'Cooper is a convincing, entertaining and philosophical guide to the strange magic of snooker over the past five decades - and what it might be able to teach us about the meaning of life. It should be his big break' Observer, '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 player became celebrities. The papers were stuffed with snooker scandals. It even conquered the pop charts. Now, in the twenty-first century, the global thirst for snooker has never been greater. 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. Yet snooker's deeper meanings have rarely been explored. 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.