More than a contemporary history of snooker, this book is a peering into Ronnie's head and his emotionally journey, often straightforward like his Essex accent, piecing right through his peers and opponents. Vivid and brutal account of the mediocre Mark King, the great champion Hendry, the 9/10 all round Higgins, the straight shooter Roberton, the not perfect yet Judd, the mentally weak Ding, the asshole Parrot, great friendships he had with Damien Hirst, all the wonderful runners (who seems like a hidden race of uber lovely and fit people), the evil World Snooker, the supportive BBC and Hazel, his live it large parents, Saint Steve Peters, dreadful Endon and Selby (who according to Ron has every technique wrong and aching to watch).
The mention of his new gf on the last page of the book seems almost marketing-ish, his love for running and serotonin from running far outweigh the mere 1 page mention. His failed marriage also was laid bare for readers to judge and he didn't spent any paragraph on his first child when he's 20.
I get an overwhelming sense of superiority over the latter part of the book when he start to talk about his snooker opponents, repeatedly claiming that the lack of new leader who could follow the Alex Higgins - White - Osullivan path that brings personality and flair and consistency into snooker, is a worry. He could still walk over the current crop of opponents while being mentally screwy and with a broken foot. Record does support his claim though. So he's shooting straight there without any embellishment.
The advice from Steve Peters single handedly changed his perspective on the game and enabled Osullivan to achieve back to back world title and to this day, his most recent Masters title in 2016 where he claim to feel an embarrassment yet still walks over the likes of Bingham and Hawkins.
To me Steve peters's advice can be summed to: 1 think of the big picture and not bothered by one or two bad shot or bad frames. Stick it to your opponent. 2 Control your monkeys and keep diary of your inner struggle. The inner monkey is the instinctive flight or fight and must be controlled by reason and calmness.
