Willie Thorne - Taking A Punt On My Life Hardcover – 19 Sept. 2011

New information about his life

A good read which I found I was unable to put down for long, although found parts of it exasperating, mainly Willies gambling addiction! I felt as if I wanted to slap some s ense into him. Its very sobering when someone as articulate as Willie could be sucked into what can only be called a mugs game, especially the way he was gambling.The book takes you through his life from childhood and how he came to be interested in snooker, found he was gifted at the game, through his pro career and family life which was effectively destroyed by his gambling.The book does tend to repeat itself slightly and reiterate points that had already been mentioned.There are some stories of old snooker players like Alex Higgins etc but not as many as I thought there would be which was probably a good thing. The main sentiment of the book was Willies gambling addiction which eventually led to him trying to take his own life. It does have a reasonably happy ending though and Willie continues his snooker commentary and after dinner speech work.Recommended not only for snoooker fans but as a study of addiction

A truly nice guy. Would talk to anyone. Perhaps too nice to be a serial winner. We all have our demons. Shame that many people will remember the gambling.

Could do with more snooker stories,Willie Thorne must have many , but the clue is in the title, an interesting review of what gambling can do

Happy with purchase.

Fantastic book and I managed to finish it over 2 nights. Would never have guessed that Willie had been in so much financial trouble for so long. A must read for snooker fans and a warning to people who might be following the same path. As a fan of Willie when he was a player I am glad he has found some normality and stability in his life and wish him and his family all the best for the future.

Bought for my husband who although hasn't yet read it was very pleased to receive it. Good price for hard back book and delivered on time

This must be the dullest book I`ve ever read. How Willie Thorn has managed to expand such drivel to a book spanning 260 pages I will never know. He obviously still needs the money.

The story is quite repetitive and it's not much about snooker, but about Willie's addiction towards betting. Still, I think it's a good autobiography and very honest. I've read a lot of bad reviews about this book, but I for one, enjoyed it.It's not the most thrilling thing ever, but as I said before it's honest and it tells the struggle people who have addictions face. I genuinely think that at the end of the day you can learn a lot from this book and from Willie.

I throughly enjoyed this book and read it in a day, it's honesty in over coming an addiction, inspiring to others including myself, for me it's an insight into a life that looked so different on the outside, the stories about other characters were very well written and I recommend it to anyone who is on the same path as Willie was, I truly think it would be hard to find a more truthful and open account of a life anywhere, well done Willie