nice middle class boys called Barney discovering football in their 20s, using their privilege to get into journalism, and letting loose on the Beautiful Game their full wanky panoply of writer's devices. They are regulars in Pseuds Corner, and deservedly so.

Brendan Cooper claims to be working class, and he kind of alludes to this issue at one point, yet it hasn't prevented him from producing this mutant aberration of a book. Almost the first passage I saw, flicking through it, was a quotation from Ben Jonson which mentions a billiard ball (no one can say Cooper isn't eclectic in his references; but this is usually a sign of someone either trying too hard to demonstrate the depth of their knowledge, or who isn't sure what they are trying to say). Following this quotation is his own comment:

'In these lines, the billiard ball is cast as an emblem of male physical perfection. The ball and sexual attractiveness are fused; billiards and sex blend into one...'

...All right, Grasshopper, if you say so (although the last sentence does sound stupendously unlikely).

Well - had enough yet? I suppose there are in snooker, as there are in any significant human activity, examples and illustrations of most facets of life. That doesn't mean it is a good idea to write about them. This strikes me as the work of someone who has spent too much time in front of the telly, wanted somehow to squeeze a book out of it, and has somehow - God alone knows how, although it is clear from the cover quotes that he does have a few useful friends - got it published. It's not what you know; it's who, you know.

[Zbigniew · Rating 1 out of 5]

Intriguing Monty Pythonian subtitle. Really? Is there meaning of life in snooker? If so, whose life – of the players, the audience, all of us, or the author’s alone? Brendan Cooper claims that working class culture is the lifeblood of snooker and that he is the working class himself (i.e. knows the subject). This is a bit too modest of him. The author is a true Renaissance man and his ‘Deep Pockets’ seem to be some sort of Finnegans Wake for the working class! Each chapter is loaded with literature references. E.g. ‘Vicory’ chapter references to quotations from Plato, Faulkner, Shakespeare (King Richard the Third & Midsummer Night’s Dream, Macbeth), Milton’s Paradise Lost, John Keats, T.S. Eliot, to mention just few. Against such a background, the reader learns that both Davis and Hendry were ‘Hannibal Lecters of snooker, they’d kill you and eat you if it meant winning the match’. This is something! Who would have thought? We learn also that Steve Davis was paranoic on drinking water. And that Ronnie is neurotic and Jimmie White is a born looser (wow!).
I successfully wasted a bit my life on reading this literary mumbo-jumbo. Apparently publishing anything may be a way of life, at the cost of ridicule, but is it the meaning of life?

[Jonny Brick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perfect for flicking at during the World Championships, with a mix of poetry and prose. A potted history(!!) of themes arising from the baize, with literary knowledge interspersed with character studies. A bit overwritten in places, but a fine sports book.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very enjoyable history of snooker with poetic and philosophical flourishes thrown it. Recommended

[Ben Hegan · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent book. A friend lent it to me and I'm glad that he did. As a Christian, I'd take his conclusions a step further. But he does a great job through various stories from snooker, quotes and illustrations, of showing the reader how snooker is more deeply connected to the meaning of life than they may first imagine. A highly engaging author. I enjoyed it so much that I would consider buying it for myself and reading it again in the future. I devoured it in less than a week, which is testament to the excellent writing style. Highly recommended!