I was quite excited to hear that a new book on precision shooting was coming out.  I've got Zeke's Book, and Yuri's Book and I've read everything else available on the subject out here on the web.  Sharpshooter's reputation precedes him, so as soon as it was available, I ordered Get the Edge At Craps... 

My review will be broken down into two components, pros and cons, and then I'll summarize at the end.

Pros: Shooting dice is one of my favorite things to do, so within reason, I'd purchase any book on the topic.  The book itself is well edited and published.  I found only one typo that I can remember. (gripping spelled as griping) In that respect, this book is quite a bit better than the other two books I own. Sharpshooter goes into great detail on how he shoots the dice and the reasoning behind it.  There is a large number of charts and graphs in the book supporting what he believes to be the best way to shoot the dice.  As an engineer, Sharpshooter goes into great detail describing some of the finer points of degrees of freedom and parabolic trajectory.  This is where he is at his strongest in the book.   In addition, when he departs from the physical act of throwing the dice, and discusses issues like team play and strategies for precision shooters, his knowledge of precision shooting shines. These nuances are what is lacking in previous book.  Reading the book, you have no doubt that Sharpshooter can do what he says he can do.

Cons:   I'm willing to wager that many of you who have already read the book, skipped the first four chapters.  These chapters introduce you to the basics of the game of craps.  My take is that you should already have a very strong understanding of the game before pursuing precision shooting.  It seemed to me that this was "padding."  But that's not my major gripe.   I was shocked that given how well published this book is, that THERE ARE NO PHOTOGRAPHS!  Only drawings, and only a scant few of those which deal specifically with gripping and throwing the dice.  I feel if you're going to write a book on how to control the dice, you should show pictures of the mechanics involved.  My final negative about the book is the "monster roll" tales that he writes about.   They're sprinkled throughout the book, and for someone like me who is a journeyman shooter, they're not particularly engaging.

To quote someone on one the craps message forums, Get The Edge At Craps is basically the "heart and lungs" of the PARR manual, and closely follows point by point, exactly what Sharpshooter teaches at his seminars. (down to the monster roll stories)  Whether that's a pro or con depends on your own skill level and shooting philosophy. 

At times the book attempts to be a "how to" for beginners, while at other times, it discusses some pretty advanced precision shooting concepts. I certainly think it's a book every precision shooter should own.  However, the book tends to waffle between wanting to be a primer for novices while also addressing more advanced precision shooting theory.  Sadly it serves neither mission particularly well.

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